Radical Innovation, an initiative that challenges creative thinkers and design visionaries at the professional and student level to pioneer compelling innovations in travel, hospitality and architecture, has revealed the finalists for the 16th annual competition. Progressive architects, designers and students, representing more than 20 countries, submitted their ground-breaking ideas to design the future of the hospitality and travel industries.
The three finalists in the Hospitality Concept & Design category are: AERA by OMB International, USA; Eco-Floating Hotel by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio, Turkey; Hospitality Concept-Merani by Contesi Design Company. These firms will present their projects at the October 2022 Radical Innovation invite-only Awards and Dinner. A public vote combined with the voting by the live audience will be held to determine the $10,000 grand-prize winner and the $5,000 runner-up prize.
The finalists were selected by a prestigious jury of hospitality and design thought leaders. The jury based their decisions on the creativity of the submitter’s vision, the design and the potential feasibility and ability to impact the industry.
The Hospitality Concept & Design jury includes Claude Amar, managing director, The Hardy Group International; Ellen Brown, EVP, Fulcrum Hospitality; Mark Friesen, principal, Beyer Brown & Assoc.; John Hardy, president/CEO, The Hardy Group; Michael Medzigian, chairman/managing partner, Watermark Lodging Trust; Jena Thornton, managing director, Magnetic ERV; Simon Turner, managing director, Alpha Lodging Partners; and James Woods, WeWork Capital Advisors.
In addition to the three professional finalists, the jury listed above awards a student winner for their Concept & Design. The student winner will be awarded a $1,500 prize, and the opportunity for an Assistantship to The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Masters Architectural Program, or a Teaching Assistantship to the University of Illinois School of Architecture or a partial or full scholarship for a graduate degree from the NYUSPS Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality.
The competition also includes a Product Category. A separate Hospitality Product Jury awards a professional and student winner in this Category. Live voting will open on Oct. 6 via the Radical website, www.radicalinnovation.io. All winners will be announced in October.
Radical Innovation is produced by The Hardy Group with support from sponsoring companies: Beyer Brown & Associates, Chartres Lodging Group, DFL Legal, Hospitality Logistics, Shawmut Design and Construction; Education Partners, UNLV School of Architecture, UNLV Black Fire Innovation, the University of Illinois School of Architecture and NYUSPS Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality; Media sponsor: SLEEPER Magazine; Creative Agency: Crown Creative. (List as of Aug. 31).
2022 Professional Design/Concept finalists:
AERA | OBM International | Timothy Peck | United States (pictured above)
To redefine luxury hospitality, OBMI’s team of designers from across the globe created a revolutionary concept, a vertical resort, AERA. Innovating to develop a new model tourism, the team reimagined the horizontal guest journey found in traditional resorts to create a vertical destination in the middle of a city.
Eco-Floating Hotel | Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio | Hayri Atak | Turkey
The eco-floating hotel is inspired by the sea with which it is associated in the first degree in terms of form and design principle. At this point, it is worth to mention that the project will work efficiently in areas where there is a continuous and certain flow. However, the sea which gives the structure physical and tangible power and receives the return it needs in a mutualistic form also directs the shape of the structure with the idea of the vortex.
Hospitality Concept-Merani | Contesi Design Company| Luca Contesi | Georgia
The Concept “Merani” is not flying tourism and neither a flying hotel. A hotel can be easily removed without any ecological damage as a consequence of its presence, accompanying guests during their journey/stay—on land, in the air and on the water.
The operation system of HC “Merani” is rather simple: a cargo airship, instead of ISO containers, carries one detachable mini hotel. With an ability to take off and land anywhere an airship can carry the hotel, with guests to places that are really off the tourist beaten track.
