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TEAM: Siddharth Achaya, Anshumali Baruah

The room you can drive!

The success of a hotel was traditionally judged by ‘location, location, location’. But with the rising value of real estate, hotels can only be successful at prohibitive costs. Coupled with lean periods and shifting city centres, good hotels are an expensive proposition for owners as well. In an age where multi-functionality is a norm, the working of hotels must also reflect this spirit.

Enter the Vehicle-Room, or Vroom – a hotel that moves with the times, figuratively as well as literally. The hotel is visualized not as a building, but a system. The existing network of cars is utilized to host guests, with an easy-to-maintain-and-replace kit to enhance comfort. Vrooms are provided on a ‘supply on demand’ basis and the same cars can be used as cabs/ personal vehicles in lean periods. Existing multi-level car parks/basements are used for docking, providing the luxury of sleeping at a place of convenience while staying connected to the city’s major hubs. Other facilities such as toilets, restaurants, shopping etc. are sourced/shared with existing city infrastructure as designated ‘Pitstops’; this could be a revenue sharing model with a mall in exchange for certain amenities. Thus, the Vroom stays with the guest from the point of entry in the city until exit, providing a unique solution for resting and moving around.

A guest would first be required to register with Vroom through a web-integrated service (app/website) with their personal details and driver’s licence. Once registered, she could book a Vroom for a certain number of nights, along with the desired sleeping location/s. The local operator would then receive an alert and kit out the car for use as a Vroom. Default kits would include a sleeping bag, air pillows, windows screens, a kettle with cups and sachets, drinking water bottles, a tablet with internet and GPS, and power supply. The components of a kit could be upgraded based on guest feedback.

On the day of arrival, the operator would drop off the Vroom near the point of entry at a manned Pitstop. The guest would verify their identity and the Vroom, receive the key, and start driving. The Vroom tablet would indicate the location of Pitstops nearby with parking vacancy, re-kitting spots, toilet and shower areas etc. At night, the guest would drive to the pre-booked Pitstop to sleep – a unique experience that can be changed nightly. Once the trip is complete, the guest would return the Vroom to the designated Pitstop near their exit point, pay for the service, and leave. The operator would re-kit the Vroom for its next use, or remove the kit for use as a car once again.

A Vroom system based on electric cars would simplify power usage at night as well as lower fossil fuel usage. The system could be extended to public areas such as bio-reserves and heritage spots to boost local tourism, with minimal infrastructure costs. Both these points would encourage early adoption by local authorities/governments, boosting initial investment.

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TEAM: RITHIKA RAMACHANDRAN

Modern times experiences architecture as a destination. We begin developing an intimacy to a place, putting a certain building on our pedestal; have guided tours about the his- tory of the place. They encompass built paradigms of phe- nomenon, and building the unconventional has now become the convention. As a result, the way we experience an urban city becomes objective driven encounters, deviously ignoring context based achievements in its surroundings,

merely considering them the urban noise of existence.

If destinations are built for such travellers, then what about those who wander? What about people who want to live in between? If architecture is decorously defined as the built, then there is an equal amount of unbuilt which is unexplored territory, laden with intangible interpretations, appeal- ing to the intrepid traveller. They find it intimately appealing when they step away from the boundaries of the disciplined, and onto those of unchartered chaos of the city, because such places hold the key to unconsumed frenzy, raw culture and even isolation.

These places are residues..

People living ‘in between’ will only realise the depth of
their situational living when it is reduced to one simple
basic right of life: sleeping.

Re-animating these residues based on a contextual module can give a small essence of the city it represents, and what it has to offer. It is new beginning which could re-

define travelling, and ultimately sleeping.

Hotels are the most conventional forms of programmatic design, and there is no real attempt at redefining it be- cause it does not have any characteristics which necessar- ily has to be re-invented. Its resources all depend on the whims and calls of its targeted users: businessmen, vaca-

tioning families,etc.

Hence,re-defining the usership,by deconstructing its ame- nities and resources in the aim of redeveloping these res- idues,is what will make redefining ‘sleeping’ a reality..

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TEAM: Luke Andritsos – Andritsos Architect International

Plug & Play on Axis ‘Z’

In terms of hotel typology, three major innovations are explored in this project: architectural,

environmental & phenomenological. The challenge was this: how to stack 52 units on a 375 sm footprint 6 storeys high in a sensitive manner in terms of the guest experience & responsiveness to the urban fabric?

BENDING AXIS ‘Z’

As a tectonic exercise, the Hotel Centro builds on the strategy of stacked shipping containers by bending space in the ‘Z’ direction.

