Hospitality Design - September 2014 - 132

special feature education
Peter Johnston
Fashion Institute of Technology
Interior Design Department
As an adjunct professor in the
interior design department at
New York's Fashion Institute of
Technology-where he runs a
second-year hospitality studio and
oversees senior thesis projects-
architect Peter Johnston regularly
encounters students intrigued by
the allure of designing hotels, spas,
and restaurants. "More so than in a
lot of other disciplines, hospitality
design pushes forth the whole idea of
experience design," he says. "There's
the aspect of establishing a narrative,
of defining the story you're trying to
tell. There's also a chance to more
fully explore formal and spatial
concerns, materials and finish,
palette and light."
After almost a decade of

Pratt Institute
Department of Interior Design
"Most of our professors are working
professionals in Manhattan or
Brooklyn," says Karin Tehve, who
is acting chair of Interior Design
at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. For
example, Sarah Strauss of locally
based design and fabrication firm
Bigprototype is slated to teach a
senior studio that will use cuttingedge technology to explore ways that
interiors can become user responsive.
This emphasis on technological
innovation in curriculum, plus a
focus on integrating sustainability, is
what sets Pratt's program apart. For
instance, the department recently
named a director of sustainability:
Tetsu Ohara, principal designer at
New York's SpatialDesignStudio
and longtime coordinator of
Pratt's Green Week-"a series of
lectures, exhibits, and symposia that
highlights innovative approaches to
sustainability at Pratt and beyond."
The newest addition to Pratt's

132

teaching, Johnston-who's based in
Hoboken, New Jersey and specializes
in the design of higher-education
and restaurant spaces-is noticing
some differences in his students'
interests and skills. First is a "real
consciousness about sustainability,"
he says. "Most, if not all, of the
projects I see have a sustainable
component, and it often goes beyond
materials into the core concept."
The second difference, says the
architect, is "the role and capability
of technology. What they can do
on a computer is just amazing. The
ways they can graphically represent
a project with rendering software
goes far beyond the CAD-CAM of
my day." He's observed, too, that
hospitality itself has changed. "The
bar has been raised," Johnston
says. "The level at which hotels
and restaurants are designed and
constructed has dramatically
increased-the whole process has
become more competitive as guests

expect more from the experience."
As he continues work on an ecofriendly hotel coming to the Hoboken
waterfront, Johnston is happy to
demonstrate to his students just how
these changes come together. "I'm
always trying to relay real world
cases," he says. "Often, that includes
visits to my projects
so I can share how I
personally overcame
design challenges and
how I get my work
built and recognized.
I also like to take
students to other
architects' offices
so they can see how
they make models
and how the overall
design process works.
Ultimately, though,
I want to encourage students to
explore and come up with their own
innovative and unique solutions."

campus, Myrtle Hall, is a testament
to the school's sustainability
commitment. The six-story,
120,000-square-foot academic and
administrative building, designed
by New York-based architecture
firm WASA/Studio A, houses the
school's Department of Digital Arts.
A "physical testament to Pratt's
commitment to sustainable design
education," according to Tehve, the
LEED Gold certified facility features
exterior sunshades; a green roof that
absorbs rainwater, reflects heat, and
sequesters greenhouse gases; and
photovoltaic panels that generate
electricity.
But buildings and programs
aren't the only innovations Pratt
delivers. "Our department's
philosophy is clearly illustrated
by our thesis students who have

taken on hospitality projects," Tehve
says. A lounge for people who met
through online dating sites that
includes a lecture hall with seats
that can fold and unfold into pairs
for more or less intimate spaces and
a mirrored bathroom screen that
both invites contact and maintains
distance; a community space, similar
to a public library, in the Gowanus
area of Brooklyn that presents
functionality through its flexible
design, becoming a community
center, public park, work space,
meeting and event spaces, a printing
studio, and café for local residents;
and a restaurant that offers all the
meals accouterments-furniture,
cutlery, tableware-for sale, are just a
handful of recent student projects.

September 2014 hospitalitydesign.com

A rendering of FIT
interior design student
Flora Kogan's Section2
project.

Leila Hirvonen, a recent
Pratt graduate, created
Gowanus Exchange,
a project that seeks
to create functional
community space for
residents of a Brooklyn
neighborhood.
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - September 2014

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