How Heritage Inspires Contemporary Hotel Architecture?

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Designing a contemporary hotel with heritage in focus requires delving into a city’s culture and going beyond stale design cliches. However, hospitality designers can create an authentic feel for guests and locals by tapping into multiple sources of inspiration. More importantly, hospitality design helps tell a story about the surrounding landscape taking cues from the unique history, layering in cultural nuances, and evoking a specific atmosphere. From a grand exterior and lobby to rooms with a view of the bustling cityscape, the design can speak volumes about the local culture for the tourist to indulge in the destination.??

The preservation of local culture and nuances in the form of hospitality design has become the new norm as they lend a sense of belonging to its guests and remain highly contextual to the area. In this article, Ar. Amit Gulati, Founder at Design 21, discusses the importance of bringing heritage into contemporary hotel design that encourages the local identity.

With the tremendous growth in heritage tourism, where tourists seek to participate in a historical experience, heritage hotels have become widespread accommodation places. These hotels add aesthetic and symbolic value to the context, carrying the experience of a historic site and culture. Adaptive reuse of historic buildings is increasingly endorsed as a practical approach to revitalizing heritage cities with various social, economic, and environmental benefits. Heritage hospitality entails the destination’s personality to build its brand by understanding visitors’ perceptions of the place and creating its distinct identity.

Modern architecture and contemporary design can often feel generic and rootless without indicating the place’s larger context. But contemporary design is also malleable and flexible, lending itself well to local influences. For instance, the Amayaa hotel, outlined by Design21 in Varanasi, translates the spirit of the land of Gods and Ghats. The design of this hotel is a successful attempt to reintroduce the local heritage with a mid-century vibe in a contemporary era. From guest rooms that display traditional artworks to the local materials spread throughout the spaces, the hotel strives to enhance the city’s skyline in several ways by truthfully reflecting on the heritage of Varanasi.?

Beyond designing for brand identity, it is now equally important for hotels to craft a memorable experience that represents the legacy of the location. Architects and designers are pushed to explore the built heritage of the context to design culturally relevant spaces that draw inspiration from tradition yet appear global and contemporary in their expression. Infusing local crafts into the rooms can help us understand multiple influences and expressions and originate informed designs. Deep knowledge of locality can steer us away from kitschy imitations, resulting in a meaningful design with a strong sense of place. Designers can also collaborate with local artisans and craftspersons and can devise new ways of keeping local crafts alive.

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It has become a trend where traditional touches pop up in every element of hotel design and decor these days. This encourages an immersive local experience for luxury travelers into the traditional ethos. If a hotel is circumferenced by iconic architecture, the hotel should also feel the same, be it sweeping high ceilings or intricately woven corridors. Enriching the local architecture in the hotels can give guests a positive experience and keep in line with one of the progressive movements in the hospitality industry.

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Creating a niche and attracting a wide range of audience has become vital for any hospitality establishment. In the current day and age, more than the trendiest and most highly functional designs, an immersive experience of the destination is all that the guests need. Travelers expect hotels to describe strong narratives and a transcending traditional ethos. Even though thematic interiors might be in trend for a while, they need to establish a connection between the inside and the outside, i.e., the hotel and the context. The rethought design of contemporary hospitality interiors is rooted in providing locally authentic and dynamic experiences to its users, transforming hotels from just a place to stay to destinations in themselves.