2023

    John Williams headshot for DESIGN POD

    Episode 34: unconventional narratives in design

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 34: unconventional narratives in design

    The final episode of series four of DESIGN POD, sponsored by Geberit, welcomes John Williams, Founding Director of SpaceInvader Design, to discuss creating meaningful, unconventional narratives in design…

    John Williams headshot for DESIGN POD

    Meet John Williams, an interior designer based in Manchester who is the Founding Director of SpaceInvader Design, a studio with a single-minded purpose: to transform the way organisations use space and motivate people through their environment.

    With this approach, John and his team have created some impressive – and unconventional – design narratives, which Editor Hamish Kilburn explores on this episode of DESIGN POD.

    As well as taking a look at the people and projects that have helped to define SpaceInvader Design as a leading interior design studio, including WILDES Chester, Tribe Hotel Malta and Oddfellows on the Park Cheadle in Manchester and Stock Exchange Hotel Manchester, the episode also throws it back to Williams’ somewhat unorthodox launch into the industry as a studio owner.

    DESIGN POD is brought to you by Hotel Designs. This series is sponsored by Geberit, produced by Mel Yates and hosted by Hamish Kilburn.

    Headshot of Neil Andrew and the DESIGN POD logo

    Episode 33: the future of net-zero in design

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 33: the future of net-zero in design

    Still fresh from winning The Eco Award at The Brit List Awards 2022 for the studio’s ambitious pledge to be net-zero (embodied carbon) in projects by 2030, Neil Andrew, Head of Hospitality at Perkins&Will joins Editor Hamish Kilburn for the next episode of DESIGN POD…

    Headshot of Neil Andrew and the DESIGN POD logo

    Meet Neil Andrew, an interior designer based in London. As well as being a skilled craftsman in his trade – and with the aim to deepen design’s meaning in hospitality – Andrew and his team at Perkins&Will are on an honest and, at times, unapologetic mission to operate in a net-zero landscape. In 2022, the studio announced that it will be net-zero embodied carbon) in all its projects by 2030.

    Cutting through the noise somewhat, the studio launched its Net-Zero Now: Hospitality report. In it, the studio sets out a series of targets to achieve its deadline and goal. “As a company we have been at the forefront of sustainable design for more than 25 years,” Andrew explained. “It [incorporating net-zero into design] is not something you can switch on overnight – it is a process. The good thing about the term ‘net-zero’ is that people can understand and get hold of from outside the industry.”

    Aside from a headline-grabbing initiative, which led to the studio winning The Eco Award at The Brit List Awards 2022, Host Hamish Kilburn invited Neil onto the design podcast to explore how this social and environmental mindset is opening doors to wider opportunities.

    DESIGN POD is brought to you by Hotel Designs. This series is sponsored by Geberit, produced by Mel Yates and hosted by Hamish Kilburn.

    DESIGN POD Alessandro Munge

    Episode 32: transforming spaces (Alessandro Munge)

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 32: transforming spaces (Alessandro Munge)

    Hot off appearing on Travel By Design, a podcast hosted by Hamish Kilburn and brought to you by Marriott, Alessandro Munge, Founder of Studio Munge, joins DESIGN POD for a heart-to-heart masterclass on how to effortlessly transform spaces in hotel design…

    DESIGN POD Alessandro Munge

    Meet Alessandro Munge, the Founder of Studio Munge; a visionary interior designer who has worked with leading hotel brands on a global scale to redefine hospitality through the power of design. Editor Hamish Kilburn welcomed Munge as his special guest for episode 32 of DESIGN POD, sponsored by Geberit.

    The Toronto-based designer and Kilburn first met on the Travel By Design podcast, by Marriott, where the two explored the fabrics, materials and the overall design story of Muir Halifax, Autograph Collection, a luxury hotel in Nova Scotia.

    On this episode of DESIGN POD, Kilburn’s aim was to start where they left off from that meaningful discussion, to understand more about Munge’s approach to projects and how he has helped brands, through clever and socially driven design, to amplify perhaps a different side of their personalities.

    A soft interior design scheme inside bedroom at Muir Halifax

    Image caption: Muir Halifax, Autograph Collection, designed by Studio Munge. | Image credit: Marriott International

    In addition to understand the architecture and design narrative of Muir, Kilburn spoke to Munge about sensitively designing EDITION’s first residences in Miami, how to effortlessly amplify a hotel brand’s language through design and the challenges involved in designing Sangri-La’s tallest hotel within its portfolio, which will open soon in Nanning, China.

    DESIGN POD is brought to you by Hotel Designs. This series is sponsored by Geberit, produced by Mel Yates and hosted by Hamish Kilburn.

    Main image credit: DESIGN POD

    Great Plains Dereck Joubert with camera

    Episode 31: design through a filmmaker’s lens (Dereck Joubert)

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 31: design through a filmmaker’s lens (Dereck Joubert)

    In episode 31 of DESIGN POD, Editor Hamish Kilburn strips back the layers to understand how two National Geographic wildlife filmmakers and photographers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, have designed luxury safari camps in harmony with the natural world…

    Great Plains Dereck Joubert with camera

    Welcome to Africa, where nature unapologetically rules! In episode 31 of DESIGN POD, Editor Hamish Kilburn meets Dereck Joubert, a wildlife photographer and filmmaker who for his whole life, while working with the likes of National Geographic, has campaigned to protect wildlife conservation in Africa.

