Hospitality Design - July 2014 - 74

perspectives

competition radical innovation
3

3+4. At Hotel 2020, 3D
printing and augmented
reality merge to allow
guests to interact with
the space in entirely new
ways.

4

recent history-with outdoor air so polluted that
the Chinese government often cautions people to
stay indoors. Unfortunately, indoor environments
offer no real escape. Studies have found that the
level of pollutants in indoor air is generally two to
five times higher than outdoor air."
But Chinese hotels need more than just a
focus on cleaner air. "Today, 70 percent of the
hotel companies in China are independent
brands. Most of their hotels are trapped in
outdated buildings that are in urgent need of
upgrades but often suffer from inadequate
planning, lack of views, and ineffective branding.
Typical cosmetic renovations of these buildings
will not provide this type of hotel any competitive
advantage."
"What if these aging hotels were outfitted
with indoor green lungs, where the building
façade, atriums, and windows are turned into
greenhouse gardens with plants that act as
air filters, removing carbon dioxide and other
harmful toxins while replenishing oxygen to the
indoor environment through photosynthesis?"
That's his solution with Green Air Hotel.
"The purpose of design is to make the world
a better place to live in," Chiong says, "and plants
should be considered a material in hotel design
from day one."

074

July 2014 hospitalitydesign.com

Runner Up: Hotel 2020
Designer: Natasha Bajc, Code Design Studio
Jury Team: Chao, Medzigian, and Thornton
"How do we use technology to augment our
experiences with hospitality?" asks Natasha
Bajc, principal of Code Design Studio. "It needs
to be hinged on the human experience of being
welcomed."
"Furnished with 3D-printed interiors, Hotel
2020 offers guests an augmented reality where
the user can interact with the space through
computations. The 3D-printed parts, reinforced
with the latest composite materials, not only
enhance the 'buildability' of structures but also
take into account guests' differing emotional
states to increase the impact of the design. The
breakdown of what is needed for these spaces
allows for the shaping of rooms to react to
guests' actions." For example, lights will dim
in Hotel 2020 rooms when a guest lies down,
and other lights will illuminate when he or
she gets up in the middle of the night to go to
the bathroom.
"With the future of 3D printing gaining
ground in commercial application, Hotel
2020 takes that momentum a step further by
incorporating interactivity and augmented

reality features in the space, creating synergy
between computation, space, and user,"
says Bajc.

Honorable Mention: S_LOT

Natalie Kwee and Caio Barboza, co-founders of
2B - 1H, also want hotel guests to be able to define
their experiences. S_LOT (short for small lot) is
a hotel concept that redesigns itself from a set of
pre-made components-a luxury modular system
that allows for easy modification and infinite
permutations. S_LOT is appropriate for anyone
from the business traveler and couples on their
honeymoon to a family on vacation.

Student Winner: Sky Lofts on the
Boardwalk
Evelyn Choy and Evelyn Hartojo of University
of Melbourne aim to give new life to unused
monorail beamways in Sydney. Sky Lofts on
the Boardwalk is a strategy that will upcycle
these tracks into a pedestrian- and bikefriendly boardwalk along which prefabricated
accommodations, cafés, and reception lofts will
be placed. hd
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Hospitality Design - July 2014

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