Dezeen promotion: registration is now open to attend this year's Sleep hotel interior and design event, taking place in London on 20 and 21 November.
The Sleep event comprises an exhibition, conference and awards dedicated to design for hotels.
A Tech Hub will feature examples of how technology is expanding the possibilities for hotel design.
The Sleep Conference will take place over both days, with a keynote speech by architect Ken Shuttleworth and other speakers including Ace Hotel Shoreditch designer Alex Calderwood of Universal Design Studio.
The winner of a competition to design Pop Art style bedrooms and bathrooms will be revealed at 7pm on Wednesday 20 November, and a pop-up party in the middle of the exhibition place will take place from 6-8pm.
A gallery of the European Hotel Design Awards winners, to be announced on 19 November, will also be displayed.
The event will be open from 10am to 8pm on 20 November and 10am to 6pm on 21 November at London's Business Design Centre.
Designers, architects and professionals in the hotel industry can click here to register to attend the event.
Keep reading for more information from the organisers:
Sleep 2013
POP Goes the Sleep Event
Sleep, Europe's leading hotel design and development event, cranks-up the volume this year with a bevy of clever twists. This annual hotspot is where current trends are debated and future philosophies are born through an exhibition, conference, and the Sleep Hotel competition taking place 20 and 21 November 2013 at the Business Design Centre in London, a cultural hub for groundbreaking architecture and interior design. Last year, well over 3000 people were inspired by the innovations, insights and networking opportunities buzzing throughout Sleep.
POP-up Hotels
This year's Sleep Hotel challenge, in association with the Barbican's Pop Art Design exhibit, invites design gurus, along with their fit-out partners, to dream-up life-sized bedrooms and bathrooms inspired by this era. A new contestant has dared to join the fray: Infinite Architects, a young practice based in the UAE, and its partner Cullinan Interior, will join Kelly Hoppen Interiors / Crosswater; Purpose Design; Squared Interiors / Dea Contract; and the Hickson Design Partnership. From the Sleep Hotel Bar, which Nous Design has also fashioned in Pop Art style, the winner will be announced at 7pm on Wednesday 20 November during a free drinks soirée. Visitors will flock to check-out one of the coolest Sleep Hotel highlights, Purpose Design‘s experimentation with new technologies such as 3D printing within its room set. Barbican exhibition curator Catherine Ince will be selecting the winning room set at the event with fellow judges Andrew Baker, Starwood's VP Design Construction & Engineering, EAME, and Conrad Smith, Managing Director of ReardonSmith Architects.
POP Rocks
This same evening from 6-8pm at a pop-up party in the middle of the show floor, Exhibition zone, Conference panellist Michaelangelo L'Acqua will be spinning on Evoni's super sleek Apollo DJ table which is currently shortlisted for an SBID International Design Award. Global Music Director of W Hotels, as well as a music consultant for luxury couture houses and a record producer, Michael is sure to get the celebration started!
POP Stars
For discovering the coolest new inventions to make a splash on the hospitality design scene, look no further than the Sleep Exhibition. Nearly a third of this year's participating companies will be showcasing their products and services for the first time at Sleep, including those from Hong Kong and America as well as across Europe. One of these, The Modern Garden Company, is launching its delightful "Adagio" rope-swing seat and a range of contemporary upholstered outdoor furniture. Returning for the seventh year, headline sponsor GROHE will exhibit its beautiful Grandera collection as well as debut a pioneering Water & Energy Audit service for hoteliers.
Located upstairs on the Gallery level, this year's new Tech Hub feature is the place to see cutting-edge examples of how technology is expanding the possibilities for hotel design. Boxbuild, the driving force behind the award-winning Bloc Hotels, is working with Sky and Samsung to showcase how their integrated technologies can create state-of-the-art hotel experiences. Guests’ personal smartphones can be used to streamline their stay, starting with the initial booking and then throughout their visit for check-in, as a room key, adjusting the window blinds, dimming the lights, fine-tuning the temperature, setting a wake-up alarm, and as a remote control to select Sky HD in-room content on Samsung HD TVs. Optionally, guests may opt to use wall-mounted Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 tablets to customise their rooms.
POPular Designs
Also on display at Sleep will be a gallery of the European Hotel Design Awards winners, which will be revealed at a ceremony on Tuesday 19 November, at the Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, London. Amongst those being celebrated is legendary entrepreneur Ian Schrager, originator of pioneering concepts like "lobby socialising", "the hotel as theatre" and "urban resorts", who will accept the Outstanding Contribution Award.
Vox POP
Audience members at the CPD-accredited Conference will have the chance to interact with the hospitality industry’s most perceptive and respected luminaries. Hot on the heels of being honoured the evening before, headliner Ian Schrager will engage with moderator Guy Dittrich about his keen instinct for the pulse of popular culture as well as his latest creation, the newly opened EDITION hotel in London’s Fitzrovia with his first nightclub since Studio 54.
Eagerly anticipated is the keynote address by esteemed visionary Dr. Ken Shuttleworth, founding partner of Make Architects and a former partner at Foster and Partners, on Wednesday, 20 November. With the topic "Inside the mind of a creative genius", one of the world’s foremost architects will enlighten the audience about the processes, influences and inspiration that goes into designing installations for landmark projects, either for hospitality, popular/cultural events or high-profile brands.
Kicking-off the Conference on Thursday, 21 November, is Alex Calderwood, co-founder and Chief Cultural Engineer of the über hip Ace hotel brand which has recently hopped across the pond to set-up shop in Shoreditch. Informed by his signature knack for re-invention and his instinct for emerging trends, Alex will speak to the power of undesigning, embracing change and developing brand confidence and freedom through aesthetic exploration.
These are just small samples of the truly exceptional speakers lined-up for the 2013 Conference which, along with the Exhibition and Sleep Hotel, are for the first time free to attend for all visitors who pre-register online, with a handful of exclusive sessions requiring pre-booking. Visit the Sleep website for the full conference programme.
At a Glance
» The European Hotel Design Awards dinner (with which Sleep is closely affiliated) – Tuesday 19 November, Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, London. To book your place: www.europeanhoteldesignawards.com
» Sleep exhibition, conference and Sleep Hotel – Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 November, Business Design Centre Islington, London N1. Open from 10am to 8pm on the 20 and 10am to 6pm on 21 November. Pre-register for a complimentary ticket at www.thesleepevent.com.
» Sleep Hotel winner announcement – 7pm Wednesday 20 November at the Business Design Centre