Every region, community and people has its own unique and rich cultural background which serves as a valuable resource of inspiration; but very often cultural interpretations in design – especially for the hospitality sector - yield commercialized clichés.
When approached in a sensitive and sensitized manner, culturally oriented tourist destinations can help regions not only differentiate in a saturated tourism market, but also offer the immediate community sources of economic and social upliftment.
Architectural heritage and traditional elements reflects the cultural identity of humans. The preservation of the cultural identity by implementing it into contemporary architectural design could be one of the key factors to boost communities, evoke pride and act as a bridge between cultures.
The studio proposes a ‘Neo Exoticism’ approach, infusing a contemporary vision with elements of local symbolism, architecture, art, poetry, flora and fauna. Demonstrating their vision through a project in Kyrgyzstan – for which the studio deployed remote design methodologies during the global lockdown – they evoke cultural iconography, fables, ancient patterns and materiality to invite guests into endless discovery of charms of the region. The studio believe that this design approach can simultaneously invigorate the quality of life for the local people who too can rediscover the beauty of their own culture in a ‘neo’ way.
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