InspireDesign caught up with David Shove-Brown, cofounder/principal, //3877 to hear about what’s new for the firm and what he’s forecasting for hotel design this year. For him, it’s all about reconnection and using design as a way to foster human interaction and understanding.
“It’s been crazy, it’s been interesting,” he told InspireDesign. “There’s definitely a general optimism as things currently sit. Everybody is finding that things are taking longer, proposals are taking longer to be reviewed contracts are taking longer. But, there’s been an uptick in proposals and work which is a good thing. We’re busy and I’ll take that over last year.”
Any hospitality projects that you’re excited about?
We have a Puerto Rico project…We’ve got a couple of ownership groups that we’re doing feasibility studies for which is really awesome as they go to negotiate potential land purchases and things like that. Hilton Crystal City outside DC which is great. They’re going through a nice renovation—very challenging building. A ton of restaurants in the works which is fun too. It’s nice to see that community moving forward and coming out of this madness too.
Do you find yourself designing differently for spaces that have to rethink their operations post-COVID?
Not tremendously. Restaurants were always really good at maximizing their space. What’s really happening is certainly a flexibility of the space. More moveable tables and chairs versus built-in banquettes and booths. We’re seeing restaurants are coming back and more and more requiring vaccinations and trying to maximize what they’re doing in their space. COVID is going to go away eventually we can look forward to that. To design just for this one instance is a little bit short-sided in the sense that there’s going to be something else whether it’s a variant or some other virus; we don’t want to design ourselves into a corner and design for one problem and then cause three more. What we’re seeing is the trend of flexibility in F&B and hospitality; the ability to make spaces multi-functional and flexible so that they can adapt based on whatever the current climate is and allows for change for uses and group sizing.
What about design trends? What are you seeing?
What’s been fun to see especially in the F&B space is the continued uptick for design concepting and really saying, ‘What’s our brand? How do we use design to enhance the customer experience and really go all-in?’ Hotels have gone through this, too. If you look back 20-30 years ago when every Marriott and Hilton was trying to look the same so you knew the brand you were getting, now, people have realized that there’s a beauty to local culture and vernacular. I think restaurants are seeing the same thing and thinking, ‘What’s our concept and how do we use branding and design and all of those things to come together to make a really unique customer experience?’ We’re getting away from vanilla and getting more into unique and dynamic. Given we’re clawing our way out of what was a tremendous loss of restaurants and business, now restauranteurs are going even further and saying, ‘We’re back and people want to get out and not bake sourdough bread in their own homes. They want to go out and see their friends and be a part of something. There are choices; how do we make people choose our place and really have an experience?’ That’s playing all the way through the moment they walk through the door to meals to when they leave.
Do you foresee any challenges for this year?
Certainly, the construction part of this is rolling back into design—materials are still behind and anything from appliances to equipment to materials is taking a while. Managing the expectations of clients…it’s a very different timeline now…It’s affecting the design process. As we’re going through and looking at materials and material selection…Sometimes we have to adapt our material selection or product selection to get somebody in a little sooner rather than later.
What should designers be focusing on right now? What should they be looking forward to this year?
The biggest thing is people being released from captivity. Looking at designing these great experiences for people to go out. Seeing the design community and hospitality community that we’re a part of feeling that reconnection is playing into what we’re seeing design-wise. That reconnection is so special—how does design play into that? How do you design F&B and hospitality for friends and family to get together again? To me, people for the most part, have come to better understand the connection we need to one another and not just through screens. To have design play the smallest part in bringing people together is just awesome.