Common spaces are not shrink-wrapped & air conditioned but are open to the agreeable climate of Mexico. Here the concept of open air corridors is taken a step further by sloping them: the continuous, accessible ramp dynamically weaves in an extra half-level of suites. One can skateboard all the way down or bicycle all the way up this breezeway full of plants, birds & guests.

The visitor’s experience is enhanced: instead of confronting another’s door when a guest disembarks upon the city, each unit opens semi-privately at its own unique elevation in the sky directly onto the ramp. The efficiency of a double-loaded corridor (rooms both sides) is merged with the benefits of a single-loaded one (increased privacy, less hallway traffic.)

PREFAB

The units themselves are prefabricated: cost & quality control is greater on the factory floor. Sectionally identical, they act as hollow structural tubes & cantilever over the street. Only their lengths change to accommodate type, whether a one bedroom, two bedroom or deluxe suite. Shipped as cargo to the site, they’re hoisted up on the braced steel frame where they are plugged into a matrix of mechanical,

electrical & plumbing systems. The unit mix can be easily reconfigured for type, level & quantity: up to 14 more may be added within its current framing.

URBAN EXPERIENCE

The Hotel Centro enhances the pedestrian experience by completing the arcade of the street that frames El Centro square. Street-level porosity invites passerby to the lobby bar, restaurant & retail spaces. The planted living wall graces the square with a vertical garden while framing the rooftop infinity pool. Rooms jut to & fro overhead forming a virtual gateway to the square while providing a bold,

architectural place-maker for Guadalajara.

STATISTICS

Site Area: 375 sm

Site Location: Guadalajara, Mexico

GFA: 3294 sm

Height: 28 m, 6.5 Storeys + Basement

UNIT MIX

52 Keys:

20 Single Bedrooms: 20 sm

24 Double Bedrooms: 30 sm

8 Deluxe Suites: 35 sm

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TEAM: Jeremy Tan – Nottingham Trent University alumni

SIESTAS ANYTIME ANYWHERE, FOR THE TIRED TRAVELLER AND WEARY WORKER

The conventional hotel serves two main purposes: a clean, comfortable accommodation for the traveller, as well as providing meals and other services. However, all these come at a price and if you’re looking for a place to take a quick afternoon nap, it is most likely out of the question. New space-renting services like Airbnb and Couchsurfing are aimed at travellers who will need to book the accommodation in advanced. There is a gap in the market for the in-between home and workplace, a space dedicated just for afternoon naps.

Introducing Bed-in-a-Wall.

It is exactly how it sounds like. The idea is to have a pull-out bed that is built into the wall, complete with a storage space for belongings (bags, luggage), and a supply of disposable pillows and blankets (similar to the ones you are given on an airplane, but more comfortable).

Think cash machines (or ATMs). Instead of dispensing money, this idea dispenses all you need for a more comfortable midday siesta.

Instead of feeling guilty trying to sneak in some shut-eye at the workplace, people can take 20 minutes out of their lunch breaks and take a short nap at one of the many Bed-in-a-Wall kiosks situated all around the city. Another usage of this would be for travellers who have been out exploring the city the whole day and are in need or a quick rest, but are far away from their hotels. In reality, the uses are endless. It could also be used as a bench while waiting for the bus, taxi, and so on.

To develop this idea further a mobile app will be introduced, whereby users can search for the nearest available kiosk and make a booking. A way to monetise this idea is to introduce a rental service; users will pay a one- time fee for booking and usage of the bed, storage and disposable pillows.

In conclusion, Bed-in-a-Wall does not aim to replace the conventional hotels or new space-rental services, but to propose a new type of sleeping habit, one that would encourage people to take more afternoon naps. As they say: when all else fails, take a nap.

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TEAM: Tsz Ying Victoria Tong, Jia Min Wong, Sora Kang, Janani Rajeswaran, Arina Roszali – University of Sheffield

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers and transport businesses.
One of their common features is their large open plan. The large open plan is needed for numerous factors like the loading of docks, constant movement of the workers and storage space. This began to give us a source of inspiration for our hotel proposal. We began to wonder how this open space can be used as a form of interaction and movement in a fun way. This is where ‘The Big Socket’ evolved.
Our aim is to design a suitable hotel scheme for tourists who are looking for an affordable accommodation and an ideal location to get to know the area. During a visit to Sheffield, we discovered an empty derelicted warehouse. As there are many unused warehouses, it was more practical to use an existing building and bringing it back to life again by accommodating people. Our proposal will mainly focus on the of a warehouse where there are budget travel possibilities.

Sheffield City is located in South Yorkshire. The city has grown from its huge industrial roots to encircle a wider economic base.
The industrial nature of Sheffield links to warehouses as warehouses are usually located in manufacturing areas. Warehouses play a role in delivering goods to hotels and also lead to travel linking to our proposal. What makes Sheffield popular? During the 19th century, it has gained a reputation for steel production including the innovation of crucibles and stainless steel.

