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SnowPod
Submitted by yrussill on 14 July, 2009 - 19:42
Design Agency:
SnowPod Ltd
Client:
snow-pod.com Brief:
SnowPod Ltd is a newly established Welsh company set up to operate holiday accommodation in the French ski resort of Tignes.
The owners of SnowPod, having stayed in one too many 'Heidi-on-a-pine-rampage' style resorts, wanted to create something different in terms of the design and service offer which they could use to establish a visual and interior brand for SnowPod’s first property launched last winter and then to use to roll out in additional units.
The brief they set themselves was to create a 'hotel-apart'; a bit of a hybrid in its set-up and the first in a series of unique, stand-alone serviced apartments offering all the benefits of room service, top entertainment and quirky design against a backdrop of exceptional skiing/boarding to offer a holiday experience in the snow, like no other!
As well as a new interior design concept which was devised, managed and implemented in-house, SnowPod Ltd also worked closely with other designers to develop a new brand identity, website, stationary and clothing.
With an ever increasing competitive market place, the end result would need to be unique to appeal to a client base mainly with an age range of 25-35 year olds, who are happy to give nostalgia and tradition a miss. At the same time, it needs to have all the usual home comforts, offer full in-house entertainment to enable the guests to chill out after a hard day on the mountain and be a functional, working space so that the company could effectively deliver its serviced package. All delivered within a very tight budget, a tight timescale and in a different country!
The result:
With a fixed layout due to structural constraints, the space has been treated and enhanced with clever space planning and through the use of carefully chosen furniture, accessories, finishes and effects. Design features such as rubber, stainless steel, shagpile, graffiti art, salvaged finds and cheeky details make SnowPod #1 strictly fun, edgy, irreverent and ‘on it’.
And with boys (and girls!) ‘toys’ – Xbox, Wii, flat screen TV and film and music library, SnowPod achieves fun and chillout beyond the vertical which, with in-resort prices rising and in this economic day and age, enables all after-hours entertainment to remain in-house if the guest should choose.
Products and suppliers were sourced from Wales, the UK and France to make SnowPod #1 a quirky and cosy 'home from home', more 'street boutique' than 'Heidi hide-away’ in style.
This design forms a basis from which to work from and add to, in the creation of future 'Pods'. It allows each one to be individually themed, keeping the idea fresh whilst also allowing the design to evolve each time and continue to strengthen its identity. Ideas going forward are to introduce and work with new designers from the various disciplines and to franchise the idea and expand it to other snow resorts.
Project Url:
Background photography simon_orafferty