HD Talks Blog

Day Trip

While I agree that winery hopping in the Hudson Valley on a blistering cold day is an unlikely way to spend a Sunday in January, nonetheless, last weekend I woke up early, swaddled myself in layers, and ventured to darling little towns like Washingtonville and Clinton Corners to quaff local wines from one of the state’s most undiscovered grape-growing regions.

One of my favorite stops was in Marlboro, where I visited Stoutridge Vineyard (www.stoutridge.com), the brainchild of husband and wife team Stephen Osborn and Kim Wagner. Not only was I impressed by the natural wines made here—delightfully hazy because of unprocessed pectins and proteins—but the space, a nod to German-style wineries, was breathtaking.

The facility flaunts a gravity-flow design (there are no pumps or filters here), and is built into a hillside, directly on the site of what was another winery, pre-Prohibition. In keeping with Osborn and Wagner’s dedication to sustainability, electricity also comes courtesy of a solar cell system on the roof.

Inside, light American and dark Brazilian walnut woods, simply sanded and oiled, lead to the underground barrel room, which could easily be the setting for a sexy cocktail lounge. Here, a poured concrete floor and concrete slab ceiling add an industrial accent, but it is where the wines rest, in beautiful ovate barrels crafted from Hungarian oak, that are pure elegance.

Because Stoutridge’s wines are so temperature-delicate, they can’t be shipped, so you won’t be able to pick up their lovely, earthy Cabernet Franc in even the most esoteric of New York wine shops. However, the winery is only about ninety minutes from Midtown Manhattan, so I highly recommend that Tri-State dwellers pay a visit here the next time the agrotourism urge strikes – when the weather warms up of course, and you can sip Seyval Blanc on the tasting room patio, behind a circa early-1900s stone wall salvaged from the grounds of the original winery.

 

Moving On Up

I've recently moved from downtown Manhattan to an apartment in the Upper East Side - and considering that my job is to immerse myself in the world of interior designers and learn about their products, I couldn't have chosen a better neighborhood!

I'm blocks from the D&D building, and within short walking distance to any number of antique shops, rug and flooring showrooms, design firms, and much more. (I'm also dangerously close to Bloomingdales and Dylan's Candy Bar, but that's another story).

Being surrounded by all of these incredible design shops is inspiring me to do the best I can with the (very) small square footage of my new place; it's amazing how minor accents, especially in a small space, make such a big difference. A stonewashed Belgian linen sheet set in graphite from Restoration Hardware, for example, offset with a large yellow accent pillow, and my own addition and proud focal point: a vintage Hudson's Bay wool striped blanket (perfect for cold winter nights, as our Canadian readers will appreciate!)

Stonewashed Belgian linen bedding from Restoration Hardware

I'm taking my time, adding bits and pieces until the apartment becomes my own; it's helped me understand how important every detail of a guestroom is in evoking a desired feeling or reaction. When you have that one spectacular piece of furniture, or that custom wallpaper, it becomes a focal point that makes people happy. And conversely, when you have a careless rug or an uncomfortable desk chair, those things stand out too. Every piece is part of the bigger, complete picture that makes an individual want to spend time in the space you've created, whether it's a guestroom, bathroom, or lobby.

                                            

Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket

In speaking with designers, it's apparent that many home owners are inspired by what they see while travelling and staying in hotels; a color, a texture, a shape that inspires such a strong positive reaction, guests want to recreate it in their own home. Now, I feel like that on a day-to-day basis. I may need to add shopping restraint to my list of New Year's Resolutions!

Your Opinion Matters

Happy 2012! It seemed fitting that we use the new year as a motivator to look at our current offerings and see how we can make them better—even if that means just slight tweaks. First up: our online products coverage.

That's where you, our readers, come in. If you have five minutes (really that is all the time it will take) we would appreciate you filling out this quick survey to give us some insight into how you use and would want to use our products section. Please be honest; you won't hurt our feelings. In fact, you will just help us help you a bit more.  

For the survey, click here. 

