Winning formula of a Radical Innovation proposal: The jury’s debate about radicalness vs. feasibility

Laughter and inside jokes opened the conference call as the judges, each established leaders in the hospitality industry, gathered together as old friends and comrades on a mission to select the top entries for Radical Innovation 2013. The challenge? Narrowing down three professional entries and one student entry from a pool of 70 solid, original ideas from 25 different countries.

John Hardy, founder and CEO of The John Hardy Group, led the discussion with candid honesty stimulated by the variety of concepts this year that made us understand hospitality from a renewed perspective. Other members of the jury include Claude Amar, president of The John Hardy Group International, Michael Medzigian, chairman/managing partner of Watermark Capital Partners, Jena Thornton, managing director of Eagle Rock Ventures, Simon Turner, president of global development at Starwood Hotels, James Woods, president and chief operating officer of The Bowls and Wing Chao, renowned master planner, architect and designer of Disney Parks. USA Today’s Hotel Check-In editor, Barbara DeLollis, also joined the conversation in preparation for moderating the panel at HD Expo in May.

Of all the topics discussed, the overarching theme was the balance between radical thinking and feasibility of the concepts. Which should we place more emphasis on? With a competition titled “Radical Innovation,” it is hard not to focus on the concepts that stood out on that front. We received some mind-blowing ones that bent the imagination. Here are just a few standouts:

·       Grand Cancun, Michael Silvers, Richard Architecture + Design, Germany

o   a recycling water plant that functions as an offshore multifunctional resort hotel

·       Up Hotel, Humberto Conde, HRA-Lisboa, Portugal

o   balloon-like rooms that allow guests to control the height of the floating experience

·       Nomad, Jihyoon Yoon and Saeyoung Yoon, USA

o   moving suite along a railway that can be docked onto a “tray” at the destination train station as a part of the bigger hospitality infrastructure

·       Algae.tel, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA

o   embraces biofuel technology by creating a lake cruising hospitality experience powered completely by algae and polluted lake wate

·       Upsidedown Hotel, Gaia Bessone, Polytechnic of Milan, Italy

o   built underground in abandoned galleries below the urban surface, it doesn’t affect the surrounding skyline in a significant way and it preserves the quality of the space

 Other projects seemed just a few years away from becoming a reality:

·       The Slim-Tel, Jerry Szwed, RTKL, JP Estopinan

o   pre-fabricated portable modules that make the best use out of awkward, previously uncaptured spaces in between buildings

·       Convergence, Caroline Fraser, Luca Valentini, Flora Olivieri, Italy

o   an urban hotel designed to maximize interactions between guests and locals by merging their leisure, social and business needs and removing the barriers of usual functional spaces.

·       Pop-Up Hotel, Eric Tan, Fabian Busse, Leon Lai, Nico Schlapps, PinkCloud.dk, USA

o   transformation of empty Class A office spaces (e.g. midtown Manhattan) into hospitality spaces.

·       The Studio-Pod, Michael Burch, University of Kansas, USA

o   the ultimate work/live balance design, Studio-Pod creates a solution for students and professionals who spend most of their time in the studio

·       Affordable Hotel, Yuliya Dzyuban, Ukraine

o   improve financial, social and professional abilities residents of slum areas where accommodation and amenities is given in exchange for labor

Ultimately, the judges agreed that they have to factor in how the winning project is received by the audience. Will people be receptive to the ideas proposed? Will they be pushed to think about hospitality beyond the hotels they’ve stayed at? And most importantly, how does the winning project influence the industry for the better?

Curious? Stay tuned as we reveal the finalists of the 7^th Radical Innovation in Hospitality Award later this week. They will go on to present their ideas at HD Expo in Las Vegas on May 16, 2013 in front of industry leaders who will then vote for the winning project. 

4 Questions with Raphael Delstanche

Raphael Delstanche from Poland chats with us about responsible hospitality in disappearing places impacted by global warming. Mediance Hotel won an honorable mention in Radical Innovation 2011. 

I love the idea of embracing places impacted by global warming – areas that people increasingly avoid due to the dangers of natural hazards. This could save disappearing landmarks through responsible tourism. Could you walk me through what initially inspired you to create Mediance?  

Co+ developed “100 Places to Remember Before they Disappear” in 2009. Please visit their website: http://www.100places.com/. Their project exists to raise awareness about global climate change. Their goal was to reach a wide range of people around the world and to communicate our message in the most compelling way. That was my spark.

The Mediance Hotel concept goes further - this is an initiative to allow tourists to experience the impact of global warming first hand, to provide those visitors with opportunities to understand the causes and consequences of climate change, to eventually exchange knowledge and share initiatives, raise awareness and stimulate action from personal day-to-day habits to political activism, and to help preserve the precious beauty of this world we live in. Mediance Hotel invites you to an immersion in beauty of the most resonant kind.

 

How would visitors interact with the environment? Could you please elaborate on the indoor-outdoor shelter? 

