Building Tomorrow: Hospitality

Every month, three different voices from the practice share their ideas about the future of the built environment. Covering a range of typologies – from healthcare to stadiums and airports – we are building a picture of tomorrow.

This month, we asked Annamaria Anderloni, Marilu Sicoli, and Armstrong Yakubu about hospitality. Their responses highlight the importance of storytelling through design, emphasise the need for light-touch construction techniques that respect existing habitats, and demonstrate how the introduction of public spaces to private developments can bring them to life.

Annamaria Anderloni

“The uptake in global travel has had a huge impact on the places we choose to visit and the people who live there. In recent years we have seen popular destinations, such as Florence, struggle with ever-growing visitor numbers. Residents have expressed unhappiness about their declining quality of life, as well as the strain on infrastructure and resources.

It is my belief that through effective storytelling and highly sensitive design, we can help to ease the pressure on some of these major tourist hotspots and redirect the flow of people to a wider range of more remote locations, which have something unique to offer.

Creating a strong narrative to attract new visitors and give them a story to tell their friends has been integral to our work at Monteverdi Tuscany, a luxury boutique hotel that is just an hour and a half away from Florence and set within a medieval hilltop village overlooking the Val d’Orcia. Our new restaurants and adjacent gallery space are firmly rooted in the local – providing a truly authentic experience of the Tuscan countryside that will stay with guests for the rest of their lives.

The project is an expression of – and gives back to – the community it is situated within. All materials and furniture were sourced within a 100-mile radius of the hotel, to support local artisans and minimise carbon emissions. The nearby archaeological museum even loaned the vases that are on display in the restaurant. Rather than seeing these boundaries as a limitation, they became the driving force behind the project and allowed us to create something even more special.

I think the future of hospitality design will build on this highly contextual approach that looks to understand local communities, address their needs, and provide a unique experience for guests that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.”

Annamaria is a partner who specialises in interior design. Since joining Foster + Partners in 2007, she has worked on the interiors of numerous projects including the Four Seasons Hotel at Comcast Technology Center, Me Hotel London, and Yacht Club de Monaco. Annamaria is currently working on a major retail project on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, and a new hotel in St Moritz.

Marilu Sicoli

“When I started my career at Foster + Partners, I was lucky enough to work on the practice’s first resort project, Capella in Singapore [2003 - 2009]. At that time, the tide was beginning to turn on the prevailing model of hospitality design, which offered the same formula for luxury wherever you were in the world. Guests’ expectations were changing for the better – and a new approach emerged that was more about reflecting and enhancing the unique qualities of a destination. 

Working closely with the Capella client – who understood this changing landscape and championed a bespoke approach to hospitality design – we created a resort that celebrates the spectacular surroundings and local culture. Our design generates connections with nature from every part of the development, with dramatic double-height spaces that frame sea views and guest bathrooms with built-in benches that face onto the natural landscape.

The practice’s recent work on the Red Sea coast continues this highly responsive approach to hospitality design, which we have been honing for many years. At Nujuma, a new resort at the edge of the Al Wajh lagoon, we have built beautiful low impact villas that are nestled between the sand dunes. The shell-like structures were built from a kit of parts – manufactured off site to minimise disruption – and made from sustainable timber with rope cladding to blend with their surroundings. The scheme is respectful of existing habitats, encourages bird nesting, and will preserve the islands’ rich ecology.

Our projects on the Red Sea coast embody a responsible light-touch approach that is integral to sustainable hospitality design – now and in the future. The ambition is always to enrich host communities, address the needs of visitors, and protect the natural environment for generations to come.”

Marilu is a senior partner who joined the practice in 1996. She has worked globally on a broad spectrum of projects ranging from universities, headquarters, museums, luxury residential buildings, resorts and a supreme court building.

Armstrong Yakubu

“In my experience, the key ingredient for good hospitality design is generosity. Often, creating a successful hotel or resort where guests want to stay also means giving something back to the local community – and inviting people in. The Murray hotel in Hong Kong and One Beverly Hills, our hospitality-led masterplan in Los Angeles, encapsulate this approach.

Hong Kong is hospitality writ large – and its warmth is embedded in The Murray’s design. The client wanted the hotel to be as welcoming as possible, so we made the lobby a space that anyone can spend time in. The whole ground floor is completely accessible and surrounded by a beautifully landscaped garden, which is also open to the public. We created a route that takes visitors from the city – through the garden – and into the hotel lobby. The public realm and private spaces above are carefully balanced, creating a thriving destination that has become part of the city’s identity.

Similarly, our One Beverly Hills masterplan features a public botanical garden that is the protagonist for the entire project. Drawing on the site’s history as a nursery for Beverly Hills, we are creating ten acres of welcoming green landscape, which seamlessly integrates three very special hotels. The public garden will be a venue for celebration – drawing people in – and activating every part of the masterplan with new pathways and bike lanes.

The future of hospitality design understands that people bring life to spaces – and consciously places them at the heart of a project.”

Armstrong is a senior partner and permanent member of the practice’s Design Board, with close involvement in carefully selected projects that benefit from his expertise.

Artwork by the Design Communications team at Foster + Partners.