 

Designing Vienna

Celebrating the holidays in Vienna, walking through Christmas markets hawking hand-painted ornaments and mugs of glühwein, has long been a dream of mine that morphed into reality last week. While I expected to eat warm apricot-studded cake for breakfast in grand cafes and swoon over gilded palaces, a welcome surprise was falling in love. With Adolf Loos, Otto Wagner, and Josef Hoffmann.

Traveling with a savvy NYC interior designer and a budding lamp craftsman who works in high-end furniture sales, it was obvious to me our itinerary would pay tribute to Vienna’s storied architectural past just as much as wiener schnitzel. Along with box seats at the glorious Wiener Staatsoper and eating a Käsekrainer (cheese-squirting sausage cloaked in bread) on the run, a true highlight of my Viennese adventure was an all-day architecture tour organized through Architekturführungen in Wien.

Our lovely guide, Felicitas Konecny, led us to a number of 19^th and 20^th century landmarks, from Wagner’s circa 1884 Länderbank with a stunning yellow glass ceiling high above a curved staircase to his intricate dark green cast iron structures synonymous with the U4 metro line to his 1899 apartment building, Majolikahaus, its exterior covered in a whimsical floral pattern comprised of majolica tiles. What seduced me the most, however, was Wagner’s Postal Savings Bank building, its façade dotted with aluminum bolts, its interior flooded with natural light.

As for Mr. Loos, I had already fallen for him one of my first nights in town at his tiny, smoky 1908 American Bar awash in marble, onyx, and brass, but I continued to grow enamored as Felicitas pointed out his elegant Manz bookstore, took us inside the men’s atelier, Knize, which he completed in 1913, and of course talked about his masterpiece, the 1911 Loos Haus, aka the Goldman & Salatsch Building, in which the designer was begrudgingly forced to add ornamentation via window boxes.

Another day, at the MAK Museum for Applied Arts, I couldn’t stop gawking at the creations—tea pots, ashtrays, jewels—by Wiener Werkstatte co-founder Hoffmann, an affinity further compounded at an exhibition devoted to him and Gustav Klimt at the sprawling Belvedere.

Throughout my trip design followed me, whether in the form of grandeur or simplicity: we wandered through Franz Segenschmid’s glass-enclosed Palm House at Schönbrunn Palace, explored Zaha Hadid’s Spittelau Viaducts Housing Project from every angle, sat in former Hoffmann haunt Café Schwarzenberg, and rang in 2012 outside Jean Nouvel’s Sofitel.

Vienna has a reverence for and dedicated preservation to the past, while gracefully making way for modernity, a rare, inspiring combination that makes it the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Another slice or two of sacher torte is certainly in my future.

Otto Wagner's masterpiece, the Austrian Postal Savings Bank.

Ride the U4 line to see Wagner's creations live on.

Manz bookstore reminds visitors to Vienna's bustling Kohlmarkt of Adolf Loos' architectural legacy.

 

Home for the Holidays

I’m spending time with family over the holiday, and this is the first time I’ve been back to Halifax, Nova Scotia—my hometown— since I started working with Hospitality Design. It’s a charming coastal city, but for a place as famous for its hospitality as Nova Scotia, there is still a lot of room for growth and innovation in the hospitality industry. 

An interior design boutique that I was excited to visit is Attica on Barrington Street, one of the main drags in downtown Halifax. Looking in the windows it always seemed just a bit ahead of the rest of the city—showcasing sleek, modern furniture and lighting that would look at home in any boutique hotel in New York. According to Suzanne Saul, co-owner of Attica, they provide high-end furnishings (like Vi-Spring mattresses) for both private and hospitality spaces.

Vi-Spring mattress

Among others, Attica has provided items for Atlantica Hotel, Oak Island Resort & Spa, The Prince George Hotel, Killam Properties, and Premiere Executive Suites—and recently provided lighting for Cut Grill, an upscale steakhouse in downtown Halifax.

