This is a collection of the most creative restaurant designs in the world, from risky and modern to traditional and laid back. This compilation of vivid photographs and detailed layouts gives examples ...
Good looks alone don’t get a project published. It’s just as much the “why” and “how” that define what we’ll be showing in 2010.
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By Mary Scoviak
Designers often ask how we decide what to publish. The answer used to be easy: originality, great photos and a look that drove the best bottom line possible. But, as writing about Riad Ana Yela reminded me, that's not enough anymore. Projects have to be attuned to the economy, the local culture (as in the people who live in it, not just the aesthetic) and they have to be about good citizenship. Provenance is joining form and function in determining what makes any design a standout.
Ana Yela's owner, Bernd Kolb, could have just thrown money at the project. Marrakech invites that kind of opulence and luxury travelers certainly wouldn't be adverse to a palatial escape in this sun-drenched city. But he didn't – not because he was prescient about the coming downturn (okay, meltdown) when he bought this historic city palace in 2005 but because he'd changed and wanted a place for people who changed along with him.
The German-born Kolb knows as much about materialism and commercial success as anyone. His marketing strategy company, I-D Media, won hundreds of national and international awards including Clios. That, and a highly successful IPO, earned him honors as the entrepreneur of the year for a mid-sized business in 1998 and, not long after, a seat on the board of Deutsche Telekom for Innovation, which he held until 2007.
Although Kolb has long been involved with social responsibility programs alongside his business, a 2005 trip to Morocco with his wife Andrea reprioritized his goals. “When we first arrived in Marrakech, I knew immediately that I had found the right place – magic, archaic, intense, spiritual, energetic, sensual – a city that touches the soul with inspiring energy, a place that opens the minds and hearts. I saw that as the inspiration for a different kind of hotel,” he says. “Ana Yela is much more than meets the eye. It's not only about ‘seeing;' it s about listening, feeling, tasting, hearing. It's about addressing and subtly stimulating all of the senses via a holistic journey into all that's Marrakech.”
Crafted mostly by local artisans, Ana Yela isn't for everyone. That's also part of the trend. This Design Hotels member is marketing to people Kolb would count among his friends. And the rest of the world can go stay at a big box brand.
“Design has to invite guests to rest, to discuss, to think and to be creative – to experience and feel themselves again,” he says. “Our generation, which grew up in the Western consumer world, worked hard and consumed even harder. We thought that money brings happiness, but the more material goods we got, the more we lost our spirituality. Many people now feel empty and disoriented, asking themselves what the meaning of their life is. They are looking for ‘experiences' that have the power to touch them again, experiences from which they can profit mentally, sensually!”
Tall order, but what he's saying resonates. Luxury isn't just about the thread count or the brand of television. It's about immersion in a place we'd like to be – from a true home, from home on the road to a resort that lets us time travel. Overspending, ostentation and over-the-top design won't sell for a while. But that doesn't mean we'll be staying in monk's cells. What it does mean is that designers will be zeroing in on what's essential to tell an unforgettable story.
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