Frame #140

The May/June 2021 issue of Frame explores how hotels are becoming inner-city escapes, answering the call of travellers looking for antidotes to their busy work and home lives.

After closing the books on its toughest year to date, the hotel industry is still in the midst of a period of serious uncertainty. City hotels, once heavily reliant on business travellers, major events and conferences, are having to rethink their position. We look at how accommodations in and around major metropolises are turning inwards, diverging from the social-hotspot hotels that have dominated the airwaves over the past decade to provide places of rest and self-reflection instead.

Reporting From

Reporting from Ecuador’s capital city, Rómulo Moya Peralta argues that contemporary architecture is torn between paradoxes and contradictions. Joshua Zukas explores Hanoi’s relationship with mashrabiya façades: Will they make a comeback?

Business of Design

Why gaming is the furniture industry’s next growth market. How long until you can download a Ducasse? Should you invest in virtual furniture? Will remote working ensure co-living’s continued success?

In Practice

Artefact on creating spatial order in Seoul. Ace & Tate on rolling out responsible retail design. Yabu Pushelberg on portraying stories in every setting. Listen on the importance of sound in space.

Spaces

Semiotics agency Axis Mundi looks at how a new era of space exploration is inspiring otherworldly forms of interior design and architecture. What’s more, we explore how healthcare spaces are being designed with neurodiversity in mind, what physical flagship stores can do to stay relevant amid the massive shift to online and local commerce, and why the charging station will be the design challenge of the decade.

Hospitality Lab

While regional hotels will be a big draw for urbanites looking to escape the confines of smaller apartments – the spaces in which they’ve most likely spent more time than ever during the past year – city hotels are more reliant on business travellers, major events and conferences. But given the predictions that travellers will stay closer to home in the near future, what if city hotels could provide a similar experience to their more remote counterparts? What if they could offer city dwellers an easily accessible getaway without having to physically get (as far) away? Or invite travellers to experience a slower-paced side of a crowded tourist mecca? A number of new accommodations are answering the call. In bustling cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Seoul and Beijing, hotels are turning inwards and encouraging their guests to follow suit.

The Challenge: What’s next for urban getaways?

In the lead up to each issue, we challenge emerging designers to respond to the Frame Lab theme with a forward-looking concept. Lingering travel restrictions mean urbanites looking for an escape from daily life are more bound to their immediate surroundings, leaving local hospitality entrepreneurs questioning how to evolve to best serve them. To find answers, we asked three creative practices to share their ideas.

Market

Modular, recyclable and extendable furnishings. Highlights from Stockholm Design Week. How to harness solar energy with every surface.

Frame is a magazine devoted to interior design, architecture, product design and exhibition design.