Hospitality & apartment design Top 2022 design & surface trends

This year the focus is back on hospitality. This is the year of the ultimate hotel experience that’s elevated by unique interior design and surface trends. Biophilia, sustainability, homecoming, and artistry are the main themes, and it’s all looking very exciting.

Novograf and Black Brick Novograf and Gareth Griffiths

Commercial outfitter Novograf (novograf.co.uk) shares with TO BUILD readers the top interior design and surface trends that are prevailing in the hospitality sector throughout 2022.

2021 gave rise to biophilic design when people were longing for a deeper connection with nature. In 2022, the trend is here to stay. This design concept embraces design techniques that revive our contact with the natural world through the built environment. With sustainability in mind, we’re designing spaces with eco-friendly materials, natural textures, and lots of greenery.

Biophilia and sustainability go handin-hand: “Even at the luxury end of the market, notions of repair, recycling, and re-use will predominate with the emphasis on the uniqueness of the remade product. There will be no loss of style or quality. It will be the same artisans crafting the products,” comments Michelle Ogundehin, a thought leader in interiors and trends.

In the hospitality sector, surfaces are at the forefront, and they significantly align with biophilic design.

“Today’s eco-conscious consumer is whom hotels need to cater to in 2022, and the design needs to reflect their target market’s cravings for sustainability and biophilia. We attended this year’s Surface Design

Show in London and one thing became apparent: visitors were drawn to natural, uncut materials, such as wood effect emulations. Such a simple yet effective design perfectly matches the biophilic vibe and is easily incorporated into any design concept,” says Ross Campbell of Novograf.

Cork flooring is also going to be big this year, due to its eco-credentials and natural thermal properties. Alongside surfaces, textures that come in the form of curtains, rugs, and organic bedding can also enhance the biophilic design.

One hotel that creatively incorporates the biophilic design into its living and commercial spaces is the Leman Locke hotel in East London. This is the first biophilic hotel in London, launched on 19 October 2019, and has since led by example. It features wooden flooring matched with soft, natural colours all around and lots of greenery.

Lobby with a new purpose

In 2022, we are seeing the “new normal” prevail in business ambience, and it’s characterised by “bleisure”. This refers to long-term business trips that fuse business with leisure and is an echo of the work-fromhome model.

Wanting to extend their trips, business travellers are looking for spaces that support both their work and leisure needs. In hotels, the lobby can be that alternative office.

To turn the lobby into a top-notch coworking space, you can create comfort by incorporating long tables that can be used as desks for business meetings and

2021 gave rise to biophilic design when people were longing for a deeper connection with nature. In 2022, the trend is here to stay.

ergonomic furniture. Lighting is also of vital importance, so it’s important to ensure that there is lots of natural light to help the guests focus, as well as tall ceilings with accessible controls.

Zoning can also help provide versatile room configurations, such as meeting rooms, media space, coffee breaks, etc. You can easily and affordably achieve that by using partitions and dividers, which are extremely convenient.

Elyza Falzon, Hilton’s vice president, comments: “Locally inspired design elements such as artwork, millwork, and pops of colour are key”, so add an artistic streak to your space.

If you’re looking for a home-away-fromhome feel, the White City House hotel, located in the former BBC Television Centre in London, has everything you need for your bleisure trip. It has a dedicated coworking space called Soho Works White City, featuring bookable meeting rooms, a study, an area with hot desks and long tables with chairs, private phone booths, and even podcast recording equipment. Design fuses biophilia with accent art walls.

In South Africa, the ‘lobby with a new purpose’ trend is backed up by the emergence of a new phenomenon, urban resorts, as exemplified by Gauteng-based developer, Black Brick, who are blazing the trail with their new range of repurposed commercial spaces, being converted into uber-trendy Urban Villages.

Based on a buyer making an investment in an apartment inside a Black Brick complex, that unit becomes available when not required by the owner, to members of the Black Brick Club, who are business people who find a home-from-home in one of a number of such complexes in SA’s major cities.

In fact, the Sandton Black Brick offering sees itself as a ‘vertical village within the heart of Sandton’, which comprises apartments, hotel rooms, working and socialising spaces.

The facility houses co-working and meeting areas, a small library, a private cinema, a boxing gym, a meditation garden, and cafes. The newly-launched urban resort in a former corporate headquarters in Bedfordview even goes a step further into biophilia. This one offers its buyers a genuine “ 35 000m2 forest”, which will be developed around the new apartment hotel to be located in a former industrial park; perfect for getting a breath of fresh air, exercise and more.

Welcome home

With a strong emphasis on homely (and home-office) environments, this aesthetic is penetrating the hospitality interior designs this year.

Recreating the comfort and serenity of a homely atmosphere without risking the appearance of novelty is much appreciated when designing hotel rooms. The layout needs to be expanded to feature fully equipped kitchens and bathrooms, as well as a warm colour palette and superb décor.

What guests are looking for in a bathroom is an atmosphere of wellness. Relaxation meets functionality through versatile plumbing, such as a bathtub and a shower area with a spa effect. The centrepiece of the bathroom is the tiles, so pick innovative tile designs. To further enhance the bathroom design, match them with the décor, featuring bath rugs, vases, plants, lights, and even paintings. Technology is also important to today’s consumers, so make sure to include a smart TV or a smart retro-looking shower radio.

This year presents developers and renovators with the opportunity to paint the blank canvas of a hospitality facility in all the shades of the emerging 2022 interior design and surface trends. Making weary travellers feel at home is what it is all about.

TO BUILD’s contributor, Novograf, specialises in print, design, emulation and manufacturing. Their clients across the retail and commercial industries rely on custom quality graphics, surface solutions, signage and store fit-outs.

References

https://www.dezeen.com/2022/01/21/interior-design-trends-report-2022-michelleogundehin/ https://www.livingetc.com/whats-news/the-biggest-interior-trends-195539 https://www.lockeliving.com/en/london/leman-locke https://www.theresident.co.uk/lifestyle-london/londons-first-biophilic-hotel-suites-filledwith-houseplants/?msclkid=894781e0a8eb11ec8e059dad3d515fb4 https://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/people/co-working-spaces-in-hotels-why-theyre-sopopular-and-how-theyre-designed https://www.sohohouse.com/houses/white-city-house?msclkid=09f10cdfa8f011ec97a94af 96363462f https://www.sohohouse.com/soho-works/white-city