Three Gold Awards for Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort!

We are thrilled to announce that our designs for Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, the Astral Spa at Oaklawn, and the Oak Room & Bar at Oaklawn have all won Gold Awards from the American Society of Interior Designers, South Central Chapter's 'Excellence in Design' Awards Program!

Hospitality/Living - Gold Award: Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort Expansion

Hospitality/Service - Gold Award: Astral Spa at Oaklawn Resort

Hospitality/Service - Gold Award: The Oak Room & Bar at Oaklawn Resort

Many thanks to our incredible team who made these projects possible and proud of the recognition from ASID South Central Chapter. @sc_asid

 


Gun Lake Casino: Tribal Gaming's Next Wave Integrated Resort

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS' TRIBAL GOVERNMENT GAMING MAGAZINE

Tribal Government Gaming Magazine, March 2023

Tribal Casinos 3.0
Integrated resorts were once the bailiwick of Las Vegas and Asia, but today’s tribal casinos are entering that territory eagerly.

Article Excerpt: Loaded Gun

The Gun Lake Casino was just a glimmer in the eye of Michigan’s Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, better known as the Gun Lake Tribe, when the Mashantucket Pequots opened Foxwoods in the early 1990s. In fact, at that time, the Gun Lake Tribe had only just applied for federal recognition, often a long and drawn-out process. But the tribe had all the required history and could back it up, so five years later, it achieved recognition and began the equally arduous process of taking land into trust for a reservation.

Five years after that, the process was concluded and the tribe hired Station Casinos to build and operate the Gun Lake Casino, which opened in 2011, ushering in a new era of economic prosperity. Station built a serviceable casino for the tribe but it quickly realized something larger would be necessary, and the first expansion was under way. Now in phase five of its expansion project, led by current President and CEO Sal Semola, who was hired following the end of the Station management contract, the Gun Lake Casino is about to add a hotel and a pool and events complex with multiple pools and areas for banquets and entertainment.

Semola came on board at the end of phase four and is enthusiastically supporting the fifth. But even phase five is playing catchup, as the two closest competitors will still have larger properties than Gun Lake.

“When I first came on, I came on midway through what was characterized as the phase three expansion, which was rather modest in the sense it was maybe 100 slot machine additions to the casino floor,” Semola says. “But it was really about a connector building for a parking garage that was needed in anticipation of meeting the needs of future expansions due to the increased traffic and also the depletion of existing surface parking.

“And then phase four, which we just completed in September 2021, consisted of three new F&B outlets and began to set the table for phase five.”

Paul Bell, the lead architect for HBG Design, says the expansion was a reaction to the desires of Gun Lake tribal leadership.

“The Gun Lake owners have set their sights on creating a premier entertainment destination resort in the Midwest,” says Bell. “They want to expand their catchment zone to include larger cities as far away as Chicago and Detroit. I think this fifth phase will create that true super-regional resort with an expansion program designed to drive that traffic in from both of those metropolitan areas.”

Semola explains the location of Gun Lake Casino and why it has been necessary to constantly grow.

“We are just outside of Grand Rapids located off highway 31, which is the north-south artery for Western Michigan,” he says. “So it’s highly trafficked, and we’re equidistant between Grand Rapids, which is the second-largest city in the state, and Kalamazoo, Michigan as well.”

Semola says that the area is growing quickly.

“Our area is somewhat rural—we’re in the town of Wayland—but in just the time that I’ve been here, we’ve seen a lot of growth and development in the area. Even the airport—Grand Rapids International Airport—is undergoing an expansion. And Grand Rapids itself is kind of moving south towards where the casino’s located. So, they’ll continue to benefit from that growth as well.”

Although phase five is the first project that HBG, which has 40-plus other tribal clients, is doing with the Gun Lake tribe, Bell is already impressed with the leadership.

“I and many of my colleagues here at HBG Design we’ve realized that competition in most markets continues to be intense,” he says. “Progressive owners are always elevating their amenity offerings to keep up with that. While the casinos will always have their bread-and-butter patrons at the resort, we also see a continuing trend of owners working to attract more diverse, multi-generational customers through unique out-of-the-box non-gaming amenities, the pool and events complex being a prime example of this.

