The Independent Hotel Show has become the must-attend event for independent hoteliers and industry professionals throughout the UK since its launch in 2012. In addition to numerous handpicked premium suppliers, industry talks and seminars, the show offers an unrivalled opportunity for industry peers to meet, talk and share ideas. The Hub provides a central networking point and stylish bar and work space to help make this a reality.
This year, The Independent Hotel Show organisers invited the UK’s freshest design talent to submit their ideas, imagining in how The Hub could and should look and feel as a working space but also one that would continue to set new style standards.
The competition response was fantastic but the judges finally selected a winner – rising design stars, Nina&Co in collaboration with Anya Fennet. The panel – comprising leading architect, Mike Stiff, product designer, Afroditi Krassa and design journalist, Guy Dittrich – were impressed by the creative team’s witty interpretation of the inspiration provided by the show and use of modern, clean lines to create a relaxed, informal space.
Nina Woodcroft from Nina&Co in association with Anya Fennet explains the thinking behind The Hub’s design:
“Our focus for The Hub was to create an environment where individuals and businesses would be better able to improve their own problem solving processes and take innovation to a higher level.
The basic shape of the Hub takes the familiar form of a house, offering an inviting and welcoming shelter from the bustling exhibition beyond. Our own maxim of beauty in simplicity is reflected in the geometry of the space. We opted for a simple building block structure with long lengths of natural rope and twisted silk lamp flex hung from beams to form the walls and the roof. These cables are equally spaced to create a light and translucent screen, and stop short of the floor to appear floating and weightless. Attached to the floating ends of the lamp cables are low-energy bulbs to provide warm, soft illumination and create a cosy ambience. A converse feature of simple floor-standing bulbs forms a screen at one edge of the Hub. These bulbs are just the right height to appear to hover over the visitors’ heads as they sit within the hub, evoking the archetypal image of a light bulb moment.”
So, if you’re heading to The Independent Hotel Show 2014, be sure to visit The Hub. Not only will be it the perfect place to meet and collaborate but it’s creative design might just stimulate new ideas and innovations.
For more information on The Hub please visit: www.independenthotelshow.co.uk/TheHub