Technology is changing the face of hospitality design – from team collaboration and design approach to the increased accessibility of enhanced design options, materials, and resources. By leveraging technology to maximize efficiency and improve design functionality, today’s hospitality designers can reduce costs, expand the usable life of projects, and elevate the overall design and guest experience.
Let’s take a look at the many ways technology is having a huge impact on traditional hotel design.
Approach and Methods
Digital presentations using conference calls and GoToMeeting are quickly replacing in-person meetings and conventional physical design boards. This makes it quicker and easier to collaborate with the entire project team, and also saves time and money in the form of travel and shipping costs of physical renderings and drawings.
Software programs like Photoshop and SketchUp are taking the place of standard hand renderings, as they offer the ability to more easily modify and update drawings as design changes are made. They can also show actual finishes, and furniture, fixtures, and equipment in elevations and models, which streamlines the design process.
Revit, a newer building information modeling program, gives hotel designers a completely different way of drafting. Now, we can create true 3D designs that show heights, widths, materials, fire ratings, sound ratings, and essentially all components of a design. Basically, we can create virtual living buildings where all design elements are represented and interrelated