hospitalitystyle.com

(March 2009) posted on Tue Mar 10, 2009 EDT

Technology is opening up options for layering multi-functionality into public spaces and making guest rooms into personal galleries.

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By Maria Schneider

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The Vine Hotel in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal doesn't exactly scream high tech. It's more of a whisper really. After all, the designer Nini Andrade Silva took her primary inspiration from nature. The gnarled branches that screen the lobby lounge and the mulled grape guest room draperies are meant to set travelers thinking more about the region's rich viniculture and pebbled beaches than artificial intelligence and motherboards.

It's the fusion of tech and touch that makes The Vine a techno trendsetter. Sure, there are purer high tech designs, like Stockholm's Rival and citizenM's Schipol Airport property in Amsterdam, and more on the way if Madrid-based High Tech Hoteles is any indication. But most owners are looking for a balance of elegant comfort with space plans that maximize revenue generation options and minimize labor hours. It's going to up to designers to deliver.

At The Vine, technology is intertwined in subtle ways throughout the five-star hotel's design, from a Wi-Fi enabled lobby to innovative approaches lighting. Technology is both providing new challenges-and enabling designers to realize their visions-like never before. Gone are the days when technological issues were someone else's problem. "Technology is crucial to my ideas," Silva says.

Consider that Wi-Fi now turn lobbies into virtual offices and living rooms. This trend necessitates a fundamental shift in the way designers approach lobby layout and design. "Some years ago, you'd never see a client lay down on a huge pouf in the lobby," Silva says. "But today it's a common image. We can create spaces with chaise lounges where the guests may use the Internet in comfort. We don't have to distort the design concept or confine the furniture to a single purpose."

Designers also have a wide range of innovative solutions when it comes to new ways of lighting spaces. For example, in a stunning example of art meets technology, the guest room ceilings of The Vine feature backlit vinoculture photos. "The rooms get a different atmosphere and we can feel these spaces space in new different ways," Silva says. "If we have a deep knowledge of how technology can help, solutions arise in a natural way."

She says the choice of lighting "is a delicate one," so she often works with technicians to realize "the atmosphere I have in mind." Carpeting, furnishings, lighting and materials all have to work together "to give social spaces an identity, a defined character," Silva adds.

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