Boutique Design - March 2017 - 22

ANDREA: How do you see the notion of provocative, immersive design evolving?
JON: Our designs need to provide a sense of luxury and comfort while taking
people out of their comfort zones. Public space will become more and more
of a dynamic social venue that challenges people's perspective while at the
same time reflecting and capturing the energy and attitude of the city. They
have to be original and powerful.
ANDREA: As in the Hotel Zeppelin (part of the Viceroy Group) in San
Francisco? People expected references to 1960s music, but I think we
really challenged them to think more deeply with visual references to the
psychedelic, drug-infused culture, the struggle for women's rights, the black
power movement, and the social commentary of writers and poets such
as Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg. Through the design and art, Hotel
Zeppelin celebrates what all of that did to change society.
JON: I like to see design tie into activism; it should reflect what's happening.
There's so much anger and turmoil in this country now. It feels pertinent to be
pulling more original art into hotels that addresses that. Our decision to use a
30-ft. image of Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre in the lobby bar
of our Revere Hotel in Boston worried our asset manager, but it is sure to raise
interesting questions for guests when the lobby reopens. Controversy is good
and given what is going on in politics today the concept is very relevant. We
still have to fight for freedom.

HOTEL ZEPPELIN, SAN FRANCISCO

ANDREA: Building on that, I think design continues to also become more

sensory. Lighting is a huge factor in the projects we've done together. We
spend a lot of time and attention figuring out where and how guests will
respond to light and where we need shadows to create tension. We're also
using color to alter customers' moods as they pass through various spaces.
Our firm enjoys creating chaos with color, and exploring contrasts. If the
atmosphere needs to be sexy, we use lots of mirrors and polished steel but we
also balance hard and soft surfaces. Instead of using scent, we like to let the
aroma of real food waft through the public areas. With your hotels, no idea is
off the table if it makes for a more interesting, market-driven experience.

property in San Francisco). That property had this terrible meeting
space with a 7-ft. lid and no windows. I wanted to install a slide from the
mezzanine to the ground floor bar to link those areas and generate more
buzz. The operator kept talking about the liability issues. Initially, I kept
fighting for the slide but then you and I brainstormed on other ways to
connect those two spaces. We came up with the game room and that
Plinko wall. Hearing that ball bounce down two levels makes everyone turn
around. Everybody plays with it-kids, ceos, all age groups, all cultures.
That game room became so popular that we're adding versions of it to other
hotels such as the Palomar in Los Angeles. It embodies that interactive
energy that gets guests engaged.
ANDREA: So what's the next big design challenge?

W LOS ANGELES -WEST BEVERLY HILLS

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boutiquedesign.com march 2017

JON: We're going to see unique, casual spaces that can serve as restaurants
as well as venues that enable us to move events out of formal ballrooms and
dedicated function areas. The restaurant business is hard. Margins are
small. Designing in the flexibility to subdivide an F&B destination so that

D O U G L A S F R I E D M A N ( Z E P P E L I N ) ; DAV I D P H E L P S ( W )

JON: Well, there was that slide I wanted for Hotel Zetta (another Viceroy
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