Hospitality Design - March/April 2014 - 114

hd expo

preview

conference

michael bedner

DESIGN DESTINY
Hospitality Design editorial director Michael
Adams will sit down on Wednesday, May 14th for
a candid interview with HBA chairman and HD
Expo keynote speaker Michael Bedner. Devoting
more than a half-century to hospitality design,
Bedner partnered early on with the legendary
Howard Hirsch and, after Hirsch's death in 1997,
continues to carry the flag to maintain HBA's
status as one of the largest and most influential
design firms in the world. Here is a preview of
that interview:

When did you ﬁrst know that you were
destined to be a designer?

Forever. I've always been involved in the arts and
design. We even had a course in architecture
in high school [in Detroit]. And I studied
architecture in college too. I turned to design
later on because of poverty. I thought designers
made more money, and I also couldn't stand to
design one more doorjamb or stairwell or scupper
because that's what you have to do when you're
young.

Meeting Howard Hirsch was crucial
to your career. What was the greatest
lesson you learned from him?

There are too many to enumerate. Howard was
the design director at Integrated Design, and I
was the print boy while I was studying at UCLA
when we met. He became a teacher, a father
figure, a mentor, and most of all, a friend. We
didn't always agree about design, but he taught
me always to do the best you can. No matter what
the time frame or genre, just do the best you
can-and live with it, and own it.

Of all the projects you've worked on, is
there one that is a favorite?

I've said this many times: It's always the next
project I'm working on that's my favorite. Right
now it's a project in Philadelphia that's my
favorite of anything I've done in 50 years of
design. It's a mixed-use building, a residence and
hotel in two Belle Époque mansions that are in
pristine condition. And I'm loving it.

If you hadn't become a designer, what
would you want to do?

I always wanted to be an attorney, but a litigator-
someone who goes to court-not someone who

brand
central

deals with dry contracts. But I wasn't clever
enough. Design is in my blood, but in the back
of my mind I've always thought about the idea of
going into law. hd

Speaker: Molly Swyers, 21c Museum Hotels
Project: 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville, Arkansas

Speaker: Gary Dollens, Hyatt
Project: Andaz Amsterdam

Speakers: Anwar Mekhayech, the Design
Agency, and Josh Wyatt, Patron Capital
Project: Generator Hostel Berlin

Speaker: Bill Walshe, Viceroy Hotel Group
Project: Viceroy New York

From HD Expo's signature Owners' Roundable event
to panels exploring how to speak to Millennials and
what it means to be a lifestyle contender; from panelists
representing Morgans Hotel Group and Commune
Hotels + Resorts to SLS, HD Expo conference sessions
are packed with some of the industry's leading and
most innovative brand executives. Here's a sampling of
photos from their latest openings.

114

March/April 2014 hospitalitydesign.com

HD Expo Preview Bedner.indd 114

3/4/14 11:09 AM
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Hospitality Design - March/April 2014

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