kim ihnatko design education inspiration: Hong Kong and the Hotel Icon

Hotel ICON Lobby with vertical garden by Patrick Blanc containing eight thousand plants (8,603 plants, 71 species)

I finished my Australian Endeavour Award in May 2013, based at the National Building Museum in Washington DC, USA and headed home to Sydney.

Last stop was Hong Kong and a stay at the remarkable Hotel ICON in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, founded by the School of Hotel & Tourism Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University . The hotel, opened in 2011, is not only an amazing place to stay but also a unique teaching and research hotel . The hotel is fully owned by the university, the first such business model for the hospitality industry in the world, benefiting the local hotel industry through experimentation, research and training to students of the school. "Unlike working for a big hotel chain, we're not trying to please an owner here, and we're not constrained by corporate philosophies," says Richard Hatter, general manager of Hotel ICON. They train small groups of elite students to become future hospitality leaders in a "real world"environment.

Hotel ICON represents the combined efforts of Hong Kong’s creative talents including Rocco Yim, Sir Terence Conran, Patrick Blanc, William Lim, Tommy Li, Barney Cheng and Freeman Lau. A highly recommended stay if you are in the neighbourhood. Highlights are the vertical garden by Patric Blanc, stretching the length of the lobby, furniture by Sir Terence Conran and a changing exhibition of local artists work throughout the hotel.

There was only one occasion I was aware students may be running the hotel and that was in the outdoor pool overlooking Hong Kong's harbour and skyline. Three lifeguards paced along side me as I did laps, possibly just concerned with my technique.