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KRISTEN CONRY
Kristen Conry is Vice President of Global Design Services for Select Hotels and Product and Brand Development for the Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
How does design play a role in Hyatt Hotels’ strategic direction?
Kristen Conry: Corporations in general are becoming more attuned to the role design plays in their success. Whether or not their core business is rooted in physical space, as Hyatt’s is, they’re starting to appreciate the value design can contribute. It’s now common for corporations to think about the design process as a strategic step. They’re thinking more critically about the issues they’re trying to address and gathering information and data to understand these issues in a more objective and analytical sense.
Every real estate project is an opportunity to better address a need, and so we try to gather information and data that will help us understand the overall context surrounding every project. It’s very important to be targeted in what you do and to focus on who you’re designing for and what you’re trying to solve. You have to ask the right questions before even putting pencil to paper in terms of a design.
Strategy has always been fundamental to what architects and designers do. Today, we can take it even further. We are in an era in which we have the capability to collect and analyze information that gives us unprecedented insight into the mindsets of the people who ultimately inhabit spaces. There’s more and more interest in and information available on the psychology of space and the way people respond to design. We can use this information to better understand the impact design decisions have on end users, and then use design to enable the best possible experiences for them.
Design strategy is becoming even more objective, more scientific. As this happens, expectations of work environments are rising. People expect and demand more of design, and this is a great evolution — a more informed, engaged, enthusiastic, and critical public will raise the bar in terms of possibilities. At Hyatt, our purpose is to care for people so they can be their best. Whether those people are our guests, colleagues, or partners, design plays a critical role in delivering on this promise.