“In addition, retail, other non-gaming entertainment brings in all ages of people to fit this goal. Owners create through this, these opportunities, a lot more revenue and continue to stay relevant and top-of-mind in the market.”

Bell praises tribal leadership for bringing their vision to the tribal economy. They are currently developing a non-gaming mixed-use development on tribal land that will diversify the economy.

Semola agrees about the foresight of tribal leadership.

“The tribal leaders are extremely forward-thinking,” he says. “I think that when you take into account that they’ve only been on their own, outside of the umbrella of a management company for four years, they’re much further along in terms of that cycle of evolution, in terms of how they look at business and the future. So, as tribal gaming enterprises become more mature over time, they realize that there’s economic opportunities that they can comfortably participate in outside of the sovereignty umbrella, and they become more comfortable investing in that area.”

Bell also credits Semola as being a driving force behind the gaming expansion.

“He has been an absolute joy to work with,” says Bell. “He is a very fun, energetic leader. He’s extremely passionate, an entrepreneurial leader for Gun Lake. He has been engaged in the design process from the beginning. He’s really a key driver in Gun Lake’s long-term development vision.

“I believe beyond what we’re working on with him right now, the current phase five project, as he is constantly looking ahead for new opportunities to identify the next big thing that will attract the market to Gun Lake Casino Resort and maintain a cutting-edge position across the industry and marketplace.”

Semola says the idea for the pool and events complex came to him while he was at a conference at Harrah’s Atlantic City, which has a similar facility, a dome over several pools and hot tubs. But the pool and events complex is different, he says.

“The pool and events complex is designed to be a multi-purpose atrium, and it has three pools. It has a family-oriented pool which is located adjacent to a concession snack bar and some locker rooms. It also has an adult pool that is tiered with a VIP-level pool with a swim up-bar. That creates this great vibrant environment during the day—hot or cold seasons—where their guests can come and enjoy the aqua elements.

“But at night, this facility then converts over to an entertainment facility that is able to provide live performances as well, and sell VIP cabanas and so forth around the pool for those live concerts or DJ dance events, whatever type of entertainment we would choose to engage in based upon their market feasibility and entertainment preferences.”

The tribe chose the right designer for this kind of element—Bell says that although the idea for the pool and events complex came from the tribe, HBG has lots of examples.

“We have done massive atriums in the past for Gaylord resort properties,” Bell says. “One in Orlando, the Gaylord Palms, and we did another one in Grapevine, Texas called the Gaylord Texan. Those were much larger than this. So we have learned through those project experiences how to design a dynamic atrium environment.

“Now while those were designed for a completely different purpose than what this one is designed for, we went to the school of hard knocks on both of those projects. The shape of the pool and events complex really is derived from all the sun angles and site analysis to create an optimal environment for indoor swimming and aquatic activities during the day.”

Semola wanted more from the pool and events complex than just swimming, however.

“We were focused on building a hotel convention space and the pool and events complex, all three of those pieces, from a construction standpoint, from a financial performance standpoint, and without question, the pool and events complex modeled the best,” Semola says. “But what it didn’t give us was that even playing field as it pertains to some of the other casinos in the area, where they could do a sit-down concert or a large banquet. We needed a 2,000-capacity event type of space. So looking at the [complex], the challenge was how, do we get as much versatility in that space as possible?

“Ultimately working with the HBG design team, we came up with the idea of the pools being pushed out of the center, not just one pool, but multiple pools pushed out, which opened up the center. So now we can have that sight line for those types of concerts, or we can just make it a party with a DJ—your typical nightlife. For banquets, we built a production kitchen where we can easily accommodate up to 800 people. We are just looking to try to create as much versatility and utility value out of the space as possible. And I’m really happy with the way that it’s evolved thus far.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS' TRIBAL GOVERNMENT GAMING MAGAZINE

 


RD+D Honors 'Talk Shop' with Form + Function Innovation Award

Click Here to Read the RD+D Awards Feature Article: RD+D Honors 'Talk Shop'

HBG Design is excited to announce that Restaurant Development + Design Magazine has Honored 'Talk Shop' at the Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis with the prestigious Form + Function Innovation Award.


