Kindling Design Competition Returns With A New Theme
Kindling, the biennial student design initiative created by ReardonSmith Architects, MKV Design and HIX, is back for another cycle, and has revealed the theme of its 2024/25 competition - Sanctuary.
Seeking to inspire, recognise and celebrate future hospitality design voices, Kindling challenges architecture and design students to envision future hotel spaces that address a specific issue or societal need, with the goal of elevating and advocating for ideas that ask a simple question in new ways: ‘What could we be doing for you?’.
For its second edition, Kindling 2024/25 will explore what hotels – from existing spaces to structures yet to be conceived – might offer people who have been, for whatever reason, displaced from their homes and communities.
Students will be asked to propose schemes designed to welcome, nurture and help break down barriers, as well as to cater for the practical needs of those who are dislocated via buildings and interior spaces that provide a sense of home, a sense of place, and a sense of security.
Kindling will commence its 2024/25 programme at HIX LDN 2024 on 28 November with a reception at the Silent Gliss showroom, where the founders will share more about the theme and the format of this year’s competition.
Across its previous cycle, Kindling highlighted the work of Ukrainian architecture & design students, who were asked to create concepts that considered a time when hospitality replaced hostility, with submissions in three categories looking ahead to the country’s post-war needs.
The winning teams were subsequently part of a year-long mentorship platform overseen by ReardonSmith and MKV, which culminated with representatives of each team being flown to London to attend HIX and receive their awards in person as part of the AHEAD Europe ceremony – the hotel industry’s leading awards programme.
“Kindling is all about helping tomorrow’s architects and designers to explore the potential of design to influence change by inviting them to consider an issue of our time in the context of a hospitality environment. Given our new theme, the solution may be temporary or permanent, newly built or repurposed, and students may work by themselves or collaborate with others, including those in different disciplines. What matters is the vision of their competition entries.”
Patrick Reardon, Executive Chairman, ReardonSmith Architects
“The displacement of people from their homes and communities, both temporarily and permanently, is happening in ever larger numbers around the world. I believe it is relevant to consider how we in the hospitality sector, which is a global industry dedicated at heart to giving succour and safety to strangers and neighbours, can shine a light on this universal tragedy. I hope to encourage our student participants to look beyond borders and think about the best of human values enshrined in hospitality settings.”
Maria Vafiadis, Founder & MD, MKV Design
