This book features the design details of the largest and most innovative examples from such cutting-edge firms as Archi-Tectonics, ARO, Escher GuneWardena, and Office dA, among others. Its pages offer ...
Andrée Putman stripped pretentiousness out of hospitality design and proved how marketable—and profitable—a blend of “rich and poor” materials can be.
By Mary Scoviak
In nearly 40 years of design work across three continents, Andrée Putman has masterfully handled department stores for Prisunic (think the French version of Target) and the supersonic Concorde for Air France; a clubhouse in Kobe and a cliff-hanging home in Tangiers for actress Arielle Domasle and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. She has left her imprint on fashion, furniture and flatware. Amidst all these high-profile commissions, there were just two she had to have. One was the Centre d'Arts Plastiques Contemporain in Bordeaux; the other was Morgans hotel in New York. "One thinks, ‘I'll just die if I don't get these projects,' " she says.
Fortunately for the viewing and traveling public, she got both. Putman took full advantage of her status as a style setter and the media buzz around these projects to show the world why overformality and predictable materials (even predictably luxurious ones) were strait-jacketing design in museums and, even more, in hotels. The art deco-meets-modern mood of Morgans, opened in 1984, fueled the boutique/lifestyle hotel explosion that has since sparked an aesthetic revolution in design, and operations around the world.
Putman could have stopped at Morgans and been assured a place in the annals of hotel design history. But, fascinated by the challenge of balancing home and away, she has continued to explore new ways to blend eclecticism and minimalism. She massaged her mix mastery to ensure that Morgans kept its edge throughout subsequent renovations (including one she begins shortly). Her eye for contrasting materials and stylistic blends created lasting identities for a string of international boutique hotels.
The beauty of this eclectic approach is that it integrates easily with existing concepts, as her new Blue Spa does at the renowned Bayerischer Hof in Munich. But it can stand alone - no place more so than in her eponymous hotel, The Putman, a 28-unit hotel/serviced-apartment development that opened last spring in Hong Kong.
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe had just named her the chair of the first Design Committee of Paris when she shared her views and vision with Hospitality Style.
What is the most challenging aspect of designing hotels?