HBG Designers Select Their Pick of the Trends

HBG Design is on the forefront of the latest ideas in 2023 hospitality and entertainment design. Read our lead designers’ pick of the trends for the year ahead.

HBG ‘Design Thinking’ Contributors:

  • Emily Marshall, IIDA, NCIDQ, Principal / Interior Design Director
  • Alexandra Milkovich, IIDA, NCIDQ, Associate / Lead Interior Designer
  • Landon Shockey, IIDA, NCIDQ, Lead Interior Designer
  • Thor Harland. Lead Architectural Designer

Focusing Capital Budgets on Distinctive Amenities and Unexpected Experiences to Attract a Wider Market

HBG's pick of the trends
The pool and events complex at Gun Lake Casino

Competition in most markets will continue to be intense in 2023.  Properties large and small across the U.S. are elevating competitive advantage by renovating and expanding new market-driven, revenue-generating amenities. Many of our resort clients are betting BIG on unique features to bring in a new untapped customer base from greater distances. “For Gun Lake Casino Resort in Wayland, Michigan, that ‘wow’ factor is a large multi-purpose pool and events complex. The new six-story, 32,000 SF architectural marvel is set to be an oasis for ‘superregional’ customers in Chicago and Detroit looking to escape those harsh Midwest winters,” says Thor Harland. “With a year-round temperature of 82 degrees, The complex is a never-before-seen expansive, mixed-use environment, completely climate-controlled under a stunning glass roof. At its heart are terraced, landscaped pools that transform into a one-of-a-kind event center within the atrium environment. A resort pool by day and a performance complex by night, the concept includes three distinct pools, a swim-up bar, live palm trees and tropical flora, and a large entertainment stage that can host events for up to 2,400 people.”

“We always work closely with our clients and their operations teams to keep project costs down,” says Emily Marshall, IIDA, NCIDQ. “By identifying and eliminating superfluous or unnecessary square footage, we help Owners focus their design budgets on those eye popping, revenue-generating amenities that create visual and experiential distinction in their markets.”

Multi-Functional Hotel Lobbies and Centralized F&B

HBG's pick of the trends
Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis Hotel

Gone are the days of guests zipping through the lobby as a passageway to other destinations. The new hotel lobby beckons you to sit and stay a while. “Furthering the residential trend that has taken off in the hospitality space, lobbies are appearing more like a comfortable living room – offering a place to eat, drink, work, and play,” says Marshall. The new lobby lounge coined ‘Talk Shop' at Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis reimagines the guest arrival experience with a lively multi-functional welcome area, all-day lounge and workspace, coffee shop, eatery, grab-and-go artisanal market and cocktail bar. “Energy reverberates throughout the colorful space, which was designed to encourage social interaction inside and outside at the adjoining beer garden courtyard,” she adds. Similarly, the adjacent Hyatt Centric Beale Street Hotel’s lobby offers a variety of amenities to suit visitors, locals and remote workers alike, including a large lobby bar and lounge, a communal worktable with integrated outlets and charging stations, a convenient grab and go market, and high-profile dining venue.

“We are also leading changes in F&B design that improves operational efficiency, as a direct outgrowth of the industry’s ongoing staffing shortages,” says Marshall. She explains that menus and food selections may be branded around an experience, but online ordering and room service / delivery / locational pickup means that food preparation no longer needs to be in separate kitchens attached to individual venues.

“Another good example is a property like Resorts World in Las Vegas where food and beverage operations are streamlined by creating centralized, shared hub and spoke type kitchens that service all dining venues on property.” There are many diverse solutions; it all comes down to creating efficiency and functionality that produces high quality with reduced resources.”

Dark, Dramatic, Statement-Making Design

HBG's pick of the trends
The Oak Room at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort

“We are taking bright colors like coral, violet or turquoise and deepening their tonality to create more subdued, rich, darker shades that are visually interesting and restorative,” says Landon Shockey, IIDA, NCIDQ.

The simplicity of white interiors and a minimalist palette is always in style, yet as casino resort designers we LOVE that deep, moody colors are back. One example: The Oak Room at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas–a perfect blending of contemporary and traditional design–features an early 1900s era aesthetic reminiscent of a dimly lit, moody speakeasy. The noted F&B venue mixes deep, luxe tones and geometric patterns with brilliantly colored, stunningly energetic LeRoy Neiman original paintings as a playful contrast in the eclectic eatery. Globe pendants, tufted leather banquettes, and custom oak detailing finish the look while transporting guests to a different era.

