CASE STUDIES:
The Wynn
Mandarin Oriental
Four Seasons
Liberty Hotel
Mohegan Sun
CASE STUDIES: The Wynn
When Dottie Northup of Avery Brooks visited with the Symmons Design Studio™ team at the 2005 Hospitality Design show in Las Vegas, her desire for fittings with unique style and design suddenly became a reality. After viewing a short presentation on how The Design Studio creates custom faucets and shower systems designed to express the exclusive style of high-end properties, Dottie and the team got right to work. Following three product design reviews with Dottie and the Wynn design team, the results speak for themselves. Distinctive fittings that will be found at no other property in the world were brought to life in less than three months.
Project Details
- Three design reviews
- Two custom-designed shower systems
- Custom-designed faucet including uniquely styled spout
- Custom-designed push-button diverter with volume control
- Custom-designed handle by The Design Studio with guidance from Dottie Northup
- Custom-designed wall hook for hand shower
- Products delivered in less than three months
CASE STUDIES: Mandarin Oriental
When Mandarin Oriental Hotels decided to open an exclusive address in New York City, their vision called for an exceptionally luxurious guest experience – right down to the tubs, showers and sinks. Naturally, the bathroom fittings had to convey the sense of opulent luxury that guests enjoy throughout their stay, while reliably delivering the superb performance the hotel's wealthy clientele would demand.
The Solution
Like many Symmons Design Studio™ clients, the Mandarin Hotel wanted a product that had never been made before. So, it was up to The Design Studio team to make the hotel's design vision come to life. Our designers and engineers quickly responded to the challenge, working closely with the hotel owners in our design and development facility to craft an elegant and unique suite of bathroom fittings. Within a month, handsprays, valves, showerheads, and diverters – all custom-designed and custom-manufactured – were refined, tested and perfected. And just like every other aspect of a stay at the Mandarin Oriental New York, the bathroom fittings can't be found anywhere else in the world.
The Outcome
The hotel's 277 elegant, spacious guestrooms and suites feature two separate shower experiences. One is a ceiling-mounted drench showerhead and pulsating handspray; the other is a spa with a Roman tub filler and deck-mounted handspray. All are outfitted with the beautiful and exclusive Mandarin Oriental fittings designed and built by The Design Studio. Behind the wall, the custom-designed shower valve with diverter and the High-Flo™ anti-scald pressure-balancing systems are manufactured by Symmons Industries.
CASE STUDIES: Four Seasons
When the Four Seasons Hotel Boston undertook a massive renovation in 2005 that encompassed 250 of its 285 guest rooms, the owner wanted a unique look and feel that would become a signature characteristic of this downtown landmark. "Luxury hotels spend significant time attempting to differentiate themselves," said Eric Vogel, a designer for CBT Architects in Boston. "The bathroom is an area where this differentiation is particularly critical, since most hotel guests place a high premium on the bathroom experience as a factor in their overall satisfaction." Vogel presented a number of standard fixtures in various combinations to the owner, but none of the solutions proved "custom" enough.
The Solution
With the Symmons Design Studio™, the process was seamless. "The owner's idea was to take a little bit of this, a little bit of that and transform it into a Four Seasons Boston faucet," said Vogel. "So we pulled together all of his ideas and developed the basic design of the faucet, after which the [Symmons Design Studio] designer turned it into a working prototype. Ultimately, we were able to do something custom with incredibly fast turnaround. It was actually quicker, not to mention more cost-competitive, than choosing a stock product from another large, traditional manufacturer. We basically killed two birds with one stone."
The Outcome
Of the 285 guest rooms, 250 were completely retrofitted with new custom-designed faucets, shower mixing valves, tub spouts and shower heads, as well as accessories that included towel bars, robe hooks, towel rings and toilet paper holders. Vogel notes, "I would turn to [the Symmons Design Studio] for every hotel we work on in the future, rather than selecting from a standard line. Getting a full bathroom fixture suite that is unique to one hotel is actually quite innovative... As an architect, it actually helps to sell your services since it allows you to provide products with higher perceived value than you typically could."
CASE STUDIES: Liberty Hotel
The transformation of Boston's mid-19th century Charles Street Jail into the luxurious 300-room Liberty Hotel required collaboration between the design team and an army of historians to strike a balance between preservation of the property and a dynamic new use. Cognizant that the bathroom would be the most highly scrutinized aspect of the overall guest room experience, Cambridge Seven senior associate Jim Puopolo placed significant emphasis on ensuring that the guest bathrooms would be both visually unique and functional. Said Puopolo, "While there would be no effort spared in creating a superb bathroom experience, cost was still a consideration. And from a design perspective, we all agreed on a clean, modern, minimalist look." Specifications for one system had been provided by project engineers, but it quickly became apparent that this option was unacceptable, primarily from an aesthetic standpoint.
The Solution
The Symmons Design Studio™ offered a customized solution at a reasonable cost. According to Puopolo, the process of working with Symmons was virtually seamless. "When the Symmons representative met with us, we discussed exactly what we didn't like about the fittings and accessories that had originally been proposed," he explained. "Then we told them exactly what we were looking for, and they just stepped to the plate and made the appropriate modifications to the existing design."
The Outcome
Puopolo praised Symmons' ability to translate input from multiple sources into one viable concept. "Everyone had some idea of how the fittings should look – us, the general contractor, the plumbing contractor, and obviously the owner," he said. "It couldn't have been easy to incorporate everyone's thoughts into the final design, but Symmons managed to do it. The second we looked at the prototype design, we were all happy." The Symmons' fittings have helped the Liberty Hotel capture the attention of its guests as well as the design community.
CASE STUDIES: Mohegan Sun
After just a few short years of incredible success, Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut began construction of an upscale 34-story, 1200-room hotel. When the project was well underway, it was discovered that the original supplier's fittings and behind-the-wall systems posed serious maintenance issues. Mohegan Sun needed another partner who could fulfill the design vision of the hotel and still deliver reliable, maintenance-free performance.
The Solution
The Symmons Design Studio™ rose to the challenge. Within 24 hours, our designers and engineers were able to create and present prototypes of faucets, showerheads and Roman tub fillers. These designs harmonized with the existing fixtures and overall theme of the hotel rooms. In close collaboration with Mohegan Sun representatives, further on-the-fly refinement of the fittings resulted in a final product that incorporates the design themes that are central to the Mohegan Sun experience.
The Outcome
Even with customized design and customized manufacturing, The Design Studio was able to complete and deliver the Mohegan Sun hotel project under extremely tight deadlines. In addition to The Design Studio fittings, Mohegan Sun also chose Symmons Temptrol® antiscald pressure-balancing technology for its behind-the-wall installations. This project was a model of how collaboration and cooperation among all parties can result in everyone — designers, engineers, owners, suppliers — being truly satisfied with the results.