    To part-fund his and his wife Beverly’s selfless journey, they created Great Plains, a cluster of luxury safari camps dotted across the continent. But these aren’t just any camps. Each one tells a different story through design and has its own raw personality.

    The considered approach at the start of each development always starts the same; with Dereck and Beverly camping out under the stars, exposed to the elements, in order to take conscious steps to ensure that each property, deliberately designed to feel ‘semi-permanent’ – works with and not just in nature’s spectacular setting. “The way we design was to limit impact on environment,” Dereck says. “I also wanted to convey a sense on impermanence. I wanted to give a sense that we, all of our guests are temporary here. We are here for a moment. We are visitors to landscapes like this.”

    Redefining luxury through the filmmaker’s lens, Dereck and Beverly’s social approach to luxury travel has resulted in Great Plains African safari experiences in Botswana, Kenya and now Zimbabwe. And it doesn’t stop there. The husband-and-wife team are committed not only to wildlife conservation in Africa, but, through many charities and initiatives launched and nurtured by Dereck and Beverly themselves, they also work tirelessly to offer and promote equal opportunities for those living and working in and around their camps. This took on a whole new meaning after one incident, sensitively explored on the podcast episode, that Beverly fighting for her life in hospital.

    DESIGN POD is brought to you by Hotel Designs. This series is sponsored by Geberit, produced by Mel Yates and hosted by Hamish Kilburn.

    Main image credit: DESIGN POD

    DESIGN POD: Pallavi Dean standing, looking at the camera, taking off a VR headset

    Episode 30: Design in the metaverse (Pallavi Dean)

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 30: Design in the metaverse (Pallavi Dean)

    In episode 30 of DESIGN POD, the design podcast for all architecture and design enthusiasts, editor Hamish Kilburn speaks to Pallavi Dean, Founder of Roar, about interior design and hospitality in the metaverse…

    DESIGN POD: Pallavi Dean standing, looking at the camera, taking off a VR headset

    The metaverse will not replace the human-centric nature of physical hospitality and design. This is the overarching message from episode 30 of DESIGN POD. The design and architecture podcast, sponsored by Geberit and fuelled by progressive conversations, entered uncharted territory when it welcomed Dubai-based interior designer Pallavi Dean as a special guest to explore design’s role in the metaverse.

    Dean, who when this episode was recorded had purchased four plots in the metaverse, is among a cluster of designers who are exploring how a connected virtual universe can allow brands to explore new facets of their personalities in a safe space where there is no such thing as coordinates, timezones or gravity for that matter.

    Listen to the full episode here:

    The special episode of DESIGN POD touches on what designers should consider when purchasing and designing property in the metaverse, from crypto wallets to accepting virtual commodities. Beyond the practical elements of entering this new chapter where technology and hospitality collide, the episode also futuregazes towards the idea of guidelines and rules – like building regulations, for example – reflected in virtual worlds.

    Throwing it back to concepts we have come to understand, the episode also explores how the theory of the ‘democratisation of everything’ – first discussed with technology expert Jason Bradbury on an early episode of DESIGN POD that, in simple terms, suggests that social media and technology is allowing everyone to have a platform – will evolve outside the world we recognise today.

    Taking the VR headset off for a minute, Kilburn and Dean also discuss how Roar has evolved since 2013, discussing some of the milestone projects the interior designer has undertaken in the real world, and why Architectural Digest described it as, ‘one of the hottest boutique design companies in the UAE’.

    > Since you’re here, why not read about the panel discussion on the metaverse from HIX 2022?

    Main image credit: DESIGN POD

    Wren Loucks DESIGN POD

    Episode 29: Stimulating Wellness (Wren Loucks)

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 29: Stimulating Wellness (Wren Loucks)

    Wren Loucks, CEO and Creative Director of Be-kin, joins DESIGN POD, the design and architecture podcast for all creative enthusiasts. In episode 28, the interior designer and Editor Hamish Kilburn discuss sensory design, holistic hospitality and how, through stimulating wellness, hotel design can find new meaning…

    Wren Loucks DESIGN POD

    In episode 29 of DESIGN POD, a design and architecture podcast dedicated to cutting through the noise to unveil real, gamechanging conversations, Editor Hamish Kilburn welcomes interior designer Wren Loucks as a special guest to explore the concept of stimulating wellness. The discussion, which is the third episode to drop is series 4, sponsored by Geberit, covers everything from how Loucks first used design to make sense of the world around her to uncovering new researching around sensory design and holistic hospitality.

    Loucks, who was named last year as one of the top 25 influential interior designers, joined the podcast following her involvement in Geberit’s Hotel Guest Experience Report, in which the designer examines ritual, sensory-rich experiences and social sustainability in hotel design. The award-winning designer looks at how the differences in sensorial, cognitive, and physical abilities can be catered to by designing facilities to suit a range of needs, such as wheelchair accessibility, neurodiversity and an ageing population.