“Complementing inky hues, we’re blending rich textures like leather, velvet, natural stones, and a variety of woodwork that adds depth and softness which is irresistibly cozy and welcoming,” adds Alexandra Milkovich, IIDA, NCIDQ.

Continued Alignment of Sustainability and Design

HBG's pick of the trends
Reception at Gun Lake Casino Hotel

Sustainability is taking center stage these days and major hospitality brands like Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood and Marriott are committing to significantly reducing their environmental footprint in the coming years and focusing on wellness as a key benefit for guests.

“HBG Design is actively aligning our design concepts and interior selections to help clients down this path,” says Milkovich. “Our teams have prioritized sustainable materials in our interiors library and are training designers to select materials for their durability and ease of maintenance and to extend the duration between property refreshes/renovations.”

"Durability leads to a longer lifecycle, especially for furnishings; and the lifetime of a product is something that is extremely important to not only the environment, but also to our client’s bottom line,” adds Milkovich. “For instance, instead of using an exotic wood species such as Mahogany or Walnut that may be overharvested, we would specify Eucalyptus, which is a more renewable species and sustainably sourced. Today’s products made from Eucalyptus can often mimic the appearance of a rarer wood.”

Design That Supports Guest Wellness and Well-Being

HBG's pick of the trends
The Cedar Spa at Four Winds South Bend Casino Resort

Many of our clients are excited to promote wellness, mindfulness and health benefits among their guests, making spas within the resort environment even more popular today.

“Reduction of stress and increased well-being and healing are some of the overall benefits of biophilic design through the infusion of natural and nature-inspired materials into the built environment,” says Marshall.

The new Cedar Spa at Four Winds Casino Resort in South Bend, Indiana, is a great example of how the demand for wellness is being incorporated into gaming resort properties. At Four Winds, the resort’s signature design elements of copper, cedar, birchwood and stone--each representing significant cultural elements of the Owner’s heritage--are integrated throughout the spa, holistically adding to the wellness experience. Located on the first level of the new 23-story, 317-room hotel tower, The Cedar Spa provides a variety of traditional and unique spa therapies, including steam rooms, saunas, vitality pools and separate lounges for women and men.

“The transition from the high energy zone of the gaming floor to the relaxation zone of the spa is highlighted by an illuminated feature that appears as sunlight shining through a canopy of cedar trees,” adds Marshall. “This simulation was created through ornate copper ceiling elements allowing pockets of light to peek through, creating dancing shadows around the spa entry.”


GGB Casino Style Magazine: Designing Emotional Connection

Read how HBG is designing emotional connection into three of our new casino resort projects.

“An entertainment experience is all about emotion—basically about having fun and enjoying yourself in an extraordinary environment,” says Dike Bacon, principal at HBG Design. “For many casino patrons, the resort is their country club. It’s their escape. It’s what they do to have fun.

“I use the analogy of a golfer. Even in tough economic times, golfers will find the money to play golf because that’s what they like to do. Even in tough times, gamblers will find the money to gamble because that’s what they like to do.

Gaming operators jockey to find an edge. They mirror the Field of Dreams concept from the famous movie: if you build it, they will come.

“Owners and operators are expanding with larger, more targeted and exceptional property developments and improvements,” Bacon indicates. “From small-scale renovations and incremental expansions to huge multi-faceted super-regional resort-level entertainment additions. There are also exciting expansions to existing jurisdictions like Illinois and New York and huge investments in new jurisdictions like Virginia.”

Bacon hails the industry’s resilience. It faces headwinds regarding economics, the pandemic and oversaturation, but finds a way to emerge stronger.

“The industry seems to always be battling Chicken Little headwinds in some form or fashion, but always seems to just push through better than ever,” Bacon says.

“Owners are currently molding and reshaping their expansions and renovations to accommodate changing economic conditions, but many regional gaming properties continue to ride a wave of success. In many markets, expanded facilities are creating entertainment experiences that often rival or eclipse what’s offered in Las Vegas. At HBG Design, we are working with great clients; we are busy; and we are doing great things.

