Q&A: Paul Vega Understands Client, Customer Needs

by Mary Scoviak, Contributing Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 12/1/2007

Paul Vega Le Méridien

HOTELS: What convinced you to cross over into in hotel design and what new things did you want to say with the Duane Street Hotel and other projects?

Vega: As an architect and traveler, I was always interested in hospitality design. Initially, that interest was from the guest’s point of view. However my interest and professional experience were piqued during my time spent collaborating with David Rockwell. This collaborative period afforded me the opportunity to develop designs that were equally aesthetic and functional.

Duane Street was interesting because of the “historic nature of Tribeca within the city of New York, the owners’ mission statement and the constraints of the property. Our intention was to develop a modern, luxurious and comfortable design with notions of historicism rooted in the context.

HOTELS: What have been the biggest changes in design versus the traditional hotels?

Vega: Guests are more aware of the aesthetic and functional aspects of hotels. In addition, we live in an extraordinary time where one can be on the other side of the world within 14 hours, exploring different worlds and cultures. This portability allows designers to create designs based upon a variety of circumstances previously unknown.

HOTELS: What will be the biggest changes impacting the projects you have on the drawing boards now? How much has that been inspired by fashion, how much by guests’ preferences and changes in their lifestyles and how much by operational requirements or owners' needs?

Vega: Philosophically, it is important to understand the clients’ needs, both the owner’s and the guest’s, and to develop a design sensitive to their needs, the context and, of course, my own point of view. I have always endeavored to balance functional and aesthetic requirements, but I would lean slightly toward the aesthetic if a compromise situation arose.

The studio has been fortunate to design several residential projects globally and a few commercial and residential projects in New York City. We blend local building/cultural traditions; whether from the neighborhood as in Duane Street or from the region, as developed in a residence designed overlooking the Caribbean in Rincon, Puerto Rico. I try to infuse my modern design sensibilities while maintaining a humanistic approach for those who’ll inhabit the construction.

Exterior of Duane Street, New York City.

Vega: Inhabitants of any architectural space must be challenged in a way that is not disorienting or uncomfortable, as evidenced in some recent architectural constructs. Architecture, and by extension interior architecture, must address the basic human needs of comfort, shelter, etc. but it also must elevate one’s spirit—nurturing both the physical and emotional.

HOTELS: What sets apart your designs?

Vega: Hopefully there is an honesty to our projects based upon a belief in underlying order, geometry, juxtaposition, truth in the material and, most importantly, the ‘journey through the spaces’ that ensures a guest’s sense of arrival to a special place from the curb until they are ready for bed.

HOTELS: How much can designers tell clients what to do, and how much do they have to be a conduit?

Vega: I’ve been fortunate to have collaborated with clients, developers, chefs, families, who share a similar outlook and desire for their particular projects. They have all been great collaborations. Of course, there are moments of ‘divergence’ but ultimately the desire for the best design solution and a belief in my abilities has been appreciated.

HOTELS: How is technology influencing you and inspiring you? What is possible in terms of lighting, art, customization of the experience?

Vega: ‘Personal portability’ of technology is quite interesting and will continue to intrigue me. That is where customization of the ‘experience’ should end. The designer, hopefully, provides a ‘point of view’ for a particular project and location. As a user, I relish an interesting design and will only alter it with my technology or music or images that I carry with me. The last thing I’d like after a long journey is to ‘design my suite.’

HOTELS: How do you enable a hotel to tell its own story?

Vega: Our design briefs describe and portray a narrative journey for the guests and their experiential understanding of it. The narrative may not be readily visible or understandable, but having this as an underlying theme is more relevant.

HOTELS: Do chain hotels, even boutique concepts, have individual stories or will they become standardized?

Vega: I search for hotels that have a story to tell and look forward to experiencing another designer’s/owner’s story telling. I currently serve as vice president of design for Le Méridien. I was vice president of design for W Hotels (also a Starwood Hotels & Resorts brand) from August 2005 through 2007 during an unprecedented period of global growth for the brand. I ‘art directed’ W with the W design and brand teams and exceptional outsourced designers to create 30 new properties and re-imagine the 20 operational hotels that exist today.