Firstly, its design: an external intelligent electrochromic envelope, solar flexible material and clear acrilic mirror coated external finish, but see-through from inside gives you 360 degrees view to the landscape. Secondly, the mediance "mPod" addresses basic issues about the relationship between the individual and his environment and acts as a catalyst to exist in harmony with the environment to successfully fulfill himself. A tool to help reconcile the individual spirit with the environment. Reconnecting the individual with nature is one of the great challenges of an urbanized society. Thirdly, Mediance Hotel offers an opportunity to bring man’s relationship to nature into the forefront, highlights the individual’s connection to nature through the medium of a man-made shelter, an attempt to bring nature, the shelter and the human being to a higher unity. Ultimately this is an indoor-outdoor architectural shelter simultaneously independent of and intertwined with the domain of nature.

What are the barriers you need to overcome in order for Mediance to become a reality? 

It should work like the wonderful Patagonia Sur initiative. A for-profit company that invests in, protects, and enhances of course but also scenically remarkable and ecologically valuable properties in Chilean Patagonia. Mediance should be similar but also including our values of mission driven environmental hotel. I would love to see 30 pods in Yellowstone, the oldest national park of the United States. The park is an awesome region of wilderness, mountains, geysers, hot springs, lakes, canyons, and rivers, and attracts several million visitors yearly. Yellowstone National Park experiences summers like that of Los Angeles. These warm temperatures will imperil everything from native cutthroat trouts to aspen forests, and the $700 million in annual economic activity that they and other gems in the park generate by attracting tourists.

How did Radical Innovation push you to develop your ideas? 

Radical Innovation is one of the few platforms for progressive hospitality. It gives designers the possibility of expressing new ideas in a generally conservative and risk-adverse industry. John Hardy has a deep understanding and love for this industry. And this competition proves it.

Jena, MD at Eagle Rock Ventures, on her all-time favorite project

"Over the last few years of being a juror for the Radical Innovation awards, I have seen some very interesting ideas.  MORPHotels was an entry that grabbed my attention right away. Its ethereal form and the manner in which it moves within the water are mesmerizing."

"It is hard not to image the serenity a guest might feel as they stay at MORPH. By being staged on water, this project brings a new dimension to real estate and can provide many more site options throughout the world."   

"Additionally, the self-sufficiency aspect of the project was a unique facet that galvanized my vote in 2012. In my opinion, this is innovative, inspiring and frankly what we need to move towards. As jurors, we wrestle with reconciling innovative thoughts with their feasibility; this project seemed to nail both. I am sure we will see MORPHotels – or something similar – in our lifetime."

4 Questions with Carly Cannell

Carly, founder of the two-time finalist design firm weetu, talks to us about the importance of revitalizing local economies by making the most out of what we already have on Earth. 

2007, Runner-up: MoMotel by Carly Cannell, Kevin Estrada and Linda Wallack 
2010, Honorable Mention: Trespass by Carly Cannell, Kevin Estrada, Carmen Cervantes and Daniel Knobloch

[In photo on the left: Carly Cannell and Kevin Estrada]

Reading about your proposals for MoMotel and Trespass, you seem to be very focused on reimagining and improving on existing hospitality concepts, rather than creating an extreme forms of lodging. Could you explain your motivation behind this?

Oddly enough, it almost seems more extreme to provide a unique experience for the average budget traveler. weetu is motivated to provide innovative hospitality concepts to the mass population, not just an elite few. For both concepts, we aimed for high impact within an American landscape by reusing what already exists, and re-imagining how the hospitality experience can by transformed through design, localization, reuse, sustainable thinking and entertainment. Our design solutions solve urban planning, architecture, and real estate challenges with this combination of reality and vision.

MoMotel: I wish MoMotel were up and running because it solves all problems I run into at other motels. Which cities do you see this model working the most successfully? Why?

I wish it was up and running too! The idea was born from an amalgamation of torturous business trip accommodations. MoMotel, a concept that transforms existing roadside motels, was envisioned along historic or busy routes at perimeters of working cities. To capture both air and road warriors, we intended to target locations reached by budget airlines like Southwest. Regional context and local culture is inherent to the success of MoMotel in both design and experience, so it's beneficial to target regions with a story to tell.

 

Trespass: The application of adaptive reuse is so relevant to the problems we’re facing today. What challenges do you have to overcome to make this concept a reality?

Adaptive reuse is relevant, but it's not enough. As an industry, we have to shift how we approach design. It's often easier to start from scratch than to solve existing problems. The trend of "dying malls" and empty big box stores is worsening. Trespass is a component-based hospitality concept that resuscitates those empty shells to invigorate the community and provide a sense of place... a destination.  Trespass needs a community to respond to, to revitalize its economy by engaging local business and resources. In many locations, it's probably too late. The biggest challenge would be to find the right investors.

Having done so incredibly well at Radical Innovation twice, what do the prizes mean to you? Any plans for a third shot at the competition?

Within the first weeks of opening our doors, weetu created and submitted our MoMotel concept. It was great recognition and an excellent experience to come to HD to present our ideas and to compete with huge, established entities. Two years later, we entered again with 'Trespass'.  We've no plans this year, but we'd love to try our hand at a 3/3 record.