READ MORE IN GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS' 2022 CASINO STYLE MAGAZINE

Designing Emotional Connection

Gun Lake Casino Resort, Wayland, Michigan

One of HBG Design's largest projects is the $300 million Gun Lake Casino expansion for the Gun Lake Tribe in Wayland, Michigan. The project is located just south of Grand Rapids, which is only a few hours’ drive from Chicago and Detroit. Gun Lake owners have set their sights on creating the premier entertainment destination in the Midwest, Bacon says. It’s a true super-regional resort with an expansion program designed to drive traffic from those two major metropolitan areas. The new project will consist of a 252-room hotel tower, multiple support amenities, and a new climate-controlled atrium pool and events complex.

Rock & Brews Casino, Braman, Oklahoma

The first-ever HBG-designed Rock & Brews Casino and Restaurant owned by Kaw Gaming opened for business in Braman, Oklahoma this year. Co-branding with recognizable names from outside the casino industry to anchor key amenities is not a new concept, but is gaining more traction with tribally owned casinos as a means to broaden market appeal and greater name recognition from an expanding customer base, Bacon says. The 71,000-square-foot gaming project features an expertly curated interactive rock-inspired entertainment experience that only Rock & Brews—and its co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of iconic rock band KISS—can provide. The Rock & Brews brand and venues are noted for using heavy integration of rock ‘n’ roll imagery and iconography to elicit emotion and nostalgia in customers.


RD+D Magazine Honors 'Talk Shop'

HBG Debuts the Caption by Hyatt Brand

Introducing Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis:

The First Caption Branded Hotel Built in the World!

Not just in the community, but of the community.

That is Caption by Hyatt’s design promise. The first ever built Caption by Hyatt branded hotel--designed by HBG Design and built in Memphis, Tennessee--fully delivers. The upscale, select-service lifestyle brand introduces a dynamic hospitality experience with an unmistakable neighborhood feel.

The hotel is housed distinctively within the two-story historic façade of the William C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop building in downtown Memphis. With its original stenciled building signage intact, the historic Ellis Building was repurposed for the Caption's unique storefront beer garden and first two levels. It also creates the event, conference and meeting space shared by the Caption and the adjacent Hyatt Centric, Built in 1878, this former blacksmith shop was one of the earliest, longest-running businesses in Memphis. It made wrought-iron straps for carriages and shoes for horses and mules and was later used as an agricultural machinery repair shop.

A new 136-room hotel tower rises above, offering guests endless views of the Memphis skyline and the Mississippi River.

RD+D Magazine Honors the Caption by Hyatt's Innovative 'Talk Shop' RD+D Magazine Honors the Caption by Hyatt's Innovative 'Talk Shop'

The heart of Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis is ‘Talk Shop’, the brand’s reimagined arrival experience. Here, guests enjoy a lively multi-functional welcome area, all-day lounge and workspace. It features a coffee shop, eatery, grab-and-go artisanal market and cocktail bar. Energy reverberates throughout the colorful space, which was designed to encourage social interaction. It is a place to eat, drink, and connect – inside, and outside at the adjoining beer garden courtyard.

RD+D Magazine Honors 'Talk Shop'

The beer garden is an expansive patio is open to the street’s pedestrian walkway. The space is uniquely integrated within the building’s historic façade and allows guests to fully engage with the active downtown neighborhood.

Click to Read More About the Project

HBG planners and designers created a strong sense of place and a distinct ‘localvore’ urban experience for the Caption by Hyatt and the adjacent Hyatt Centric by drawing conceptual inspiration from Memphis’ rich riverfront industrial history found in the Ellis machine shop buildings, the city’s world-famous musical roots, and the city’s distinct ‘grit and grind’ attitude.


HBG Design Welcomes a New Generation of Leaders

Earlier this year HBG announced the promotion of Nathan Peak, AIA, to Practice Leader. Today, HBG is excited to announce additional promotions and elevations of staff that emphasize the depth and breadth of talent across the span of our entire firm. We welcome these next generation of leaders whose voices are already making an impact on how we operate and practice industry-leading design.