Cut Grill in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax has an almost effortless style that’s hard to reproduce: it has the intimacy and friendliness you’d associate with a small town, but the nightlife and culinary scene of a bigger city. Despite some challenges brought on by growing pains—it’s like Halifax can’t decide whether or not it really wants to be a big city—there is much to see, do, and experience, and with the recent news that Halifax has been awarded a $25 billion federal shipbuilding program, which will bring a flush of money, jobs, and people to the province, the need for more and varied hospitality spaces will explode over the coming years.  I look forward to seeing Halifax take its rightful place as a “must-visit” spot in Canada, and a force to be reckoned with in the hospitality industry.

10 WAYS TO DAZZLE GUESTS: THE Hotel Pool

Here is the sixth installment of HKS Hill Glazier Studio's blog "Top 10 Design Tips to Dazzle Your Guests." This month, the focus is on pool design, with thoughts from Regan Holt, Ryan Doone, and Mike Menefee. 

Whether on a tropical island, urban rooftop, or basement floor, the hotel pool is one hospitality design niche where it definitely pays to know your audience. Everyone knows that pools and poolscapes are costly to build and maintain; understanding how much this amenity will be used and enjoyed by guests is fundamental to the design concept. An unforgettable pool experience is a given at resorts and family vacation hotels; on the flip side, at an airport hotel frequented by business travelers, perhaps an exercise-oriented pool is just right. Always consider the hotel setting and guest profile before diving in. 

• Scene and Be Seen. Get creative and deliver the “wow”—make it a cool, hip, and unique environment. An inspired poolside scene where people want to hang out not only makes the vacation highlight reel, a cool pool can become a property’s star amenity.
• Outta Sight. Incorporate day-use cabanas in the pool deck design. Cabanas should have power and Internet connectivity and, to go the extra mile, plumbing for showering. Make sure to provide a suitable level of privacy around cabanas and chaise lounge areas.      
• To Infinity and Beyond? If the location and setting allow, an infinity or negative edge pool takes views from amazing to dramatic—but not every pool needs an infinity edge. If there’s no horizon line to match, skip it and focus on integrating the pool and its shape with the surroundings, setting, views, landscape, and other complementary qualities. 
• Child’s Play. Incorporate shallow or beach areas within the pool or as a stand-alone offering, which is great for lounging in the sun while the kids play.
• Put the “Fun” in Function. The pool area should function as a multi-purpose venue for parties, celebrations, fun, and relaxation.   
• Let’s Cut to the Chaise. Different hotel operators have varying chaise lounge suppliers and requirements. Be sure to know your operator’s prerequisites for space-planning purposes.
• At Your Service. Ensure pool areas are well-connected to food and beverage venues and service.  Provide dedicated restrooms for pool guests, as well as towel dispensaries at convenient and visible positions on the way from the hotel to the pool.
• Just Go With The Flow. Perimeter-overflow pools, also known as wet edge pools, create a sleek, disappearing edge sitting level with the pool deck, unifying deck and water in one smooth, unbroken surface. Besides crafting a beautifully modern statement, overflow channels allow quicker spillover of surface water than do skimming systems, creating better water quality through faster filtration and removal of contaminants and pathogens, which can be harmful to guests’ health. 
• Sky High. Rooftop pools offer your guests an unbelievable experience at any given height.  Seclusion, vistas, and exclusivity are all elements that provide a memorable rooftop pool experience. If you go topside, take the time to invest in the proper research into waterproofing, providing redundant systems and understanding the mechanical systems required. Make sure to mitigate the acoustic impact to guestrooms and hotel functions beneath the pool’s structure.
• Saline Solution. We’ve all experienced the burning sensation and red-rimmed eyes or unpleasant odors associated with chloramines, the irritant commonly associated with chlorine pools. Some owners and operators are choosing saltwater pools to accommodate guests with chlorine sensitivities. Because saltwater systems produce chlorine naturally, they don’t need additional, traditional pool chemicals, such as stabilizers or algaecides. The chlorine levels in saltwater pools are lower, reducing the occurrence of chlorine-sensitive allergies. Before you jump in, make sure to check the local pool building regulations—due to salinization issues, saltwater pool systems have been outlawed in some areas in the U.S. and around the globe. 