    In addition to being an integral voice Geberit’s recent report, Loucks has also been a contributor on Hotel Designs, authoring a number of articles, covering sensory design in sound, touch and seasons. She also, backed by science, published a whitepaper on conceptual design, WISH, which was awarded highly commendable for the Celia Thomas Prize for disabled guests at the International Blue Badge Access Awards in April 2022.

    Since launching Be-kin in November 2020, Loucks has completed six projects, ranging from Grade II listed buildings to a private gym in Fitzrovia. In addition to design, Loucks aims to educate her clients on how they are affected by spaces across their senses and create spaces that stimulate their wellbeing. For the studio’s commercial clients, the designer creates spaces that support social sustainability – designing for a range of cognitive, physical, and sensorial differences. She is, put simply, challenging conventional approaches to interior design, architecture and hospitality with a human-centric approach that is giving the entire arena a deeper purpose.

    Main image credit: DESIGN POD

    DESIGN POD circadian lighting with Michael Curry and Mark Tweedale

    Episode 28: Circadian lighting’s role in design (DPA Lighting)

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 28: Circadian lighting’s role in design (DPA Lighting)

    Meet Michael Curry and Mark Tweedale, from DPA Lighting, two lighting designers who have joined the DESIGN POD podcast with the aim to explore circadian lighting…

    DESIGN POD circadian lighting with Michael Curry and Mark Tweedale

    Episode 28 of DESIGN POD, brought to you by Hotel Designs, sponsored by Geberit and produced by Mel Yates, is all about circadian lighting in design and hospitality.

    With lighting and sensory design continuing play majors role in hotel design, in sync with the ever-growing demand among modern travellers for wellness to be injected into all hospitality touchpoints and for experiences to feel more meaningful, could the answer designers are looking for be in sophisticated circadian lighting?

    In addition to understanding the challenges that the design and architecture industry face injecting this level of technology into spaces, Kilburn, Tweedale and Curry find common ground when discussing one particular project, Hilton Amsterdam Schiphol, a hotel designed by HBA, with architecture by Mecanoo, that I first reviewed in 2015 – before it had even opened to the public. The hotel, which is wrapped in a distinct cubic structure, features a 42-metre high glazed roof, which, by night becomes a display of lights.

    Almost a decade since that project opened, lighting in design continues to be at the forefront of conversations among designers, architects and clients. So, will circadian lighting in design change the game in wellness and hospitality, or will it break the bank and become another gimmick that will continue to be stripped out at value engineering stages of projects?

    Main image credit: DESIGN POD

    DESIGN POD ep 27 main image

    Episode 27: Sustainability in materials (Richard Holland)

     1024 640 Hamish Kilburn
    By:
    0
    Episode 27: Sustainability in materials (Richard Holland)

    Meet Richard Holland, Co-Founder and Director of Holland Harvey Architects, who is pioneering a new era in socially and environmentally designed buildings. Some of the studio’s recent projects, explored in this episode of DESIGN POD, are, put simply, changing the game in this new chapter of meaningful hospitality, design and architecture.

    DESIGN POD ep 27 main image

    In episode 27 of DESIGN POD (the first episode in series four), sponsored by Geberit and produced by Mel Yates, Editor Hamish Kilburn welcomes Richard Holland, Co-Founder and Director of Holland Harvey Architects, on the podcast to explore the significance of materials when having a sustainable approach to hotel design. To contextualise this, Kilburn starts the episode by asking Holland about how his ‘free architecture’ concept led to the creation of the socially and environmentally driven architecture studio, before exploring some of the projects that, put simply, change the game in the conscious hotel and hospitality arena.

    Listen to the full episode here:

    InHabit Hotels, is a fine example of this, which is a cluster of socially connected, environmentally responsible hotels. Holland Harvey Architects together with the interior designers at Caitlin Henderson Design were on the design team from when the brand launched its first hotel in 2019, in Paddington, London. The confident mindset from the client allowed the design team at the studio to, well, design deeper by applying research and finding unconventional ways to retain materials existing buildings, while not taking anything away from the contemporary Scandinavian-meets-British design aesthetic.

     

    In addition to discussing how the story of Inhabit Hotels developed through conscious approaches in both design and architects, and understanding how this developed further in Inhabit Hotels’ second property, Holland and Kilburn discuss greenwashing, materials and putting emphasis on the social aspect of ESG in hotel design.

    Inhabit London Queens Garden

    Image credit: Inhabit Hotels

    Outside the hotel arena, the studio recently completed a project for Shelter From The Storm (SFTS), a London-based homeless shelter that provides 42 beds, fresh food and holistic support to its guests. “Every single space had to be considered with a particular mindset, which myself and my colleagues did not understand at first,” Holland says on the podcast. “We very much leant on the founder to help us understand what the experience meant, what the challenges were and how design could soften the impact of finding yourself in this situation, arriving at the shelter and finding the space and time to rehabilitate yourself to leave the shelter, which is the ultimate goal.”

    Main image credit: DESIGN POD