Congratulations to the following HBG Design employees on their recent firm promotions and advancements!

  • Deidre Brady, AIA, NCIDQ, LEED AP BD+C, Promoted to Principal / Project Management Leader
  • Chris Devine, AIA, Promoted to Senior Associate / Documentation & Specification Leader
  • Leslie Thompson, Promoted to Senior Associate / Process Improvement & Resource Leader
  • Jason Fox, Promoted to Senior Associate / Construction Administration Leader
  • Michael Ochoa, AIA, Project Manager, Promoted to Senior Associate
  • Chase Percer, AIA, Associate, Promoted to Design Technology Leader
  • Christopher Wood, IIDA, NCIDQ, Interior Designer, Promoted to Associate
  • Tamara Goff, CPSM, Principal, Transitioned Role to Director of Communications & Brand Experience
  • Dana Ramsey, CPSM, Associate, Promoted to Director of Marketing
  • Paul Towery, AIA, ICCC, Senior Associate, Promoted to Codes & Compliance Leader
  • Morgan Streitmatter, Promoted to Human Resources Manager
  • Patty Sprecco, Promoted to Human Resources Coordinator
  • Leah Goodwin, Promoted to Practice Operations Facilitator


Urban Hotel Design: Embracing the Complication

by Thor Harland, Senior Architectural Designer, HBG Design

Urban Hotel Design Thor

For me, the excitement of urban architecture originates from its inherent complications. It is the limitations and layers of thought that we as designers must critically analyze before introducing new concepts into an already dense city environment.

In most urban settings, available sites for new construction are tightly positioned between existing structures. Each building serves a different user function yet remains connected to the whole. Aesthetics and materiality often vary significantly from building to building, irregular and sometimes raw depending on the age. Some sites retain elements of structures long unused.

New project designs created within the urban framework should be informed by these and other constraints. Historical precedents and environmental context supply ample opportunity to evolve the city’s character.

Our design teams approach these projects with an open mind to the intensity and diversity of a city’s composition. The solutions to these challenges inform the shape, materiality, and function of all new building designs. After all, the more problems a building solves the more value it brings to its surroundings.

In downtown Memphis, Tennessee, three recent hotels designed by HBG Design serve as diverse examples of how a new, evolved design character can reinvigorate the urban landscape bringing immense value to the city collective.

The Canopy by Hilton Downtown Memphis, the Hyatt Centric, and the Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis hotels all represent projects that required thoughtful and rigorous design study to reach their ultimate solutions. Lying vacant for 12 years, the site of a former 50’s era hotel, and a riverside lot with an adjacent 19th century machine shop were each initially viewed as being of limited interest to prospective tenants; some even considered them to be urban blight. Through a new lens, the Canopy, Centric and Caption hotels unveiled opportunities for designers to bring out each building’s individual characteristics and iconic identifiers, ultimately creating enormous community impact.

Canopy by Hilton Downtown Memphis Hotel – Renewing a Gateway Site into Downtown Memphis

Located at an important gateway into downtown Memphis’ urban center and its historic, world-famous attractions, the Canopy hotel replaced the dilapidated Benchmark Hotel, that was still occupying the site. This corner of Union Ave. and BB King Blvd. is the iconic location of the Peabody Hotel and AutoZone Park, only a few shorts blocks from Beale Street.

The new build went up, and, when the Canopy by Hilton opened in 2020, even amid the pandemic, one could not call the achievement of architectural and administrative willpower anything but glorious. - Memphis Business Journal

The Canopy design and construction was extremely complex to navigate, given the owner’s desire to keep existing building structures and foundations from its previous hotel incarnations. The conflicting structural challenges were ultimately transformed into useful square footage and its solution informed a simplified hotel geometry and a comprehensive expression that created a unique dichotomy between upper and lower floor masses.

The project consists of a 171,100 square foot hotel block elevated above a visually transparent podium level and one level of subterranean parking. The hotel block maximizes the site’s guestroom potential through a double-loaded guestroom corridor ring surrounding an internal light well. A sense of transparency and natural daylighting in the hotel’s base level is achieved through floor to ceiling storefront systems along the South and East edges and two large skylights located under the light well that amplify the restaurant, lounge, and bar amenities.