Capital Style

Last week I boarded an Amtrak train and headed down to Washington, D.C. for NEWH’s first Sustainable Tradeshow and Forum held at the Capital Hilton. In addition to hearing inspiring speakers such as Judith Heerwagen, Penny Bonda, and Donald Griner discuss a more eco-friendly future, other highlights included lunch at Fabio Trabocchi’s elegant Fiola, dinner at Top Chef Mike Isabella’s wildly popular Graffiato (still swooning over those pancetta laced crispy Brussels sprouts), and a cozy night at the luxurious Jefferson Hotel (www.jeffersondc.com).

Two years ago, this Relais & Chateaux property, first built as a posh apartment building by Jules de Sibour in 1923, was tastefully overhauled by ForrestPerkins. Everywhere I turned in this Beaux Arts beauty the dual influences of Monticello and Paris were evident. The lobby, flaunting a recently unearthed skylight, is a stunning first impression what with its black and white marble floor, Thomas Jefferson bust, and wrought-iron screen. The 99 rooms and suites upstairs are just as classy, awash in hushed tones accented by the likes of soft green splashes, a velvet settee, and a modern TV-embedded mirror in the bathroom. The bed, featuring silky Porthault sheets and an abundance of pillows, was one of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in, while a glass bottle of purified water left on my nightstand at turndown not only was a refreshing alternative to the familiar $7 Evian encountered at hotels, but captures the Jefferson’s appreciation for meticulous detail.

However, it was the rich atmosphere of the public spaces that seduced me most. I expected a well-heeled diplomat to plop down beside me as I sipped a Sidecar at the illuminated glass bar at dark, inviting Quill, or wrote in my notebook in front of the fireplace in the historic tome-lined Book Room.

As I ventured to Union Station to return to New York, it wistfully felt like I was leaving home.

 

All in the Details

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a press luncheon for JANUS et Cie in their showroom on East 59th. I'm still new on the scene, so every opportunity to visit a showroom, see the physical products, and meet designers is very exciting. 

Walking out of the rain and into the JANUS et Cie showroom was like walking into another season: the clean, crisp pieces accented with bright pops of green and orange reminded me of the beginning of spring—nevermind that we're closing in on January. During a lovely lunch shared around beautifully appointed tables topped with pieces from their newly-expanded Details accessories collection, we were introduced to a number of new pieces, including additions to their popular Forest series. 

Two of my favorites from JANUS et Cie's Interior Elements are the uniquely named and shaped Yoda chair, made from handwoven synthetic fiber on an electrostatic powder-coated steel frame, and the high-back Suzy Wong three-seat sofa made with natural lampakanai, abaca, and rattan woven on a frame of red oak. Throughout the thoughtful range of new products one can clearly see the clean, natural aesthetic and high quality that are characteristic of JANUS et Cie. It was tough leaving the sunny interior of the showroom and braving the winter rain once again—just a reminder of how deeply affected we can be by the comfort, design, and intent of our surroundings.

The Yoda chair

Suzy Wong three-seat sofa

10 Ways to Dazzle Guests: the Corridor

Here is the fifth installment of HKS Hill Glazier Studio's blog "Top 10 Design Tips to Dazzle Your Guests." This month, the focus is on corridor design, with thoughts from Regan Holton, Ryan Martin, and Kim Tran.

We know, we know—using the phrase “dazzle your guests” when discussing corridor design seem contrary, unlikely companions. Yet this most rudimentary, transitional space plays an important role in guest comfort, and is critical to the overall experience. Smart corridor design is essential in large or convention hotels and resorts, where the simple act of finding a room can go from goodnight to nightmare.  

