TH
Ht. first criterion for a new hotel in a modern Asian city is that it must be acceptable to the com- munity. It should not be an odd. unrelated growth but a thing of pride, blending into the environment, visually, socially and economically.
Secondly it must have a national identity; it must look as if it belongs in the country. This national identity is difficult to achieve in skyscraper architecture because of the engineer- ing restrictions in multi-storey build- ings, so it has to be reflected in the interior of the hotel.
A feeling of the country is extend- ed and balanced out เก different moods and different themes through the media of furniture. material, colours, works of art and other in- terior accessories.
Thirdly, a hotel should be infor- mative. The guest should be con- stently exposed to the history. customs, colours, textures, and food that are synonymous with the coun- try or region. If this is done care- fully and sensitively, it is a kind of brain-washing which will go on and the guest
will be the better off for it, with memories and a tangible understanding of the country that he would not have otherwise.
Next, a good hotel must be enter- taining not just a place providing the international traveller with shelter. food and sanitation; it must be al- most everything to all people. There should be a night club, cocktail lounge, quiet dining room, speciality restaurant, jazzy places, and quiet places. The personality of the hotel must be complex enough to cater for all the different types of people. This, of course, gives the hotel a continually changing complexion. If it has this, it will be a very intimate part of the community.
Lastly, it must be easily operated and easily maintained maintenance
should be built in as much as pos- sible in the planning and design of the interior. All of this has to be in- tegrated in a clear economic policy from the beginning clear budgets
and clear targets.
Team of Experts
A successfully designed hotel needs a team of experts who work together in a a close group
the owner, the architect, the interior de- signer and the operational arm, whe- ther it is an international hotel chain who will manage it, or whether it is a manager hired by the owners them- selves.
This team must sit down and de- velop a concept of what the hotel is going to be a commercial hotel or a resort hotel. The owner-man- agement must determine a very clear policy as to what size the hotel should be and what the proportion between public rooms and guest rooms should be there is no strict formula for this, it depends on the community, and such things as the statistics of air travel and tourism for the previous year of commercial travel.
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Lobby of proposed President Hotel, Bangkok
HOTEL
INTERIORS - A
and
Today, in the major cities of Asia, it is necessary to combine both the commercial aspect and the resort aspect when designing a large hotel. It has to be in the downtown part of the city. It has to have resort fea- tures such as swimming pool outdoor sunning areas, and
if possible a garden such as a roof garden or terrace. Most of the hotels that have such amenities also have terraced rooms so that some guests can feel they are at a resort, while others who are commercial travellers, can use the hotel as a business office. Once the type of the hotel has been decided, the architect and the interior designer can sit down toge- ther. The architect will then develop the structural concept of the building while the interior designer will work out bedroom arrangements and public room arrangements.
Budget is a vital part of the project. At this early stage of the planning the budget must be known, and the amount established that can be spent on each area
SO much for furnishing private rooms, so much for public rooms, etc.
This team work of management, owner, architect and interior designer is the foundation on which the suc- cess of the whole project rests. Without such a team, something may be out of balance. If one of the group is missing at the early plan- ning stages, when he is called in he undoubtedly makes changes which
are costly, inconvenient and result in delay in the time schedule of the project.
Research
Once there is a clear concept the next step is research research on the country, on the local materials, the techniques available both in cot- tage industry and major industry. The conditions prevailing in that community must be exploited, in the best sense of the word, so that the hotel does not look imported and vastly out of place.
A modern hotel is modern me- chanically it may be a multi- storey building, it may have super fast lifts, it may have automatic in- ternal dialling phones, most up-to- date kitchens and most up-to-date electronically mechanised administra- tive systems, but still the thing that makes the hotel memorable to the guest is the personal service given through good management, and the intimacy and comfort created in guest rooms and public rooms.
Since the hotel is primarily a place to sleep, guest rooms are the first consideration. They are usually broken down to three types twin bedrooms, double bedrooms and studio bedrooms.
My own organisation highly re- commends owners to spend money on the building of prototype model rooms before getting to the actual
Far East Architect & Builder April, 1966