Simon Turner, Starwood Hotels, President of Global Development, on his favorite project

“Throughout my career, I have always been a particular fan of adaptive re-use and using space creatively and sustainably to enhance the guest experience and urban environment. Perhaps my favorite RI project to date is the hotel incorporated into a bridge concept [Koi] by MM Planners.  

"Their concept serves as both a literal and figurative bridge, physically connecting locations while allowing for new public space and the opportunity for public and private sectors to come together in a beneficial way."

"It’s both creative and practical and in servicing both commercial and broader public needs and likely provides for interesting public/private financing options.”

4 Questions with Edward, Leo and Heath

Not an ocean view, not city skyline view, but a suspended-on-a-cliff view. 

I caught up with Edward Abeyta, Leo Ahmes and Heath May from HKS Architects, Inc. this week to find out more about their infamous Cliffhanger hotel that won an honorable mention at Radical Innovation 2009...

   

Cliffhanger has turned many heads ever since Radical Innovation in 2009. Could you explain what prompted your team to create it?

Upon discovering the Radical Innovation competition, Eddie, Leocadie and I realized that this would be a perfect avenue to explore ideas.  With each of us bringing a different background and different experiences, we found a number of catalysts for the idea.  The thought of total immersion in one’s environment led us to consider a way to provide a completely new way to experience the wonders around us.  We wanted to also think about how we can minimize the human footprint in these beautiful locations, which would prove a challenge in the Grand Canyon location we explored.

Other than the Grand Canyon, which is your other top choice of location for the Cliffhanger and why.

We considered a handful of other locations, including an ice fissure in the Andes and under the Golden Gate Bridge – but the possibility of suspending a self-contained hospitality experience within a redwood forest on the U.S. Pacific coast excites us.

Do you see Cliffhanger becoming a reality? What obstacles do you have to overcome to make it happen?

We see some of the ideas of Cliffhanger becoming a reality, but we also see the realities of structural and mechanical obstacles.  To address these obstacles, we choose to imagine. This would hopefully challenge ourselves, and the building professionals we collaborate with, to promote innovative problem solving.

What does Radical Innovation mean to your team and the future of your creations?

The idea of radical innovation is something that we see as integral to the creative process. We cannot pretend to know all the answers – not knowing the answer, or even willfully ignoring the obstacle, allows us to move through the unknown to successfully challenge the obstacles. 

4 Questions with Kay Lang and Joseph Ferrugio

We often associate vacations with the cutting off of all forms of communication and technology. Imagine a hotel that turns the tables around, using the digital realm as a basis for immersion and escape. Find out more from Kay Lang and Joseph Ferrugio from Kay Lang + Associates, runner-up of Radical Innovation 2011...

   

I love how you and Joseph have so cleverly intertwined the digital world into the guest experience. Did any personal experience spark the inspiration for the pair of you to create such a world?   

Thank you, it was our goal to unify emerging technologies of the digital world with the guest experience so the guest can create a customized co-producer relationship within the context of a branded hotel.  We have always been fascinated with virtual reality and the experiential aspects of being wherever you want to be at any moment in time.  Our curiosity and passion for this sparked the idea of a “virtual reality” type hotel which we feel is happening now in reality shows, movies and other forms of visual and sound communication.  We decided to bring this to the hospitality world and incorporate it into a guestroom which would allow the guest to totally “immerse themselves” into their own vision, providing a unique experience based on their personal “likes” and preferences. 

Since we’re so intricately connected to social media in everyday life, how does Immersion hotel provide the sense of escapism for the guest using digital technology? 

The hotel is segregated into three zones to accommodate different aspects of modern life -  Communal zone, Semi-private zone, and Private zone. The Communal zone allows the guest to interact in Public spaces using social media and digital technology.  The Semi-private zone, like guestroom corridors, are areas where the art and mood lighting would be enhanced by the users' “likes” and saved preferences merged with the hotel’s brand standards.  When the guest wants to “escape” to their private guestroom, the guest can customize the room with their own preferences.  Some of these preferences are non-technology driven, like aromatherapy to soothe the soul, special bedding requests.  For a “total immersed experience” the guest can choose their virtual experience through their smart device or through the integrated custom furnishings control panel to relax within their chosen environment. 

How will Immersion keep up with the pace or stay ahead of technological advancements to stay relevant?  

Good planning and smart investments in the beginning will keep it relevant.   The infrastructure of the technology is a long-term investment and can be easily modified by software updates.  Visuals and user preferences can be updated seasonally by the hotel brand.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the integration of great photography and current media, coupled with sound effects, can also help maintain consistent relevancy. 

How did Radical Innovation help your ideas take flight? What does your Radical Innovation win mean to your team?  

The competition allowed us to think outside the box and helped us answer the questions: What is our version of the hotel of the future? How do we want to feel, smell, see and experience a guestroom? That was our basic starting point.  Secondly, technology was the vehicle that allowed us to design this prototype Immersion Brand. Winning this competition meant so much to our team, and hopefully we will see a prototype soon in a hotel near you!