A Grand celebration of a decade
In 2007, ara Design celebrated its tenth anniversary. Andre Avedian and Harry Gregory have made ara Design one of the leading Interior Design companies in the world. Having recently re-designed the Grand Hyatt in Amman, Jordan, we spoke to both designers about this project and about how far the company has come in the last ten years......
The Grand Hyatt hotel in Amman, Jordan, has been open for business for almost ten years - roughly the same amount of time that its taken ara Design to establish itself at the forefront of modern hotel design. In that decade, ara Design has helped design some landmark buildings: from high-end residential properties in London to larger hospitality projects like the Hilton Hotel in Warsaw, Poland. The company has grown from a London based one to that of a global one, and now has offices in Asia and the Middle East. So who better to re-design the Grand Hyatt's unique property in Amman? 
The brief for the Ground Floor public areas of the Grand Hyatt Amman that was given to ara Design was simple. As Harry explains: "The brief which included the Lobby Lounge area, was to create a very special restaurant which could "stand alone in any major city of the world". It was not meant to be an All Day Dining experience as before, but more of a destination restaurant with a "wow factor" whose reputation would grow and grow over the years.
"However, having said that, the space still had to cater for the hotel's guests at breakfast and also at lunchtime. So in effect, it still had to function as a "24-hour" restaurant/all day dining experience...with a difference! The F&B brief was for a "seafood and champagne" restaurant which caused several gasps of surprise, even though meat and a variety of other dishes are also on the menu. There are truly not many types of this restaurant in Jordan so this was going to be something totally unique to the restaurant-going public of Amman." All of these factors amounted to a "tricky" design brief for ara - but not an unachievable one. Harry: "It is truly five-star hotel and is now even more special as we've added an outdoor terrace, which never existed before. It is the spot to be seen in Amman."Harry continued: "The Terrace and the Lobby Lounge with views across Amman is a very beautiful and romantic area of the hotel. These areas work really well with a combination of both the the light effect at dusk and also the city lights."
Harry also explained how ara used different approaches for the Restaurant to create a number of uses for the existing space: "The space was completely re-planned and designed to provide various intimate dining locations. We had four centrally placed columns which could not be re-located and it seemed an ideal opportunity to create an island bar within this space using the columns as a frame. The island unit was decided upon and provides the perfect amount of space to display the morning buffet but more importantly perhaps provides the most amazing island seafood bar counter in the evening, a place to sip champagne and vodka, sample the fantastic seafood creations or just take in the general buzz and atmosphere!"
Providing the ‘wow factor' for the Grand Hyatt's restaurant was achieved through a variety of ingenious devices. Harry continues: "In order to give the restaurant "something special" we commissioned a light feature located directly above the island bar. This element changes colour according to the time of day and provides various moods which alter the ambience of this space. It is a soft white colour during breakfast time but in the evening changes to various hues of delicate blue. The tapering shape was achieved by hand trimming in situ by the manufacturing company!
"The bar counter is back lit and in the morning has a fresh awaking white colour while in the evening it changes to more subdued blue colours to accompany the fibre optic light feature...colours to evoke feelings of the sea! "ara worked closely with Elektra Lighting on all aspects of interior architectural lighting for both the restaurant and the Lobby Lounge areas. In Harry's own words, "In Amman ‘32 Degrees North' has become the place to go for some of the best food in town. It is no longer "just" a breakfast room that serves dinner but is the talking point of the town. Coupled with the brand new elegant Lobby Lounge and stunning outdoor Terrace it has breathed new life into the Grand Hyatt Amman and serves its clients admirably.
"In this type of city, it's a given that hotels are used as meeting areas and places to be seen. This therefore produces guests who are quite loyal and favour a particular hotel - so as well as the particular look and design of a hotel, it is also down to the service, the staff and the amenities on offer. The Grand Hyatt meets this expectation with the added factor that is is more cutting edge than others."
Working on a hotel in the Middle East comes with a number of cultural considerations. As the area becomes a playground for even more adventurous construction and design, the challenge to do something different has to be tapered with the need to ensure that the project fits in with the local customs. Harry reflects on how the Grand Hyatt Amman achieved this: "One of the main ongoing issues in the Middle East is security and this is always taken into consideration in the space planning and design stages, and then they do use hotels differently in the Middle East because they tend to congregate there as a meeting place and not just for dinner. The lobbies double up as social gathering areas.