Our proposal, ‘The Big Socket’, aims to provide an open space to foster budget travellers to interact. We aim to provide privacy in a shared atmosphere preventing isolation. We decided to keep everyone connected in boxes. These boxes are large enough to install furniture and create your own personal bedroom space. The boxes are not too large in order to reduce weight and enhance mobility. They can be moved and adjusted freely according to the needs of their use. The boxes are insulated and lightened by being connected to a socket below. The sockets planted under the floor allow the whole box to be plugged in therefore making it easy to move and settle into a comfortable space with the box. The bathroom, kitchen and laundry areas are in fixed locations therefore only the bedrooms are able to be moved around. The decision of having many boxes to create various environments was made to improve the quality of interaction and social lifestyles of people as well as maintaining a sense of privacy.

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TEAM: Michael Abel – University of Toronto

The Annual Membership Co-Working Hotel for Flexible, Independent Contract Workers

The relationship between architecture and human habits has changed considerably since the 20th century due to our media. It is estimated by 2020 that 40% of the American workforce will be independent contract workers. This rapidly growing number has ultimately caused many workers to ‘internalize’ to a domestic setting where all aspects of life have physically blurred together. This problem is explored through the form of a hotel, a program which has a long history of combining working, living and leisure, making other typologies redundant.

Assembly Hotel interprets this typology as a possibility to challenge the boundaries of public and private space: to re-insert a dose of the public sphere into working and to externalize leisure as it once was. Assembly Hotel reflects the international bourgeoisie, a class of university educated professionals that are under pressure to be flexible, always traveling and always working. Assembly Hotel attempts to do this collectively [interacting with strangers], a notion which has been [re]normalized with new media like Uber, Airbnb, and WeWork. Assembly Hotel transforms rent into a monthly membership fee which grants individual access to a room, amenities, and workspace every night of the year in one the Hotel’s many locations worldwide.

The location of the project is in Hudson Square, New York City, which is a rapidly developing area above Tribeca which recently doubled its F.A.R from 5 to 10. The massing of this building is simple: One cannot go from a Hotel bedroom straight to the Co-Working Office without entering a Transfer Level where the hotel and co-working space “intersect”, creating a semi-public “buffer” zone. In a nostalgic sense of things, and if we think of this building as a city within itself, a self- contained container, then Assembly Hotel has attempted to appropriate a sense of “being in this world”, of entering the public domain. The Hotel Rooms are on the lower levels of Assembly Hotel with Co-Working separated upwards, making the space of production the “penthouse.”

A typical Hotel room is about 35 SQM. In this hotel room, the activities of living, working, and leisure, are blurred together. You work on your bed with your laptop, you participate in online leisurely games, you order seamless.com food etc. You never have to leave. Assembly Hotel finds this problematic. The result is an exercise which separates activities and redistributes say, the desk, tv, couch collectively. By hyper-focusing program, the hotel room is only for sleeping and waste. Long stay units are 25 SQM and short term stay units are 12-7 SQM. With these dimensions, around 350 units equal 5,605 SQM as opposed to 350 typical 35 SQM units equaling 12,205 SQM. The remaining 6,600 SQM allows Assembly hotel to re distribute the square footage to create new program like Co-Working Space and Baths.

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TEAM: Haraga Alexandru-Andrei, Popa Ionuț – Universitatea Tehnică din Cluj Napoca

The Chu Chu Chu Song

As I walked through the valley of happiness

As I walked through the valley of happiness

I saw at the distance, a long smiling train

I saw at the distance, a long smiling train

He was so quiet, just like a tree

He was so quiet, just like a tree

“C’mon up…and talk to me”, he said

“C’mon up… and talk to me”

Chorus:

We’re travelling the world

Staying in the same spot

Travelling … But what ?

Is the train moving ? Or the houses ?

I got down, on the railway platform

I got down, on the railway platform

Trying to get in one of those houses

Trying to get in one of those houses

When the houses stopped, I tried to get in

When the houses stopped, I tried to get in

But the room was a bed, my God! A huge bed!

But the room was a bed, my God! A huge bed!

Chorus

I jumped on the bed while watching the landscape

I jumped on the bed while watching the landscape

On the shutters then I saw, big jolly mirrors

On the shutters then I saw, big jolly mirrors

Chorus

Outside, inside, outside, inside

Outside, inside, outside, inside

Outside, inside, outside, inside

Outside, inside, outside, me

Back on the platform I got so tired

Back on the platform I got so tired

I just fell asleep, there on the ground

I just feel asleep, there on the ground

Chorus x2

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TEAM: Jennifer Miller – Curtin University Perth Western Australia

Sleepy Surf Shacks are designed for every ocean lover who appreciates being close to the water, beach and nature.