A Discerningly Rebellious Urban Design, of its Time and Place

To me, great architecture evokes unexpected beauty and resistance but is based in unarguable logic. Through our project visioning, brand interpretation and concepts, the Canopy architecture became less about individual expression and more about amplifying the neighborhood experience in Memphis as the city is today.

The Canopy hotel structure is meant to be a building of its time, and an evolution of Memphis’ downtown personality. We considered the historical precedents and the progressive concept of the Canopy brand; and we used these themes as idea generators for our explorations. The result is a concept that is respectful to place, but also a representation of its contemporary generation.

Downtown Memphis architecture has a long industrial history with rows of ornate brick hotel, office and former warehouse buildings lining the urban streets. The materials, proportion, scale and well composed fenestrations of the Canopy are meant to evoke the characteristics of the existing network of mid-rise masonry architecture in the downtown area.

Brick was an important material for continuity, but the size of the brick is slightly different at the Canopy. We used a larger scale brick, and the patterning isn’t a typical running bond; it’s a stacked bond pattern. So, there is some deviation there that helps give the building its own identity. It’s the slight, subtle differences like that and just the overall geometry of the heavy upper floor mass floating above the open public space below that helps to differentiate the design from its neighbors.

A dark charcoal gray palette and simplification of form contemporizes the visual aesthetic of the architecture. It’s discerningly rebellious. I love that an Avant Garde result can be created through rigorous historic, aesthetic, and structural investigation and a direct reaction to the project’s context and objectives.

In the Canopy design, we have produced a unique complement to neighboring buildings, and also a structural acknowledgement of Memphis’ continued evolution as a city with its own intricate personality.

See more Canopy Hotel photos here.

This is part one of two in Thor Harland’s series,
Urban Hotel Design: Embracing the Complication

In part two, Thor and other designers will discuss how Memphis’ One Beale Mixed-Use Development gave rise to a full historic city block of branded hospitality, including the Hyatt Centric, and the Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis hotels.

 


Spotlight on HBG's Emerging Professionals Studio

A discussion with HBG Design’s Emerging Professional Studio (EPS) Leader and recently licensed architect, Ryan Callahan, AIA

Ryan, as the new leader of HBG’s Emerging Professionals Studio (EPS), can you give us some background on the program?

While my involvement in the Emerging Professionals Studio began five years ago, HBG Design’s EPS program was conceived about 15 years ago as a group led "by EPs for EPs", providing opportunities for leadership experience within the firm at an early career stage.

The EPS originally focused on helping emerging architecture professionals through the AXP architecture licensure process and also provided opportunities for team building. The program has evolved to serve expanded EP career needs, including welcoming HBG’s interior designers into NCIDQ licensure study while also focusing on individual leadership development.

As a practice that integrates architecture and interior design to create hospitality design experiences, it was imperative that the EP Studio evolve to support the way our firm works and collaborates. Architects and interior designers have different licensure requirements and different ways we approach a project based on the nature of our disciplines, but we share similar goals and many commonalities, which are incorporated in the EPS program.

Emerging Professionals Studio

Our EPS today is rooted in the idea that emerging professionals desire structure in working towards licensure, but also want the flexibility to easily modify the pace of their journey as their personal or professional life changes. Mentors play a key role in helping EPs find their path individually and as a group, actively developing support strategies and needed resources for licensure in ways that matter most to each individual in their particular stage of development.

How did you become a leader of EPS?

I had just passed my remaining Architectural Registration Exams (AREs) a few months before Nathan [Peak, HBG’s Practice Leader] asked me to lead the EPS group. I think he asked me specifically because I was newly licensed, but also because I was part of HBG’s pre-Covid EPS program culture. As our workplace returned to the office, we all wanted to find ways to reengage our EPs into a group-learning mindset and provide the kind of supportive group environment that we had before the pandemic, and had been missing for over two+ years. Covid was so disruptive to everything, to the way we do things, even to my own growth. I entered and came out of Covid in a different phase of life. A lot of things changed. For example, I was just newly married entering Covid. When we went into work-from-home mode during this weird, sort of hyperbolic isolation, I came back to the office as the father of two boys. Now, I’m more aware of the level of involvement that people in different stages of life can have after work hours, but I’m also more focused.

