How Authenticity and Locality Shaped The Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya

The Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya. Image © Hufton and Crow.

With a design concept developed around a regional architectural tradition, the Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya brings a new level of luxury to Kuwait City’s skyline for one of the world’s most renowned hospitality brands, yet it has a distinctly Kuwaiti feel. The new hotel, which recently was named the 2018 MEED Hotel of the Year and one of Wallpaper*magazine’s striking structures around the globe for 2018, not only highlights the importance of authenticity in hospitality design, but also design’s power to shape and enhance the human experience.

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Beyond Market Niches: Designing Hotels That Can Flex

Gensler’s Sleep Set 2016 concept. Image © Gensler.

There will always be hotels catering to specific needs. There are hotels for pampering, hostels for the frugal adventurer and business hotels designed for efficiency. And no doubt, these types are likely to exist in the future. But more recently, there’s a shift from accommodating to specific market niches towards places that can adapt to changing moods and activities.

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The Future of Hotel Design: Human-Centred

Image © George Clerk.

Benjamin Franklin once said there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. Well, I’d like to add a third one: change. Change is inevitable and it impacts on everything, not least on the way we design. Over the past 60 years, we have seen a rise in consumer culture, individualism and globalisation. As a result, modern societies are becoming more complex and trickier to understand.

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Speak Easy: Hospitality in the Retail Environment

In today’s competitive shopping environment, retailers are taking cues from the Hospitality industry to bring consumers back into stores.

This blog piece is based on a Q&A discussion held with guest panellists Marco P. Nijhof Head of Hospitality Strategy at Value Retail, Paul Nulty Director of Nulty Lighting specialists in Retail Lighting, Camille Lorigo Creative Commercial Development at Brand Building and Gensler designers Owain Roberts, Lara Marrero and Claire Richmond.

Hospitality has been influencing the retail industry for quite some time now—perhaps more so than any other industry, as explored during our Speak Easy series on Hospitality’s influence on our many practice areas. But it’s important to understand that retail is still changing at an incredibly rapid rate. Consumers are expecting more from their shopping experiences and the main challenge for retailers is keeping up.

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Taking Cues from Nature: How Biomimicry Can Drive ROI for Hoteliers

Costa Rica Convention Center. Image © Gensler.

Today’s travelers expect a different standard of luxury that caters not only to their modern needs, but also to their ethical beliefs. At the same time, the idea of ‘travel’ is continually evolving, and there are more travelers now than ever before. To cater to next-generation travelers, hotels are increasingly incorporating sustainable practices into their spaces, including an innovative concept: biomimicry.

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