HBG Design named a Rising Giant by Interior Design Magazine
HBG Design's interior design team has been named a Rising Giant in the 2020 ID Rising Giants list by Interior Design Magazine. To see the full list visit Interior Design Magazine.
HBG Design Named Top Workplace for 6th Consecutive Year
HBG Design has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2020 honor by The Commercial Appeal. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage, LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 drivers of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.
This year HBG Design was also recognized as THE top workplace for outstanding benefits. This is the second time HBG has been singled out for the strength of the firm's benefits with this special Top Workplace award.
"To be awarded this honor by you – our employees – for the sixth time in a row speaks volumes about the strength of our culture and our future," said Terri Struminger, COO at HBG Design, as she addressed staff at the annual State of the Firm event.
To see more visit The Commercial Appeal.
HBG Design Talks Sportsbook Design in Casino Design Magazine
See full article in Casino Design Magazine.
Sportsbooks are the new hot item in casinos, so how do you design a sportsbook that competes, but also compliments your app?
https://issuu.com/globalgamingbusiness/docs/casino_20style_20magazine_202020/34
Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Shines in Casino Style Magazine
See full article in Casino Style Magazine
https://issuu.com/globalgamingbusiness/docs/casino_20style_20magazine_202020/6
HBG Design is the Architect of first new-build Caption by Hyatt
See full article in Memphis Business Journal
Developing a new hotel right now is extremely difficult. But, it's apparently not impossible.
Carlisle LLC CEO Chance Carlisle told the MBJ Oct. 22 he is set to close financing within two weeks and start construction by the end of November on One Beale's second hotel.
He knows that sounds risky, as the global pandemic rages on, but he's bullish on Downtown Memphis and the way a second hotel will complement the rest of One Beale.
"My confidence to start construction on the [second hotel] is a combination of my faith in our partnership with Hyatt, the strength of the [Caption by Hyatt] brand, and the belief by our partners in a resurgence in Downtown," Carlisle said. "Both our lenders and Hyatt strongly believe this will be highly successful."
Caption by Hyatt is a brand new limited-service flag that's largely targeted toward millennials. A property in Los Angeles is being converted into the first one; the Memphis location will be the first new-build property.
"[It's for] someone who appreciates good food and beverage [and] wants to be in the middle of the action, not the closest hotel off of the highway," Carlisle said. "It is a hangout hotel."
Carlisle said the new hotel's guests will benefit greatly from being next door to the full-service Centric — with its rooftop bar and abundance of meeting rooms — while paying less.
With the Centric set to open in March 2021, Carlisle is hoping the Caption will be ready by March 2022 — in time to take reservations for Memphis in May. It is set to contain almost 140 rooms on 10 floors.
See our new insights on navigating Covid-19 in Indian Gaming Magazine
See article in Indian Gaming Magazine
Insights from HBG Design Principal, Dike Bacon:
NAVIGATION: HBG Design has historically been able to navigate through industry challenges in a nimble fashion – and that hasn’t changed with COVID-19. Like many professional services firms around the country, we transitioned both our Memphis and San Diego offices to a work-from-home model in response to COVID-19. We were pro-active with this decision before local government directives required it. Our primary goal was and still is to keep our staff safe and healthy. Fortunately, we had plenty of very sophisticated technological platforms and accessible infrastructure in place to move swiftly and be fully operational in a matter of days.
Regarding our tribal clients, we have been fortunate in that much of our work has continued to progress. A number of our projects have continued through planning and design phases. It seems many clients have proactively decided to continue to advance their projects and get them ready for construction when the timing is right. We also have a number of projects that were in construction pre-COVID-19 and these have continued to progress through the pandemic. A big part of this success is attributed to construction companies that implemented numerous health and safety protocols in order to keep projects on schedule.
DRAWING CUSTOMERS: We have been studying the re-design of a number of the typical resort amenities. One of the most important has been food and beverage. We think that design solutions that respond to spacing requirements and COVID-19 restrictions should be flexible and adaptable as conditions continue to change and improve. This means more modular systems and easily modified seating arrangements that can actually create a feeling of luxury and exclusivity. The temporary re-use of existing conference and meeting space has been in recent discussions. The conference business will come back but in the interim these large spaces can creatively and temporarily be used for gaming space. Wiring, security and ingress/egress have to be addressed but it can work. In the right climates, increased outdoor activities may continue to be a very successful way to serve higher numbers of guests and keep the proper distances.
