Occupying transitional space: an interior design for a short stay hotel

Abstract

This project seeks to investigate a hybrid type between the capsule and boutique hotel, aimed at business travelers. This will be achieved by extracting qualities of each typology through systematic analysis to establish an environment that responds to a niche user. Identifying key characteristics through a number of precedents provides the foundation for the investigation and the programming criteria for spatial development.

Owing to the technological revolution, there is an increasing need to translate the multitude of computer-driven interfaces to human-centred interaction. Computers, portable music players, mobile phones and wireless connections have fundamentally impacted social dynamisms fostering artificial identities and negating traditional notions of physical distance. Forever remaining plugged-in has led to the dematerialization of built space, the denial to the user of their sensorial abilities, the rendering of one space just the same as another. By re-awakening the senses through interactive encounters, a sense of familiarity, personal experience, and the creation of memory is lent to individual environments. In this sense, the interior designer is no longer merely a form giver, but is rather placed in the position of a fundamental interpreter.

Focusing on the psychological impacts of place and spatial identity, this exploration will take advantage of the possibilities provided by contemporary technologies. Translating these interfaces to perform in response to body movements and presence within spaces creates a user centered model. In effect, this design approach assists the user in recognizing their existing location establishing an association between body movement and interior surroundings.