Encouraging community interaction and activating urban life: an alternative hotel design for twenty-first-century travellers

Abstract

This practicum project looks at the hospitality industry as a regenerative catalyst of positive impact for the guest, the local community and, more broadly, the city. In doing so, it examines how the future of hospitality is evolving alongside the changing demands and values of twenty-first-century travellers. Within this framework and leveraging an understanding of the importance of place in architecture and interior design, this practicum project proposes an adaptive reuse of the Travellers Building at the heart of Winnipeg’s downtown and historic Exchange District. Concerned with fostering connections through an interdisciplinary hotel experience, this project explores how interior design can encourage community interaction and activate urban life, primarily through placemaking strategies. As a result, this project not only looks at the hotel as an inclusive gathering place and a hub for both travellers and neighbours but as an active and outward agent promoting downtown vibrancy and liveability.