The Future Hotel Forms By LAVA

The Future Hotel forms part of the IAO Inhaus2, a program that focuses on meeting the expectations and requirements of hotel guests using tomorrow’s technology. Sydney and Stuttgart based Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) was founded a little over a year ago with a clear manifesto in mind: to continually define new boundaries in the creation of architectural visions and city space. They wanted their research and design to allow the evolution of architectural and urban design outcomes inaccessible through traditional methodologies. As part of a research collaboration with the Fraunhofer IAO (Institute for Work Organisation) LAVA has designed the Future Hotel Showcase Room, a demonstration project that investigates the interfaces between architecture, technology and the human body, focusing on meeting the expectations and requirements of hotel guests using tomorrow’s technology.

Aiming for a calm yet stimulating space, LAVA designed a room where all services are integrated into a continuous wall system. The free-form outer skin creates the infrastructure that becomes the interface between technology and the human body, and a combination of soft and hard materials offers a well-balanced transition between functional spaces. Comparisons can be made to Zaha Hadid’s contribution to room design in Hotel Puerta America in Madrid.

With human comfort being of paramount concern in the Future Hotel Room, technology has been designed to function almost invisibly in the background, whilst providing the opportunity for individual control of media, light and interior climate. Some of the room’s features include anti-jet-lag lights, active comfort bed, personal spa area, intelligent mirror and a large fully integrated media display window. The 36,7 sq m Future Hotel room is currently open as part of the Fraunhofer Inhaus Project in Duisburg, Germany.

The collaboration between the project partners generated many new insights and discoveries, many which will be implemented in LAVA’s upcoming hotel projects in the U.A.E. The vision of the Future Hotel Showcase could thus become a reality sooner than expected.