Wilson Associates
The design firm founded by Trisha Wilson creates memorable hospitality projects by drawing on her allegiance to local influences, feng shui and sustainability—as well as her unflagging can-do attitude. By Matthew Hallclick an image below to view slideshow
Wilson Associates can trace its ascendancy as one of hospitality's top-tier interior architecture/design firms to a cold call -- albeit in written form -- that company founder Trisha Wilson sent to legendary Dallas developer Trammell Crow.
It was the early 1970s, and Crow had announced plans to build the Loews Anatole Hotel in his home city. Wilson, just a few years removed from the interior design program at the University of Texas with all of two restaurant-design commissions under her belt, mailed Crow a letter stating, "I have a few design ideas for your hotel and restaurants that you can't live without."
Much to her surprise, she got a call back from Crow himself. "When that happened, I started making up ideas for the design on the spot," she recalls. "I also had to fudge on the number of employees because we were so small at the time."
The bluff worked: She got the commission. Thus was born Wilson's personal and corporate motto: "It CAN be done."
She has parlayed that philosophy into a sizable enterprise: Dallas-based Wilson Associates has seven offices around the world, a total of about 370 employees, and revenues of over $50 million during its most recent fiscal year. (See the sidebar for a partial list of the firm's high-profile clients and luxe projects.)
Though the chutzpah Wilson exhibited in landing her firm's first big hotel job continues to help drive her company's growth to this day, it's only part of the story. Just as important, Wilson says, is her design philosophy. "We don't have a specific ‘style' or ‘look,'" she explains. "Instead, we work to create unique places, customized for each client. That includes incorporating a geographical flavor into each project by the use of local craftsmen, artisans and artists, and the custom design of architectural details, furniture, lighting, carpets and fabrics."
Interwoven with that bespoke approach is an adherence to two other design disciplines-feng shui and sustainability-that are integral to many of Wilson Associates' projects, as well as its own offices.
FIRE AND WATER
Feng shui holds that spaces can be laid out in such a way that they promote good health and fortune for the people inhabiting them. Wilson's belief in the benefits of that discipline is on most prominent display in her own office. Earlier this year, she hired Christine Bushell, SynerCh'i LLC, to reconfigure her work space in accordance with feng shui principles.
"In any company, the energy emanates from the president/ceo; it has a cascading effect," says Bushell, founder of Huntington, N.Y.-based SynerCh'i. "Trisha has always had a positive energy about her and a true appreciation of how to balance a space. She realizes that when Chi (energy) interacts with the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth and metal), it produces good feng shui."
Bushell added a circular conference table "that's conducive to favorable negotiations," a blooming orchid "to bring a positive life force into the space" and, the most talked-about touch, a large crystal jar of pink jelly beans on Wilson's desk. "Pink promotes good partnerships," she notes.
Jim Rimelspach, Wilson Associates' executive vice president/design director, says the red walls lining the firm's home office in Dallas also stem from feng shui. "Red not only distinguishes our company and is a color we are known for, but it also provides the ‘fire' element in feng shui that stimulates and uplifts the energy within the space," Rimelspach says.
While some may be skeptical about feng shui's efficacy, Wilson is a believer. "I draw energy and inspiration from our work space, and I think the same is true of my staff," she says.
When it comes to incorporating feng shui into the projects it creates, Wilson Associates will do so when the client requests it. In such cases, the company typically hires an outside consultant to provide the needed expertise.
At the Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Venetian Macau Resort in China, for example, Wilson brought in feng shui master Peter So Man-fung of Hong Kong at the request of Sands ceo Sheldon Adelson. Among the design touches So Man-fung added to the development were water features at the building's main entrance and exit, "to keep good fortune from rolling out of it," Wilson says.
SATURATED IN SUSTAINABILITY
Another subject Wilson is passionate about is sustainability. The firm has incorporated eco-friendly design principles and products into a variety of projects, including The Palazzo Resort, a recently opened expansion of the Venetian complex in Las Vegas.
