Design Theory, Part 2

Stage 1: Defining the problem

My brief: With the “Findlater House”  located in Upper O`Connell Street, I will be designing an ecological cultural centre where the main focus will be on the Eco Hostel.

The location is prefect as it is in one of the most popular streets in Dublin, with easy access to everything from sightseeing, to busses to shopping.  

This will be a low budget hostel with contemporary design, and my aim is to get this building as sustainable as possible and to get everybody aware of the global changes we are facing and to engage guests to take initiative in the hospitality`s green policy.

The centre will have three functions all together;

·         Eco friendly hostel

·         Travel information with café

·         Research and conference centre for sustainable development

The five W`s

Who is the client and target audience? The community of Dublin is my client. This will be the first truly ecological centre with a hostel that has a sustainable approach right from the beginning. My target is everyone, but mainly tourists and ecological interested people. Tourists come in every ages, but mainly young people between 18-25 is the biggest user of hostels.

What design solution is the client thinking of? My client wants to have a sustainable, contemporary design, which will appeal to every age groups and gender.

When will the design bee needed and for how long? The design will be needed by March 2012.

Where will the design be used? The building is in 28-32 Upper O`Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland.

Why does the client think a design solution is required? The approach to having the building as sustainable as possible, as well as prolong life expectancy of design, professional help is required. Designer are the ones that are the most updated on sustainability.

How will the solution be implemented? By carefully research every aspect to the building and the potential user, the solution will be implemented with solid planning.

Stage 2. Research

This is the first time I am designing a problem where the main aim is everything to be environmentally friendly.

This is my primary research of the historical background of eco hostels.

·         The Eco Hostel. As the first hostel ever was founded and opened in Germany in 1912, it is difficult to date when and where the first eco hostel was founded, as it is a relatively new idea. As we know, the green movement started within the last 20-30 years, but have not really become popular before the end of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st century.  

·         The first Eco Lodges tended to be in places such as Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Australia, Kenya and South Africa, where we can also find the earliest examples of Eco Tourism.

·         One can maybe speculate in  that the eco- friendly initiative within hostels started in the hippie epoch of 1960s and -70s, with their behaviour and beliefs in seeking freedom and independence, and not least the Greenpeace movement. They certainly had some beliefs back then that is just as current today, as they had a desire to see the world, travel as cheap as possible and save the environment.

·         Today, we find thousands of alleged Eco Hostels - and Lodges around the world.  What makes them different to other inns and bed and breakfast businesses is that they operate according to strict ecologically guidelines.

Secondary Research

For the secondary research which includes surveys of eco hostels from the managing point of view and the potential guests and guest’s point of view.

Eco Hostel survey:

19 responds. The hostels that participated in the survey were from the countries South Africa, Iceland, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Armenia, United States, Italy, Ecuador, Ireland, Hungary, England, Belgium and Scotland.

1. In what year did your hostel become ecofriendly?

What they all have in common is that they are relatively new, in fact the two oldest have had the eco label since 1994 and 1995, and the rest of them were from year 2000 and out. Only two of them were built purposely to become an eco hostel.

2.What are your strategies for being eco friendly?

They all have strategies for being eco friendly. See the graph below from the management survey:

·         Car sharing board

·         Bike rental

·         Heat sensors

·         Fair-trade and organic food and coffee

·         Book swap

·         Second hand baskets

·         Eco friendly appliances

·         Natural gas for heating and hot water system

·         Energy efficient lamps

·         Light switches isolated to minimise usage at night

·         Low flush toilets

·         Solar hot showers

·         Organic and plant based soaps and shampoos

·         Plant based wall painting

·         Recycled toilet paper and paper products

·          Reclaimed/ recycled furniture

·         Double glazed insulation in windows

·         Eco water boiler

·         Eco events

·         Biomass (wood burning) boiler, using

·         free waste wood to supply all heating

·         and hot water

·          Built in Ventilation - to provide natural air conditioning.

