Luciano Mazza is Director of Hospitality Architecture at HKS Hospitality Group in London. With a company’s portfolio that includes Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Shangri-La, Hilton, Hyatt, Conrad, Mandarin Oriental, Ananda and Intercontinental, Luciano ranks among the world’s most prolific and successful designers of luxury branded resorts.
When it comes to branded residences, today’s designers tend to face two primary challenges.
The first is pragmatic: defining the brief and vision for the development. However, the process has changed over the years. In the past, it was essential to have an operator signed and involved from the kick-off. From a design perspective, this allowed us to start our creative process with properly detailed brand standards and input from the operator’s representative during meetings. However, these days clients tend to appoint an operator at the very last moment – or at least only once the residences’ concept has been established and its design considerably developed.
Clearly, the intent is to limit the changes required to meet brand guidelines. Delaying the decision creates a longer time frame to evaluate different operators and can result in developers gaining a competitive advantage during final negotiations. At HKS we work with every major international brand, so it’s not uncommon that when we start to design a hotel or residences, our clients ask us to follow the standards of one specific, high-calibre brand even if this is not one of the candidate operators, as the resulting design will be fit enough to satisfy a wide range of other brands.
Our second challenge involves philosophy and aesthetics as we consider the all-too-often-misused word “luxury”. What is luxury today, and what will it be in the future? Inevitably, someone will ask if we can really define luxury or “box it” into a few words. Beautiful marble, a striking sofa or a wonderful bathtub are just intermediate stops on the way to luxury. Exceptional architecture and interiors, spotless finishes and precise implementation are a given, but they are not enough. On top of these must-haves, our designs also need to facilitate the rise of emotions and memories.
For me, luxury is time, or a blue sky, or fireflies in the garden at night. Sadly, the children of some of my clients in New Delhi or Shanghai have never seen a blue sky in their entire life! The moments we get to spend with family, friends or even business partners can be a precious luxury. So, when designing branded residences, our aim is to create conditions where people can savor and treasure quality time while feeling at one with their surroundings.
Making a residence a home
I firmly believe a branded residence is still a home. It must feel appropriate not only to the brand but to its owner as well. Conversations and in-person meetings with a development’s top purchasers are invaluable for gaining a better read on a specific market and restoring a designer’s dedication and confidence in delivering exceptional results.
Of course, there’s also the aspect of creating a comfortable degree of exclusivity for the community of owners. Recently, I had a discussion with a prestigious developer about the sales strategy for some high-end, branded villas we will be designing. I found it interesting that their aim is not only to sell a villa or a lifestyle, but also an exclusive community that will benefit them beyond the tangible rewards of their property purchase. Potential buyers are not only scrutinized for their finances but also for their family history, reputation, etc. For example, celebrities and, in particular, footballers, are politely refused.
This could be a unique and extreme case, but it indicates just how important it is to create the right ambience. Bearing this in mind, I see this “Owners’ Club” becoming much more significant within branded residential developments, an increasingly essential and vital part of the luxury offer and not merely a nice complement to the estate.
Many thanks to Chris Graham, managing director of Graham Associates, who is happy for me to share these thoughts I recently contributed for his forthcoming updated report on branded residences.
(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
9/6/2017