Top 10 Tips for Corridor Design

• You Had Me at Hello. From the guest floor elevator lobby, set a tone for what and how the guest will feel and sense as they begin to decompress into their surroundings. Develop key focal points—from the guest elevator lobby to the termination of corridors—to lead and define the room sequence succession experience.
• Tipping the Scales. Be sensitive and incorporate the correct use of height, length, and width ratios in corridor design to ensure a comfortable scale, helping guests feel at ease. Break up long corridors with turns, lighted alcoves, and a sequential room layout. 
• Punctuation, Please. Create a sense of room arrival with clearly defined door drops. Raised ceilings, differentiated carpet design, individual room lighting, and easy-to-read, aesthetic room numbers provides a front door arrival that welcomes.
• Right at Home. Thoughtfully selected furnishings, art, and design elements give the corridor “place,” creating a residential feel and enriching the character of the hotel and its locale.
• Let the Sunshine In. Whenever possible, incorporate natural light into guest corridor design.  Used creatively, the light will augment a long stretch of corridor, opening up views to public areas or natural scenery, making the journey to the guestroom interesting and entertaining.
• Finding Your Way. Develop intuitive wayfinding with easy-to-follow, well-lighted signage and graphics, providing clear direction for guests and staff. Emergency instructions—from exiting options to fire equipment—are conveniently and intuitively located and include wayfinding information.
• Bienvenido! Welcome guests to their rooms with an effortless and coordinated entry experience, using signage, lighting, and keycard entry points that are easy to use and attractive.
• Take Cover. Corridor wall surfaces, treatments and coverings must be extremely durable to withstand the wear and tear of constant hits from guest’s luggage and valet, housekeeping and room service carts.
• I’ve Got Your Back. Back-of-house operations typically found in the corridor, from housekeeping, storage, and/or utility closets, to service elevators, ice machines, and vending areas, ideally are separated from guest circulation areas and cloaked from view.
• Do You Hear That? Never forget acoustics. Study the wall and floor assemblies to ensure that the sound or impacts being generated in the corridor are kept to an absolute minimum.

A corridor at the St. Regis Punta Mita

In our December issue, which should hit your desks or your laptop very shortly, we asked a number of our Platinum Circle honorees to offer their predictions, wishes, and forecasts for 2012 and beyond. Due to time and circumstance, not all of the responses made it into the final version, so in the interest of completeness (and because all of their contributions are valuable, here are three that are "internet exclusive."

Finally it's time to wake up and get creative for less.

Jill Cole
Managing Principle
Cole Martinez Curtis and Associates

All appearances indicate that the wealth being created by BRIC countries will generate more discretionary spending and potentially increase tourism to the US. Recently, the Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP) has officially launched “Brand USA" to specifically promote international tourism to the United States. As Designers, we do well to keep in mind the needs, orientation, comfort and aspirations of this new wave of global travelers who will be visiting our leading cities, national parks and world class resorts. The impact of international tourism will shape how we present our country as a positive experience through thoughtfully designed Airports, mixed-used developments, urban entertainment centers, destination hotels and restaurants.

Karen Daroff
Principal
Daroff Design Inc. + DDI Architects PC

There is an encouraging upsurge in concentration on tech simplicity so that we don't need an informational tour of our rooms to know how to drive them.

Please flambee all those informational tents and leaflets which I have to hide in a drawer before I can go to sleep....use your monitor for information.

Lobbies are becoming a magnet for digital nomads who welcome small plates and good drinks rather than committing to a full restaurant experience.

Give free WIFI or die

Can hotels and restaurants include the tips....after my first tequila I find it hard to do the math...then if someone gives uber super service one can always add on a bit...this goes for spas too. Blissed out after a massage who wants to figure a percentage?

It is hard to say this but I am a blood thirsty vegan (I don't mind spilling it, but I don't have to imbibe it!) when it comes to the constant discrimination that requires one to plough through a three page menu and still ask questions to get a dairy fish and animal free dinner...THINK TOFU! EVERY restaurant should have at least one dish in every section for vegans...hold the cheese, chefs...vegetarians can eat vegan but vegans cannot eat vegetarian (Bill Clinton and Steven Wynn, and Clodagh will not be happy unless you wake up. Look at this month's issue of FOOD ARTS,)

I was just in a hotel in Japan where I had to turn off 9 lights before I could leave the room. Please put a master switch in each room, preferably activated by a key card!

Clodagh
Principal and Founder
Clodagh Design