"People can stay there having tea, having meetings so you have to consider seating arrangements and capacity, that kind of thing." Andre Avedian, founder of ara Design, continues on the same theme: "Of course there are many cultural considerations, it would be foolish to think you can adopt the same approach as in Europe, or even Asia for that matter. The local culture needs to be respected and honoured. We are currently working on designs for dry hotels and hotels with separate function rooms for men and women - and obviously the bathrooms can't be facing Mecca! "There is also so much rich history within areas of the Middle East that to ignore this would be ignorant and a massive oversight/faux pas as a designer.
"Business is also done differently in the Middle East - for one there are a number of people involved in each project that you need to meet, before you are even introduced to the key decision makers. There are a lot of turnkey projects and the turnaround times for producing proposals are very fast track. In many instances you are asked to deliver something yesterday. Unless it's Ramadan of course and then the pace slows down altogether..."
The current trend for ground-breaking designs is in the Middle East, rather than in the UK or Western Europe, and is happening for a number of reasons. Andre spoke about why he thinks this is happening at the moment: "They (owners and operators) are becoming more and more adventurous as time goes on. That, teamed with the fact that budget constraints are different in the Middle East in comparison to Europe and Asia, opens the spectrum even wider for us. Generally speaking the material costs are lower, and labour costs we know are dramatically different to Europe. This gives hotel operators and owners the scope and financial freedom to push architectural and design boundaries further - client aspirations are also sometimes more diverse."
Integrating new design work into the hotel and the existing surroundings can sometimes be a difficult task, especially when coupled with the desires of the brand in charge of the hotel itself. Harry explained how ara managed to integrate their designs into the plans of the Grand Hyatt, Amman. "It (the Grand Hyatt Amman) integrates very well. The building itself is made from local Jordanian stone, all buildings in Jordan are made from local stone and this one is no different. It's designed to be sympathetic to the buildings surrounding it. I firmly believe that Hotels should do both really, be creatively individual and also integrate and sit well with their surrounds. "Brand standards affect what we do as designers quite a bit. You usually have to adhere to their standards but you can play around within those. It depends on, again, who the owner is, the design goals, how creative they'll let us be and the budget. The budget always plays a big part."
In addition, another major consideration in the construction and design of not only the ground floor of the Grand Hyatt Amman, but any new project that you care to mention, is that of sustainability. Harry Gregory continues: "Sustainability and global warming are becoming more and more important in designs across the globe. For example, we're working on a project in the Seychelles where we are looking at introducing solar panels.
In general we try and utilise local energy efficient systems. We will always consider specifying recycled/environmentally friendly products it we can and all three of our global offices are green so as to try to minimise our impact on the environment. As regular flyers we always offset our carbon emissions!" ara Design operates three offices, globally - London, Bali and the newest of which is located in the Dubai. Andre spoke about the objectives of this office and why it's necessary for ara Design, in its tenth year and as a growing company to expand into the Middle East. "We opened our office in Dubai to provide a base for our existing Middle East clients, of which we are working with a number in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The UAE and in particular Dubai seemed an obvious choice for us to base ourselves and bearing in mind we only established in Dubai in March 07, we are very happy with the response and reception we have received so far. We exhibited at the HOTEL SHOW that took place in Dubai in June and there was a lot of interest in what we do and it proved to be a key event to launch ourselves in the UAE. I'm hoping that we grow steadily in the Middle East as we have done so in London and Bali. We've been short listed for a number of projects in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, so I guess time will tell. "But saying that we are involved in a variety of projects around the globe, the most exciting to date is the first Shangri-la in Europe, which will be based in the city of Vienna which is due to open at the end of 2009. We have developed a very good relationship with the Shangri-La Development team and are working closely with them to produce the next landmark in Vienna.
Fortunately, (and I touch wood when I say this) we have not been in the position where we have to actively seek new business, our reputation, strong and lengthy client relationships tend to mean that we are the ones that are approached rather than in the position where we have to approach. ara Design's anniversary celebrates a decade of steady growth, investment in good people and working on some of the most exciting projects around the globe. Andre spoke about how he and Harry celebrated, and what the last ten years has meant: "We (Harry and I) took the entire company away to Vienna as a celebration and thank you to the team for helping us achieve all we have in the last decade. It was a wonderful trip and much fun was had by all."
"The projects we have worked on - from the small to the very large - each one has its own merits and has fulfilled us in many different ways. The fact the company has grown from a UK based organisation to a global company with bases in Asia and the Middle East is something we are incredibly proud of. We still enjoy tremendously what we do and are also extremely proud of the fact that we are continuing to produce some amazing work; and yes, we are confident that we will continue to do so for the next decade (at least!)."