Vertical Hospitality

The skybridge at the ITC Colombo One luxury development in Sri Lanka will place a swimming pool and jazz lounge in the vertical plane, creating a hospitality experience unlike any other in the world. Rendering © Gensler.

Vertical urbanism is all the rage within the design community. And for good measure. As urban populations swell to unprecedented sizes, city planners are being forced to look upwards and leverage the vertical plane. Vertical cities, like the Shanghai Tower, reduce pollution, increase density and maximize space usage. Their success means that urban planning will cease to be a strictly horizontal practice. Designers will use the lens of architecture to create three dimensional urban environments that maximize sustainability and increase livability for residents and visitors alike.

But urban planning is not the only practice where the vertical plane can and will add significant value to future projects. The hospitality industry is in a prime position to start looking to the sky for inspiration. Designing in the vertical plane can help hotels and luxury resorts maximize the pleasure and enjoyment experienced by guests. Design in the vertical plane can also generate additional revenue that can help insulate resorts from market downturns.

Call it vertical hospitality and look no further than the ITC Colombo One development in Colombo, Sri Lanka for a prime example of the value this approach to hospitality design can create.

Design in the Vertical Plane: A Bridge in the Sky

ITC Colombo One is a planned luxury hotel and residences master plan project situated in the city of Colombo between the oceanfront and Beira Lake. At the heart of the development sits two towers: a luxury hotel and a cluster of luxury apartments. When ITC Limited sent out a call for design proposals, their request was simple: design the towers in a manner that provides breathtaking experiences for the hotel guests and apartment occupants. To do this, we triangulated both towers because doing so would provide a higher number of rooms with ocean views than a traditionally double loaded tower would.

At this point in the process our design team proposed a more radical idea. What if we connected the two towers with a skybridge, whose primary purpose was to provide additional amenities instead of a mode of transit? A skybridge would be a perfect, yet unexpected place to gather guests and let them experience breathtaking views of both the Indian Ocean and Beira Lake while lounging in spaces tailored to their leisure. Vertical space between adjacent towers is too often is ignored in hospitality design. Here was a chance to change that, to think about this development and the guest experience in terms of the vertical plane.

So our design team set out to bring the skybridge to fruition. We worked closely with the engineering consulting firm Thornton Tomasetti to work out the many structural challenges such a bridge presents and landed on a design that is truly unique.

The skybridge is comprised of two levels. The top level will hold a swimming pool where hotel guests can congregate, order drinks and relax while enjoying open-air views more spectacular than those found in other parts of the complex. The bottom level will be the home of a high class jazz lounge where guests can enjoy live music, enjoy drinks and spend time socializing. The lounge will also serve food and provide expansive views of the surrounding real estate.

What makes the skybridge so special is that it exists as an amenities deck first and a mode of transit second. In addition to augmenting the guest experience, the skybridge will be a revenue generator for ITC Colombo One. Both the pool and jazz lounge will be available to host private events, and considering the unique amenities the bridge offers—it’s not every day you have the opportunity to swim in a pool on a bridge—there’s little doubt ITC Colombo will attract significant attention.

The skybridge at the ITC Colombo One development illustrates the power the vertical plane holds for the hospitality industry. Ground space is, and will continue to be, at a premium. As hospitality companies enter new markets, they will need to find ways to ensure their developments stand out and offer unique amenities you can’t find anywhere else. Designing in the vertical plane presents opportunities to do just that, through skybridges or other creative solutions that take advantage of existing vertical space and push the envelope.

Hospitality is, and always will be, about creating unique experiences for guests, the kind that take their breath away and leave them with memories to last a lifetime. We’ve done all we can with the horizontal plane. It’s time to start thinking vertically.

Located in Colombo, Sri Lanka, ITC Colombo One will be a prime example of how hospitality developments can use the vertical plane to maximize the experiences of guests. Rendering © Gensler.

Kap Malik is a principal in Gensler’s Los Angeles Office where he helps lead the hospitality practice. Contact him at kap_malik@gensler.com.