The future of tourist hospitality: questions and answers from buildings to the local area

Abstract

Introduction to the conference We are witnessing a growth in available free time, in the demand for culture and well-being, in opportunities for remote access through new high-speed and immaterial technologies, and an awareness of the environment. At the same time, the decrease in economic resources makes it essential to develop simpler and more effective approaches. How can a new formula be devised? How can skills be taught? What form do the architectural and technological results take? How can contact with users be managed? This is an uninterrupted and cyclic process, from the individual building to regional organisation, where each specialist must interact with the others in an equilibrium between continuity and innovation.  

Biographical notes

Graduated in architecture, Florence, 1992. Since 1993 he has worked freelance in Bologna, initially as an individual practice and subsequently as a partner of Studio SAP and SAPtecnica srl. He has taught at the “Biagio Rossetti” Faculty of Architecture in Ferrara, where he is currently adjunct professor on the course of “Distributive and Morphological Characteristics of Buildings”. His main field of professional and scientific interest is that of responsible architecture for energy efficiency and users with special needs. Numerous publications and conference participations. An extract from his bibliography can be found on the website http://docente.unife.it/michele.ghirardelli

Infrastructure innovation for the relaunch of tourism

Abstract
Innovation is a strategic asset for developing tourism offerings.
In a modern business, innovation derives first and foremost from observation of the outside world and the ability to transform it through creativity, imagining the utility for the business and for the users of the product or service.
This original approach to the needs of businesses in the Emilia Romagna region has given rise to infrastructure innovations as well as product and process innovations that have fuelled new forms of public and private partnerships.

Biographical notes
Married with four children, Andrea Babbi was born and raised in Ravenna but studied in Bologna.
At the age of thirty, he was appointed regional director of Confcommercio Emilia Romagna. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of ENIT – National tourism agency and is Chairman of the Emilia Est-Romagna Territorial Committee of UniCredit Group.
Since 2006 he has been Managing Director of the Tourism Promotion Agency for the Emilia Romagna Region.

He is a member of the Editorial Board of the magazine “Economia dei Servizi” published by Il Mulino

From the local area to tourism and cultural offerings  

Abstract

The work of the Sealine Research Centre on the theme of hotels and beaches explores a new pragmatic strategy for the Romagna Riviera as a model for envisaging innovative scenarios. Rather than an abstract strategy, it comprises concrete and immediately achievable proposals as well as some theoretical approaches that challenge current planning and development models. Instead of taking other areas as reference, the objective is to start out from the area in which one operates and emphasise some of the dynamics in progress. The future lies in the folds of the present.   Through a two-fold interpretation of the coast (repetition and anomalies) and of its hospitality structures (a rigid part and a soft part), the study proposes small-scale projects (i.e. low-definition architecture) that are able to cater more effectively for niche tourism markets. These spaces, created seasonally or for short periods, initiate at a distance a process of change of the hospitality system and open up new scenarios for the relationship between the tourist city and the residential city.  

Biographical notes

Luca Emanueli works freelance and is the director of sealine (http://www.sealinelab.net), the research department centre at the University of Ferrara where he is lecturer in technology and design at the Faculty of Architecture. Invited to the 9th and 11th Venice Architecture Biennale. Since 2009 he has been working with Mario Lupano and Marco Navarra on the platform lo-fi architecture as curatorial practice as part of the programme of the Claudio Buziol Foundation in Venice.

Luca Emanueli works freelance and is the director of sealine (http://www.sealinelab.net), the research department centre at the University of Ferrara where he is lecturer in technology and design at the Faculty of Architecture. Invited to the 9th and 11th Venice Architecture Biennale. Since 2009 he has been working with Mario Lupano and Marco Navarra on the platform lo-fi architecture as curatorial practice as part of the programme of the Claudio Buziol Foundation in Venice.

The aesthetics of spaces and the well-being of users  

Abstract

The bathroom must be considered a fundamental component in the broader and more complex design programme of a hospitality structure. The creative principles behind the design of a public building must also be present in the spatial layout of the bathroom. Just like the other spaces, the bathroom must represent the essence of a project. As a result, the bathroom is able to cast off its role of a functional space to become an authentic relaxation area, a comfort zone devoted to personal care.

Biographical notes

Marco Piva adopts emotional, fluid and functional language in his projects in the fields of architecture, products and interior design. More than a designer, he considers himself a traveller, an experimenter trained in rationalism who creates design solutions that stand out for their stylistic freedom and sober composition. Contemporary Hotels – Ed. l’Archivolto; Il benessere in hotel - Idea book; La Repubblica Grandi Guide Arredamento e Design; Progettisti del wellness - annuario 2006; Caffè e Ristoranti d’Autore - Motta Ed; Edilizia per il turismo e la ristorazione -Utet; Floor Design - Daab; Negozi e showroom d’autore - Motta Ed; Contemporary Hotels - Ed L’archivolto; Hotel Experience - Dogma