Contemporary Social Context and New Trends in Hospitality Interior Design. Reference to a Semiotic Reading of the Interaction

Abstract

Hospitality design covers a vast range of temporary living and use of a space, a variety of needs and target groups. The design of those spaces is inseparable from external factors. A revised background for tourism and travelers is defined in the contemporary era by the pandemic, the energy crisis, the escalating climate change and the environmental crisis. In the present paper some of the new requirements and trends resulting from the above-mentioned conditions and affecting hospitality design will be discussed. Health and wellness are of major significance among them Additionally, the importance of wellbeing defined the demand towards wellness activities and products and re-mapped the facilities spectrum in hospitality. Moreover, sustainability, green and ecological design are very seriously taken into consideration in contemporary society by companies, hosts and the travelling public. Reuse, recycling, upcycling, energy saving construction techniques, energy saving choice of materiality are some of the design trends in favour of a greener and more sustainable hospitality design. The Covid-19 era introduced alternative ways of communication and modes of work and an unprecedented growth of people working online, defined as digital nomads, combine work with entertainment. Flexibility, adjustability, advanced technological standards and smart technologies became important features for a competitive hospitality design. The interaction between meanings, ideologies and concepts related to the above-mentioned trends and their designed interpretation into material formations and visual manipulations provides the ground for a semiotic reading and an educational study.