The designs presented in this volume offer a wide and varied vision of the latest trends in bar and restaurant design, selected from the most cutting-edge, wining-and-dining hotspots in the world. With ...
More insights on design, process and what's next
In the Summer issue of Hospitality Style, Michael Graves and Patrick Burke of Michael Graves & Associates shared their insights on the firms recent projects. Below, the interview continues with a discussion of their process, inspirations and views on what's next.
You have designed everything from mega-resorts to teapots. While your work certainly reflects your commitment to modernism, what other aspects of art, culture and fashion inform your work? How has that changed your work from your early hotel projects such as the Swan and Dolphin (Orlando) to the Hotel Michael and rest of the Resorts World Sentosa project (Singapore)?
Michael Graves: Frankly, I find the association of architecture with fashion problematic. Since architecture is not tied to the fashion industry, the more people associate trends with the hospitality industry, the more architects will view their work as transitory.
Buildings need to last a long time. Fashion, since it’s retail-driven, is called on to be “refreshed” year by year, or even seasonally. For me, what’s new one day will be old tomorrow. If you think back to “Tomorrow Land” at Disney’s original theme park in Florida, stylistically, it was ‘Yesterday Land” in no time. The influences that I find enduring come from both continuity and evolution of culture over time. In the visual disciplines, this includes the formal lessons of modernism and the ability to combine figurative and abstract elements in our compositions.
Patrick Burke: On the other hand, interior design tends to be more trend conscious. It’s what hotel guests remember. Practically speaking, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality venues get wear and tear and need refurbishing every few years. This may mean replacing furniture, furnishings, fabrics and carpets to make an interior feel new even if the design doesn’t change. In today’s hotel and restaurant market, when visitors seek new and intriguing places to go, operators often want to try new things.
There is also an evolution in the services that guests expect. For example, when we designed the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan over 20 years ago, Disney and Tishman (the general contractor) thought that the audience would be families. They asked us to make “entertainment architecture” consistent with the theme park context. When we redesigned the guest rooms years later, we adapted them for what turned out to be their primary guest profile, the convention business traveler who, for example, prefers a more serious ambiance with plenty of technology so that he/she can conduct business on the road.
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