Hospitality Design - July 2017 - 178

DESIGN AGENCY
Matt Davis, Anwar Mekhayech, and Allen Chan
Cofounders
Toronto
In 1998, when Allen Chan, Matt Davis, and
Anwar Mekhayech started DesignAgency
and submitted a bid (which they won) to
design a restaurant on the University of
Toronto's campus, they could never have
assumed they'd be a highly soughtafter global firm called upon to create
a distinct language for new brands
(Generator, Zoëtry) or redefine iconic,
familiar ones (Momofuku, Hilton,
Hyde).
Davis knew Chan from college where
they studied landscape architecture
together; they met Mekhayech at his
family's restaurant, Kensington Kitchen,
where Davis waited tables. Mekhayech,
"consistently entrepreneurial and design
savvy," says Chan, was the catalyst for
the early beginnings of the firm. Since
SpaHa launched at the University of
Toronto, the trio has steadily become
a "design studio that functions at the
crossroads of various disciplines," adds
Davis. Their diverse backgrounds in
architecture, landscape architecture,
and engineering, as well as their
passion for travel, food, art, graphic
design, and music, has enabled the
studio "to see and be inspired by different
things," explains Chan.
The goal set almost two decades ago
remains the same for the firm today: "to
create a fun, cool, and experienced studio
with a variety of styles and clients," says
Mekhayech. It has always been about the
people (the client, the consumer, their
own team members), which has helped
them push "beyond conventions and
limits to find the best design solution,"
Davis adds. The Soho House Toronto,
for example, gave the firm a chance
to restore a classic building in a
contemporary style; Canada's flagship
Momofuku location brought the brand
to new heights as a stylish landmark
in Toronto with the recent Las Vegas
outpost offering subdued glamour; and

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Generator catapulted the firm into the global
hospitality market.
In fact, the budget-friendly Generator
brand is notable for how it changed
consumer and industry perceptions
by infusing the hostel concept with
authentic and thoughtful design.
Working alongside former Patron
Capital senior advisor and partner
Josh Wyatt, DesignAgency "really
became immersed in this opportunity,
particularly the chance to explore
what good budget design could be," says
Mekhayech. "We were pioneers at the time
in this sector, but we found a lot of inspiration
in aspects of hospitality that we admired
around the globe." Generator's nearly a dozen
international properties are defined by design
risks that combine bold patterns and
vibrant colors with local charm.
What started out as a three-person
firm has grown to a staff of 40 that
populates studios in Toronto, Barcelona,
and Los Angeles, with projects that
include the Fairmont's Mont Tremblant,
Toronto's Broadview Hotel and the
expansion of the city's Drake property,
and the luxury Zoëtry Wellness & Spa
Resorts in Costa Rica, which "will open
another new segment for us," says Davis.
The firm recently reinvented the executive
tower of the Hilton Portland, repositioning
the property as a boutique concept for the
brand, with a new name, the Duniway,
and an upscale design-a mix of local
and industrial-that takes the brand's
standards in a different direction.
Looking ahead, DesignAgency is
working with sbe to evolve the Hyde
nightclub brand into a 4-Star hotel that
will be a "bold, fun, and iconic concept
that captures the energy and magic of the
original brand," says Mekhayech. Guests
will feel as if they're entering a secret
hideaway, and "you need to be in the know to
get in." In other words, it's an "opportunity to
change the game yet again," he says.
The Soori Bali's sustainable design takes cues
from its lush landscape.
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
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