The hotel comes in units which can be installed on site. Depending how many units are needed, the amount of shacks can vary. Each shack accomodates up to two people.

The layout of the design is focused towards the beach. Bedroom is facing the ocean,open kitchen allows view onto the ocean before the surf, followed by the bathroom and surf racks in front the units.

The green roof allows blending in with sorrounding dunes and vegetation. The angle of the roof allows adequated rainage for plants planted on roof.

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TEAM: Alessandra Pusceddu – Università Degli Studi di RomaTre

Room for a city

Rome, 2016. Enter today from their smartphone to an application that allows you in real time to rent a car in car-sharing has become an daily action and routine, especially in a city like Rome, where traffic and shortage of parking facilities a choice like that. Why, then, can there be a difference for the room of a hotel? The proposed project aims at the ease with which the means of transport and communication now allow us to be more connected with the rest of the world: now not only have changed the concepts of space and time, but many other situations that only a decade ago there seemed unthinkable, they have now become absolutely routine daily actions; the same way to travel, as well as his reasons (leisure, work, adventure …) have changed greatly over time, and with it also the place where you stay during our trips. Today more than ever we’re looking for the best accommodation in the center, well connected to infrastructure, mobility services and daily life (bars, restaurants, shops, but also laundries, pharmacies …), or a hotel near the cultural centers and the major monuments; then think of the possibility of “sleeping” (and more!) in front of the Colosseum, rather than on top of the Palatine Hill, in Monte Mario or why not on the Belvedere del Pincio, Villa Pamphili or Piazza Venezia: three types of rooms – modules K – prefabricated, self-sufficient from an energy standpoint, can be placed and removed at any place with facility. The essential idea is to create a kind of ubiquitous hotel, a network of small rooms in the most beautiful and characteristic place of a city, a very low environmental impact, fully mobile and bonding for most combinations (individual or village) that can offer a ‘experience quite different to those who, for whatever reason, is to stay in a city. This is supported by a simple app – like Car2Go- that allows you to book a room available at the place you like, close to the center and surrounded by nature, a few steps from the metro rather than in front of a historical monument! Look for, click, book and go to sleep, four actions that are normal but which are seen in the perspective of “sharing”, to share these spaces immersed in our contemporary cities, not like the rooms of a hotel (which aim instead to a feeling similar to the “feel at home”) but rather to a sort of camping in the city but in a luxurious room! This project is meant to be a game, a provocation to those who are today our fees in choosing a hotel room or the hotel itself, distorting the idea of individual living a city, instead looking for the feeling of the community, the share and of opening towards what is now a society that tends more and more to the isolation of the individual.

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TEAM: Yildiz Tavacioglu, Cansu Berksan, Mia Krezic, Betül Küpeli – Technical University of Vienna, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

need a sleeping? – just pull it

This project lays its focus on the strategies of the accommodation for people who are looking for a temporary housing. Room to go proposes a spatial strategy for Vienna, which can be a prototype for other cities. In order to understand the dynamics and aspects which must be re-thought from the perspective of a social architec- ture and urban planning, we should re-think the aspect of sleeping.

Our main concept reflects the policy in Austria on spatial condi- tions and considers the issue using urban and spatial approaches. The nation-wide system, the urban context, the interior design and self-organization to provide an unconventional accommodation are main areas of our thought. In search of new accommodation strategies during the conceptualization this project establishes a differentiated spatial system that may be constituted from different spaces of privacy.

The contemporary city despite its problems (such as the impacts of hardcore neoliberalism, privatization, population growth, unaf- fordable housing, peripheries which grow into ghettos etc.) provides a great potential with its infrastructure and network. Therefore the use and appropriation of standing empty spaces/ vacancy with its diversity and complexity are treated on multiple levels: spatial , legal and organizational. The fact that Austria has no verified vacancy System this project could open a plattform to provide data counts. Room to go can be placed in any open or closed space. According to §71 in the building regulations accommodations can be placed temporarily.

The rising rents make the access to affordable rooms impossible for people who are in the creative sector and in precarious situations. In addition, questions for creative uses of social, cultural and artis- tic groups have also to be questioned. Our starting point was the questioning of the existing housing structures. In order to find a new way of handling with the topic of sleeping, we designed a light structured mobile sleeping accommodation.

Our design is light structured in two ways, the first one is the materi- al choice, which means aluminium panels held with an plasticified aluminium construct. The second meaning refers to the handling of the room itself, which you can see in the functional diagrams. The portable sleeping room offers 6m2 in its closed form, and 9m2 in its full developed shape. Both, Room to go and the rent place can be chosen and booked via an application. It can be delivered or collected by the customer.