A new design strategy was recently developed for the Courtyard by Marriott Europe hotel brand and sustainability was the key factor here for a better guest experience.
Tarek Hegazy and his team from Living Design AB were responsible for the development and together with Marriott International they created an elegant, refreshing and contemporary room-design. Bolon was chosen as the flooring for the rooms concept. As of now, the first location, Courtyard by Marriott Berlin City Center, welcomes its guests with a new approach. We spoke with Tarek about the project, the changing needs of guests and the challenges in hospitality design.
You have 30 years of experience in interior design with a focus on hospitality. Have the needs changed in all these years?
- Living Design is the oldest and the most recognized Scandinavian interior design studio working in the international hospitality market. Along with my dedicated colleagues, we have completed more than 370+ prominent 4-5 stars hotels and the list is kept on growing monthly. Indeed, the needs have changed through this long journey, but also the guest expectations have dramatically changed. The whole process has changed from just the traditional interior design to create a unique story telling soul that fits today’s traveller. Currently, we are bringing brands to life through beautiful stories tailor made to each property. We do not design concepts any longer but merely tell a story that drives branding and gives our clients a competitive advantage and ensures that the guest experience improves in a holistic way. In today’s world, the interior design only is not enough to create a great guest experience, but it’s the whole aspects of details, service, interior design and quality and sincerely of the offer to the guest.
Sustainability sits at the core of all the different vocabulary attributing to a greater guest experience.
TAREK HEGAZY
To what extent does sustainability play a role in your day-to-day work?
- Sustainability sits at the core of all the different vocabulary attributing to a greater guest experience. For us at Living Design, it starts in a very early stage of the project and becomes the driving factor for a better interior design but also a substantial heart of the guest experience. Today, travellers are very conscious about sustainability and this topic has advanced in the last few years to become the forefront of design and services, and guests as well as investors becomes very aware of their responsibilities that they need to fulfil towards the next generation. It’s also worth mentioning that suppliers are becoming well aware of the whole cycle of designers, investors and users who are looking for genuine and results-driven solutions for our planet. I can happily confirm that we follow closely a strict social sustainability and responsibility in every project we do.
The new design of the Courtyard by Marriott focuses on sustainability. How did you started to develop the interior concept and in what way did you implement sustainable aspects?
- The new design of the European Courtyard brand of Marriott is very engaging, forward and passionate with a European spirit as a soul and addresses the trailblazer traveller through a modern and timeless environment. Being European, our approach focuses on sustainability and try to use sustainable materials to create a guest impact while remaining true to our value and increasing the guest experience. Sustainability has been implemented at all levels of design and the use of Bolon for the flooring is an example of so many ones already implemented. Energy efficient, recycled materials, C2C and waste reduction were just few examples of the design approach we took.
Was it a big challenge to meet the approach in sustainability?
- Applying a full sustainability cycle in the design and execution and through the life cycle of the property remains a very challenging topic. Sustainability is not simply about sustainable components, but rather a full cycle of details that starts from the social side and continue through the sustainable design approach for energy efficiency, components, responsible procurement, waste reduction through implementation and the life cycle assessment of the project and its ability to contribute back to the environment from the net zero carbon, to Cradle to Cradle and going deeper into who follows. That’s the situation we passionately study and wish to create with our sustainability approach. Naturally, we can’t achieve everything at once, but we strive towards the true Circular Economy operation. This project in Berlin is no different, and it is a start of implementing a long and happy Europe-wide new concept for Courtyard by Marriott for years to come and we are honoured to bring such important angle of design to Marriott International who have, for sure, seen an added value in engaging Living Design in this process.
What experience or innovation do you take from the design process of the Courtyard by Marriott?
- Obviously, our aim is clearly to provide every guest with an experience they can be inspired by, tell their friends about and which teaches them practices they can bring into their daily life. We believe by providing sustainable approach and sustainable materials we can provide our guest with a different, but real luxury through innovative integration. We have learned a lot through the journey and surely, we keep on accumulating knowledge that we increasingly use in our daily design.