Our goal was to remove any standardization that existed, develop unique design responses for each property/location and ensure a guest experience that was true to W’s core values: Flirty, insider, escape.

Guestroom at Duane Street, New York City.

HOTELS: What do deals such as Marriott/Schrager signal for the future of hotel design?

Vega: Although Ian (Schrager) is credited with the creation of the “boutique hotel” genre, W has taken it to another level by excelling at incorporating the best (boutique) attributes: creation of a personality for each hotel and creation of an unforgettable guest experience while delivering Starwood’s operational expertise, which is unparalleled. The merger is a testament to the success of W/Starwood and will only inspire the W Brand to continue its evolution and popularity with W’s guests.

HOTELS: People seem to be rediscovering the joys of food, wine and dining out. How is that influencing kitchen design?

Vega: Here the collaboration with the chef is critical. There are so many ‘open kitchen’ concepts that are unjustified and add nothing to the dining experience. If the process is to be exposed to guest view, it must engage and enhance that experience.

Restaurants that are designed to be purposefully ‘stylish’ run out of appeal in a short time. Timelessness in design, service and cuisine is always most appealing, whether it’s casual or not. This does not imply that innovation is discarded. To me, Modernism, the notion of exploring and learning from the past, gaining inspiration and adjusting to make it relevant to our current status—this is innovation at its finest. Architecture, cuisine and all of the arts must continually strive for innovation.

HOTELS: Other than your own designs, whose designs do you like and why?

Vega: I appreciate those interior designers/architects that continually evolve their design aesthetic to compliment the cultural and architectural context. Architecturally, Jean Nouvel (the Paris-based architectural force behind the W Dubai and the Belfiore in Florence) is exceptional.

HOTELS: Are budgets big enough, or is it still up the designer to get more bang for the buck?

Vega: Ultimately, the project budget is based upon the financial criteria of the project. Designers must be astute and ingenious in their designs in order to create innovative environments. The best spaces do not always have the highest budgets but the most creative designers. It’s most important to ensure the selection of an appropriate designer even though there fee may initially seem too high. This is the wisest use of limited funds.

HOTELS: What would be your ideal hotel of the future and what would it look like?

Vega: Anything intriguing and certainly not ‘prototypical.’

HOTELS: How is uniform design changing?

Vega: Uniforms are no longer standardized. They should reflect the character and personality of the environment. Materials should relate to these conditions.

HOTELS: What do's and don'ts would you recommend for operators thinking about new hotel design or renovations?  

Vega:  Don’t second guess novel decisions designers make without truly understanding and appreciating the idea.

HOTELS: What is your training/background?

Vega: I am a licensed architect having gained my experience from large and small design and architecture firms, a prolific and innovative real estate development company, and of course my own studio.

HOTELS: What was your biggest mistake?

Vega: Not being sufficiently persuasive when I had an innovative idea.

HOTELS: Which of your hotels is your favorite and why?

Vega: I love all of my children equally but Duane Street has some interesting ideas that hopefully will be evident to the guests.

HOTELS: What is the most innovative single thing you have done and what was the impact?

Vega: Tough question. I still have a few years left and I’ll let you know when I reach that milestone.

HOTELS: If you could have gotten one project that went to someone else, what would it be?

Vega: We had the opportunity to develop a small cultural center in an interesting industrial building with concrete silos and fabulous spatial opportunities. Our concept was something akin to a ‘modern version of a Piranesi etching,” very cool, dramatic and elegant in an unpolished manner.

HOTELS: Do you prefer new build or renovation?

Vega:  Renovations have so many constraints. They are most challenging and ultimately most rewarding. However, the opportunity to design a new building and coordinate the interior is the ultimate goal which unfortunately, I’ve realized only with our residences.

HOTELS: Will sense of place ever go out of style?

Vega: Sense of place is the one attribute that is generally lacking in the majority of hospitality designs. It is the most important ‘guest definer’ after service. I don’t believe the specificity of design to a gender or nationality is critical as long as the fundamental needs are respected and fulfilled and their emotions are elevated.

HOTELS: What are the new must haves?

Vega: Personally tailored guest experiences.