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This foyer , with items from the schools woodworking department , is rich with the sort of details that helped Lamarck University ’ s narrative ring true . It ’ s located next to the resort ’ s auditorium , which “ opened ” in 1902 .
1 . Home-made wood clamps 2 . Acme clothes wringer , purchased by Bensley in Glasgow , Scotland 3 . Hand truck made in Great Britain at the turn of the last century 4 . Framed scientific illustrations , two of over 500 lithographs that date from 1840 5 . Box of vintage spirit levels and clamps 6 . Bensley ’ s humorous way of presenting a basic wood-working tool 7 . Series of world maps printed in 1903 , of which more than 100 were framed 8 . Haberdashery hat stands , the final test of woodworking students 9 . Ancient , hand-operated vacuum cleaner to clean up sawdust 10 . This press , made in 1920 by Lamarck ’ s woodworking department , was critical in the publishing of many important books . 11 . According to the narrative , these gates were located at the main campus entrance in 1885 but were moved here . Purchased in France , they were made as early as 1870 . 12 . Lamarck ’ s favorite reading chair
trays , books , uniforms , flags – all to read as though they were the property of the university . The biggest risk with a strong narrative is not doing it fully , but Sun ’ s deep pockets allowed us to detail the entire resort . There is nothing plastic , nothing that does not fit my DNA of “ French Vietnamese turn-of-the-century university .”
The challenges of working with a strong narrative is , of course , that the expletive “ Disney ” gets tossed about in the early stages . A very few naysayers at Marriott International wondered how we could pull this off without it looking like a cheap theme park . Granted , this was a wacky vision – not your basic Marriott beach resort . But the mockups of a campus guestroom , with high ceilings and playful colors , convinced them .
One challenge : Marriott typically needs lots of back-of-house space . But the amount of space it takes does not fit the DNA . So we put all necessary services under the main street so they could be seamlessly connected but invisible to guests .
The result : Every guestroom and corridor is different , every corner more surprising than the next . More than 7,000 drawings were made by my atelier , and we are still drawing . The campus should be completely done by next spring .
52 hotelsmag . com November 2017