And, of course, I could not lead EPS without others. In our Memphis office, Chris Wood is co-leading on the interior design side. And in our San Diego office, architect Nathan Blair and interior designer Alexandra Milkovich are leading the local EPS activities.

How has the EPS changed since you started?

For the first two years of my involvement in EPS, we had about 20-30 EPS members. It seemed like our EPS culture revolved around in-person knowledge exchange forums, recreational sports, and group learning activities. Of course, the pandemic changed everything, and put a damper on group events. We are now recapturing that level of camaraderie and have a great EPS group and supportive firm culture. I am seeing our group involvement increase every month.

The “work-from-home era” did teach us how to become more technologically resourceful and interconnected across distances. With more variety of tools enabling us to work virtually, we were able to put study information at each EP’s fingertips. All HBG’s EPS study information was organized, cataloged by topic, and made accessible through our MS Teams cloud-sharing platform. I’m proud to say we didn’t let the pandemic become a huge obstacle to getting our EPs help. For me, the biggest hurdle was just getting started.

What’s new for the EPS at HBG Design?

Emerging Professionals StudioKnocking out AXP experience hours quickly is everyone’s goal when they get out of school, because there are a lot of hours required! EPS continues to coordinate supplemental training, quarterly site visits/project tours, exam study sessions, and professional engagement with design industry organizations. And our project staffing tracks EPs who are actively pursuing licensure to connect them with needed AXP hours.

EPS leadership has also been developing onboarding courses to help new hires become fully engrained and fluent in HBG’s design processes. This is the information they didn’t and couldn’t learn in school.

This is a bit like HBG’s version of the NCARB AXP program re-formatted into a series of lessons from seasoned professionals at the firm who each offer over 20 years of industry experience. These seasoned professionals lead regular meetings to share topics on the firm’s building processes ranging from codes to life-safety; space planning to hospitality design to sustainability to construction detailing - all supporting knowledge sharing and the path to licensure through ARE, NCIDQ and LEED testing.

“Knowledge of how something is constructed is very valuable. It doesn’t matter if you are selecting a finish or drawing a wall or designing a building. If you know how it goes together, it goes together better,” says Ryan.

How are EPS participants given a voice?

Everyone in the EPS group is empowered to initiate a discussion, lead an event or portions of a group project, or given freedom to implement a new process they feel passionate about and that will lead to growth of their peers and colleagues.

Gun Lake - Emerging Professionals Studio

Weekly ‘Coffee + Collaboration’ mornings offer an all-employee open platform to initiate design discussions based on active project reviews to help inform the general direction of design or seek input on how current projects could be improved. EPs and student interns work together as valued project team members, gaining exposure to design challenges as well as opportunities to exchange ideas. They get a lot of encouragement to add their input in project design critiques in an environment where every voice is respected. This adds to EP’s experience in acquiring increasing levels of hands-on design leadership and really finding their voice.

We also have a number of international AIA members and EPS gives them a road map to licensure in the U.S. after becoming licensed in another country. The EPS is really benefiting from the variety of viewpoints and experiences of our EPS members. They each bring different approaches and well-rounded perspectives to the group.

Is EPS all business?

Career fulfillment is heavily dependent on engagement with co-workers. Now that we are MOSTLY out from under the pandemic, I think it’s important for the EPS to continue promoting relationship building and providing bonding opportunities among co-workers and within the EPS. These group experiences build an authentic sense of camaraderie that builds trust and makes the work experience much more inspiring and positive.

From painting parties to kick-ball and indoor soccer teams; group nights and happy hours at new restaurants to family-centered outings, EPS is actively improving our post-Covid in-person firm culture and making the firm a stronger, more dynamic organization.


HBG Design Ranks 'Top 10' with BD&C

We are excited to announce our placements in Building Design & Construction Magazine's Top Hospitality and Entertainment Design Firms List for 2022:

HBG Design is #6 on list of Top 120 Hospitality Sector Architecture + AE Firms for 2022, BD&C Magazine!

and

HBG Design is #3 on list of Top 20 Casino Architecture + AE Firms for 2022, BD&C Magazine!