·         Organic growing

·         Composting toilets

·         Low consumption light bulbs

·         Natural grass/ green roof

3.Do you educate your guests about how they can be more eco friendly? Please specify.

Some simply said no, with that reason that they don`t like to proselytize the guest, and how they live should be their own responsibility.
Luckily, the majority of the answers were more of the positive kind and here are some examples on the answers I got in the survey; Tours of the facility and briefs about the concerns to our environmental issues, exhibitions, posters, signs, eco-friendly attitude, encourage to different things like walk and cycle instead of using cars, and asking guests to bring their own bed linen if possible, ask guests to recycle all their waste, supporting and promoting Earth Hour, a green library and green documentaries at the guests disposal, course participants and apprentices who receive regular instructions where guests are also welcome to join the classes, sharing of green cleaning product recipes, energy saving techniques and cooking from scratch using local products.

4.Do you have any goals of reaching any environmental gain? Do you promote this?

Again I got a lot of different answers where many are determined to reach goals like;
be more self sufficient in energy, - water and food production, to promote conservation and values for a clean and healthy life, live in a perfect harmony with nature around us, minimize our impact upon environment as much as possible, but only one of the asked said that they had annual recycling targets, which they promoted to the guests.
Some say that they just speak with their action, and are eco friendly for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.

My last question in the survey:

5. Regardless of what position you have, do you feel/ think that working in a eco hostel is more demanding or rewarding, than working in a non-eco hostel?

Everyone said that it is more rewarding, but many stated it is also more demanding than compared to non-eco hostels. With that they mean it is more demanding in terms of that they need to be on top all the time, to know and what the guests are aware of regarding energy and water usage, what is and is not compostable and recyclable and so on.

They feel it is satisfying to see and to know that they are making a difference, even though it is a small one. They find it meaningful, more economic and that guests are more relaxed if things go wrong with their appliances. The education they can provide, the appreciation they get, the eye opening that occurs with guests who may not have been exposed to practices like that before, and to get to be an inspiration and example for others, is why they are committed to their work and feel it is rewarding.

The user and the potential user survey:

74 responds. The average age is 24, and people from 11 different countries have answered.

1. When you are choosing your hostel, what is important to you?

90, 5 % of them believe that the location and price is the most important. 44, 6% of the asked take recommendationsfrom others when they are choosing a hostel.

2. Are you aware of the global changes the world is facing today? Do you care?

Everyone in the survey said that they are aware of the global changes, but they are not sure how to be more eco friendly that they already are, which is mostly to recycle, reuse and save electricity.

3. Was it a coincidence or did you purposely choose the hostel because it was eco friendly?

 9 %  said that they have slept in an eco hostel before, half of them purposely chose it because it was an eco hostel, and the other half said that it was a coincidence that they chose that particular hostel.

4. Was the staff informative to you about their approach to being eco friendly?

Only two stated  that the staff were informative to them about what they did to reduce their carbon footprint.

5. Knowing that it will benefit you and the future, would you be willing to pay more to stay at an eco hostel?

 90% said yes, if they had the money for it. Several of them would pay more if some of the money would go to a fund or specific purpose in terms of helping the local community or the environment.

3. Ideate; end users motivations and needs are identified

Here is a list of accommodation that will include in the cultural centre:

Large, common entrance lobby where guests will choose where to go.

·         Seating Area

·         Stairs and Lifts

·         Toilets

Eco Hostel:

·         Reception

·         Common areas

·         Kitchen

·         Double rooms

·         Dormitory rooms

·         Single rooms

·         Washing/ Cleaning

·         Canteen/ eating area

·         Bathrooms

Travel information:

·         Reception

·         Waiting area

·         Offices

·         Meeting room?

·         Staff areas

·         Café

·         Toilets

Research and conference centre:

·         2 auditoriums

·         Meeting room

·         Office(s)

·         Conference room

·         Library

·         Study areas

·         Toilets

·         Cloakroom