It is our great pleasure to announce that our 4th semester BA Interior Architecture/Interior Design students Karolina Ody and Christopher Schwarz received the 2nd Prize at the Accor Design Awards 2022 with their project: The Store.
Together with Nerea Contreras Benito and her project: The Fashion Atelier, both teams reached the finals and were among the three winners.
Among the numerous participants with over 100 projects from 16 institutions from 12 different countries, our BA Interior Architecture/Interior Design students made it to the 10 finalists of the competition this year.
Having already convinced the jury, both projects also won the public vote.
Congratulations!
by Karolina Ody & Christopher Schwarz
The idea behind "The Store '' concept stands for the potential & possibilities that any hotel-shop/ store around the world holds with in. Most hotel shops are rather poorly equipped with plain postcards, unpersonal keyholders or products like sunscreen or shampoo from multinational brands. But what if instead of the Nivea sunscreen you missed at home, The store would provide you with local products, foods & experiences that you would not get anywhere else in the world? We would like to explain our concept in more depth and detail in our hotel in Berlin-Pankow. However, we want to emphasize that this concept can be transferred into any hotel, in any region in the world. Our hotel concept in Berlin-Pankow follows the philosophy of self-sufficiency. Growing, farming & harvesting are all parts of our "farm-to-fork policy". We try to produce as many different foods & products in our fields as possible. For those items that we are unable to produce inhouse, we partner firstly with local distributors and secondly with growers spread across Germany who practice sustainable agriculture and ethical farming. Those principles are also applicable to our Berlin hotel store. We included several different functions in our two-story shop to provide the best experience for our hotel guests from all over the world as well as include and benefit the community that lives near the hotel.
by Nerea Contreras Benito
The Fashion Atelier wants to help the hospitality industry engage in the change towards a more sustainable society. That is why it proposes to re-think the traditional hotel gift shop into something that offers a more meaningful experience for its guests and at the same time cultivates a strong connection to the hotel’s neighborhood. With a strong focus on fashion, this repurposed space hosts creative workshops where locals and guests come together and learn the art of fashion design. To optimize its use, it can easily be transformed into a fashion store that offers the clothing of local fashion designers as a memory for guests to take with them. Nerea did a lot of urban analysis and used this research for her project wisely. From the beginning, her idea was to create a connection between the creative industries of the area and the hotel. Her focus was local fashion design so she designed a large space which is dedicated to a fashion workshop that acts also as a platform for local designers.
The Accor Design Awards are a yearly worldwide competition dedicated to interior design students that illustrate Accor long-standing engagement to discover new talents and new trends by exploring institutions’ vision.