The Palazzo is the largest building in the world to receive silver status under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification program. Environmental touches within the multi-bay guest suites designed by Wilson Associates in The Palazzo include master light switches located right inside the doors to enable guests to turn off all the lights on their way out; environmentally friendly paints, coatings, adhesives and sealants; and carpeting that meets the testing and product requirements of the Carpet and Rug Institute's Green Label Plus program.
In-house, "we're constantly on the lookout to integrate sustainable practices in our own offices," notes Rimelspach. "For example, we recently purchased Humanscale office chairs that are 93 percent recyclable, along with InterfaceFLOR sustainable carpet."
To help spread the gospel of sustainability both internally and to its clients, the firm recently formed "green teams" in all of its offices. Those groups consist of LEED-accredited designers and designers in the process of earning their LEED accreditation who educate other Wilson designers and specifiers on the latest eco-friendly design trends, practices and products.
"Since we have offices and projects around the globe, Wilson Associates is acutely aware that we are all neighbors on a relatively small planet, and we must all actively participate in preserving its resources," says Wilson. "That's not only good for the planet; it also makes good business sense." As proof of that, she points to a recent survey by the Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability Journal, which found that 70 percent of the respondents said they would pay up to 20 percent more to companies providing sustainable goods and practices.
A Foundation's Founding
Though she's worked on hundreds of interior design projects during her lengthy career, Trisha Wilson has a clear favorite: The Palace of the Lost City Hotel in Sun City, South Africa. That hotel, which her firm created in the early 1990s, resembles a fairytale palace, filled with mosaics, frescoes and hand-painted ceilings depicting that country's wildlife and culture.
Securing that contract "was a pivotal point in my career," Wilson says. For one thing, it was the firm's largest contract to date by
far-over $2 million. It also put Wilson Associates on the map with high-end hospitality operators. "We were credited in the media for ‘changing the face of design' in Africa," she says. On a global scale, the project ushered in a wave of sophisticated, adult-oriented fantasy hotels and resorts that are the precursors of such "ultra-immersive" resorts as Atlantis, The Palm, in Dubai, which Wilson's firm worked on and is opening this month.
Beyond that business-related boost, the Sun City project touched Wilson on a more personal level. "It was the beginning of my love affair with South Africa and its people that has only grown over the years," she says. That ardor, in turn, moved her to take action: To help overcome the poverty that she saw in South Africa, she created The Wilson Foundation in 1997. The non-profit organization mainly works to improve the lives of children in that country's impoverished Limpopo Province, by funding a variety of educational and health programs.
In all, the foundation has raised $2.1 million since its founding. Its South Africa education initiatives include providing school tuition for disadvantaged school children; financial and in-kind support and services for local public and independent schools; and funding for teacher salaries and after-school tutoring. Its healthcare initiatives include care and counseling for children and family members affected by HIV/AIDS; funding for antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and other medications for HIV/AIDS patients; operational support for an area clinic and a mobile clinic; and, through a partnership with UT Southwestern Medical Center, funding to send U.S. physicians to South Africa to deliver health-care services.
For more information, go to www.thewilsonfondation.org
Heavy Hitters
Wilson Associates estimates it has designed more than 1 million hotel guest rooms since its founding in 1971, and boasts a client and project list that reads like a who's who of high-profile hospitality players and properties.
Notable clients:
Auberge Resorts
Disney Development Co.
Four Seasons Hotels Ltd.
Hyatt International Hotels
Kerzner International
Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Montage Resort Development Co.
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts
St. Regis Hotels & Resorts
Wynn Resorts Ltd.
Notable projects:
Atlantis Resort at Paradise Island, Bahamas
Disney Fort Wilderness Lodge, Orlando
Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong
Kempinski Hotel, Dubai
The Mansion on Peachtree, Atlanta
The Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach, Calif.
The Palace of the Lost City Hotel in South Africa
The St. Regis, Singapore
The Venetian and The Mansions at MGM, Las Vegas
The Venetian Resort Macau, China
Hospitality Style Magazine
- November/December 2008
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