We are delighted to announce we have been shortlisted for our work on Saga Cruise’s Spirit of Adventure in the Transport category in the AHEAD awards 2022.
The Awards for Hospitality Experience and Design (AHEAD) celebrate outstanding hospitality projects each year.
We provided a comprehensive architectural design service to Saga Cruises, including overall design direction and project support, until the vessel’s delivery.
The aim was that Spirit of Adventure possesses a distinctive personality, confident and bold, offering a fresh boutique style to the (over 50’s) cruise market.
As always, it was vital to understand Saga’s project needs, the service philosophy, and guests’ expectations, enabling us to design spaces that optimise the experience and guest enjoyment. This was possible through Saga’s commitment to and understanding of delivering great design and service. This combination made for an exciting and enjoyable project for us.
The spaces we created have a special quality unique to the brand. The brief was modern and boutique, with great use of colour. This was based on conversations with guests, one of them said: “life isn’t beige” – a direction we took to heart.
As well as all the public areas, from Lobby, Spa to Dining, we undertook all cabins and Suites. This comprised three visual themes for the standard cabins, three themes for the deluxe, and four individual designs for the Foward Suites.
These are one-off, signature spaces offering style and luxury among the finest cabins at sea. Again, drawing upon the name of the ship itself, we were looking at ways to bring this concept of adventure into the forward suites and maximise its poignancy and the wonderful emotions of excitement associated with it.
Projects across 17 categories will now be judged by AHEAD’s prestigious panel of leading hoteliers, architects, designers and industry professionals. This year, the judges are looking for projects that fuse creative vision with commercial viability while pushing the boundaries of the guest experience.
We listened, observed, explored, and challenged expectations in an informed and constructive way. Bringing something together, we hope, is reflective and beautiful, has a unique identity, possibly challenges expectations, and is operationally fit for purpose.
Chris Finch, AD’s Founder & CEO
The full 2022 shortlist can be viewed here. The winners will be unveiled at the AHEAD EUROPE ceremony on 18 November at Evolution London.