Indian Gaming Magazine Spotlights Desert Diamond West Valley Casino
Located in the heart of a bustling entertainment and sports district in Glendale, AZ, outside Phoenix, the highly anticipated $400 million Desert Diamond West Valley Casino officially opened on February 19, 2020, creating a unique synergy with the surrounding entertainment options to deliver a truly unique experience for regional gaming patrons.
Top 5 nationally-ranked hospitality and entertainment designers, HBG Design Memphis/San Diego, created the casino’s strikingly bold and sophisticated exterior and interior aesthetic, including the 75,000 sq. ft. casino floor, five uniquely designed restaurants and two eye-catching feature bars – the Edge Bar and the two-story Rock Bar.
With the stunning Sonoran Desert as a backdrop, the new 1.2 million square foot casino design is derived from the design team’s project concept called ‘The Dynamic Earth,’ a unique interpretation of the desert’s abundance, significant to the Tohono O’odham Nation.
As Featured in Indian Gaming: Dike Bacon Talks Covid Casino Resort Design Solutions
Read the Indian Gaming Covid-19 Article Here
As history has proven time and again, calamity often brings opportunity. Some of the best ideas and solutions developed by mankind have been the result of adversity and necessity. Indian gaming will thrive again – but things will be different. How different remains to be seen.
What we already know is that guests and employees have an expectation that owners of hotels, casinos, restaurants, etc., are making cleanliness, health safety and wellness a top priority. As new health standards are integrated into a property, innovative design solutions can play a key role in influencing the perception or ‘optics’ of cleanliness and safety, without diminishing the sense of luxury expected in the hospitality experience. No one wants to stay in a hotel room that looks and feels clinical like a hospital. These design changes also don’t have to be inconvenient or even overt. Engaging designers to change the guest experience creatively and strategically to be healthier and more focused on their well-being is a clear property differentiator.
Of course, there isn’t one perfect formula for operating in the COVID-19 era. Protocols and regulations can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and tribe to tribe. What may work for a commercial gaming property might not work for an Indian Nation. There are distinct needs for short-term temporary fixes, but also long-term permanent solutions. This makes it even more important for operators and designers to partner together to ensure operational and design solutions are both durable and impervious from an aesthetic standpoint to meet the extended needs of guest safety and wellness.
Creative design solutions in the COVID-19 era reach beyond pure safety and wellness, they can also significantly impact a property’s bottom line – and increasing revenues is one of the most important objectives for owners right now. As an example, we’re currently developing a series of innovative design solutions for the casino floor to improve the guest experience and beat the current occupancy model. We’re also reimagining how guests are seated and served in restaurants to achieve social distancing and compartmentalization of spaces that will likely become the norm for the industry. Creative design can inform distancing of guests so that they perceive intimacy and exclusivity as opposed to separation. Small semi- private rooms and spaces and transparency of food preparation will become more commonplace. Buffets, of course, will change permanently, but the goal of a redesign is to maintain the original spirit of the buffet. Ideas such as conversions of buffets to food-hall type experiences is another example to explore.
The Indian gaming industry will rise out of this pandemic stronger than ever. It will flourish because of one fundamental premise – guests crave great experiences they can’t get anywhere else. They want to gamble and eat a great meal. They love to get away to see a show and stay at interesting hotels. They want to swim in a resort pool and be pampered in a luxurious spa. They want to get out of the house and be entertained. No matter what happens, that is never going to change.
HBG Design Weighs In: 'Pandemic brings new challenges to design concepts', by Hotel Business Magazine
In July’s Hotel Business Magazine, HBG Design Practice Leader, Rick Gardner, AIA, comments on recent challenges facing the hospitality and entertainment industry during these unprecedented times. The firm has been proactive in developing guest-oriented design solutions focused on health, safety and wellness.
“We like to think about change in hotel design in a post-pandemic world like this — if you were to pick up a hotel room and literally turn it upside down, everything that falls to the floor goes away. This means all the soft goods like bolster pillows, bed throws, etc. are eliminated; we’re leaning toward a clear simplification of materials, along with reducing non-washable materials – that could include shifting from curtains to washable blinds; using anti-viral and antimicrobial fabrics in the guestroom; and anti-microbial grout in the bathrooms. Surfaces will change and transform — we’re looking at LVT instead of carpet; new and improved filtration systems and air handling; and making touchpoints touchless, using technology like Alexa and Google to a greater extent – leveraging voice control to reduce need for surface contact to turn on lights, the TV, the shower, etc.”
