Radical Innovation Award announces 2018 winner
The 12th annual Radical innovation Award has announced its winning concepts at a ceremony at the New Museum, New York City. Welcoming nearly 200 guests, the programme saw four hospitality concepts presented live on stage from three finalists— Aquaponic Experience Hotel, Autonomous Travel Suite, and Le Colline Incantate—in addition to this year’s student winner, Room Extension Solution (RES). Finalists were chosen from more than 50 international entries based on the creativity and feasibility of their proposal.
In a live vote determined by audience members, Autonomous Travel Suite became the recipient of this year’s $10,000 grand prize. Aquaponic Experience Hotel by Alice and Clotilde Varinot of Varinot & Varinot Architectes received the runner-up recognition, a $5,000 prize, whilst student winners Daniel Czyszczoń and Michał Witalis of Poland’s Cracow University of Technology were awarded $1,500 for their concept, RES.
Both students will also have the opportunity to pursue an assistantship for a Master’s of Architecture Degree in Hospitality Design at UNLV.
The winning project, Autonomous Travel Suite by Los Angeles-based Aprilli Design Studio, integrates transportation and hospitality through a driverless, mobile suite offering door-to-door transportation service in between a traveller’s home and destination. Within a compact hotel room environment, the suite is equipped with basic sleeping, working and washroom functions, allowing guests to be most efficient and productive while optimising travel time. Additionally, each unit runs on solar-powered energy, making way to a more sustainable future.
Operated and maintained by the Autonomous Hotel Chain, once scheduled online or via mobile app, a customised unit is delivered to a traveller’s door and taken to a local Autonomous Hotel docking facility at the traveller’s destination, where the unit extends into a larger travel suite. Acting as both a personal rental car and hotel room, The Autonomous Travel Suite imagines a new way of travelling and an extension of the conventional hotel experience, from the minute a guest steps out of their home.
“The goal of our Radical Innovation community is to create entirely new segments of the travel and hospitality industries,” explains John Hardy, CEO and President of The John Hardy Group and Founder of Radical Innovation. “The Autonomous Travel Suite is the perfect example of this – utilising sustainable technology as a travel solution that best serves the consumer of tomorrow.”
The winning project within the student category, Czyszczoń and Witalis’ RES, presents a new concept that acts as a hotel room’s extension focused on optimising travel time, navigation, comfort, safety and efficiency. After stepping off of a flight, travellers will be met at arrivals with a quick check-in service for RES. Inside the mobile hotel room, guests will find a full-size bed, ample storage space for luggage with cabinets and small wardrobe, and a fully operational bathroom en route to the hotel structure and docking stations. Until the passenger leaves the hotel, the vehicle is part of the overall room.
Discussing the student winners, Hardy explained: “As students of industrial design, we were impressed with Daniel and Michał’s ability to take their knowledge in technology and apply it to a hotel concept.”
The event was co-produced by The John Hardy Group with support from founding sponsor Global Allies, and official partner Sleeper. Innovator-level sponsors included Beyer Brown, DFL Legal, Martin Stringfellow Associates, Son & Sons, and the UNLV School of Architecture. Visionary-level sponsors included Magnetic, Castell Project and RIVUR.
