Sleep, Europe’s leading annual event dedicated to excellence in hotel architecture and design, comprises a major exhibition, a design and development Conference, and a number of original experiential features including the Sleep Set concept spaces and the Sleep Bar. This November’s gathering of design creatives promises to pique curiosities with investigations into the different “tribes” of hotel guests through collaborations between international design talents and social scientists that will transform the way hotels and designers think about the spaces they create.

This year’s ‘Science of Tribes’ theme is drawn from the Sinus Institute social model which identifies social groups based on the shared values, lifestyles and aesthetic preferences of their members, giving participants and visitors the opportunity to explore the science of hotel design. For the 2016 Sleep Set competition – Sleep’s annual guestroom feature that is widely recognised for challenging convention - five participating design firms have unveiled their initial findings that hint at the concepts they will bring to life in partnership with top fit-out contractors and FF&E suppliers:

Mitsui Designtec
Designing for the status-conscious Established tribe, Japanese studio Mitsui Designtec is crossing borders and time zones to create a guestroom experience offering everything money can't buy, fulfilling emotional satisfaction, creating a family environment and addressing all five senses.

“Our journey aligns heritage and connoisseurship with all the senses. Flowing water, wavering lights, a breath of air, the rhythms of life. The destination is internal fulfilment and emotional connection.”

WOW Architects
The Singaporean team from WOW is also travelling across the globe to reveal its design for Intellectuals, a tribe of culture-seekers and responsible connoisseurs, through a space in which the guest can make the most of the luxury of time, where it is possible to connect to the many layers of life.

“A retreat for uncertain times, the room as a haven of safety and comfort where guests select their preferred reality from a menu of options. The bath tub is elevated to the central character, stimulating a re-appraisal of the place of every element throughout the room.”

Aukett Swanke
Designing for experience-driven individuals who reject traditional social conventions, Aukett Swanke will create a completely immersive environment for the Sensation Oriented tribe.

“This is a room in which to retreat and come together, offering an escape to real life, not from it. It could be anywhere, but while you are in it, you can only be here. A bivouac where guests create their own reality.”

Gensler
Designing for creative and individualistic global nomads, Gensler will create a guestroom experience to celebrate the experimental habitat and chameleon nature of the Digital Avant-garde tribe.

“Like a paper aeroplane when thrown, not knowing how far it will go or where it will land, perhaps picked up and thrown again, our guests seek an instinctive, unscripted journey which continues to shape and influence their lives.”

Studio Proof
Designing for Performers who are high-achieving individuals and the economic elite of all the tribes, Studio Proof has created a fictitious member of the tribe, a driven professional who's also a pleasure seeker and early adopter. The designers have imagined her story.

“Jo Anderson is at the peak of her career and expects the best from life, including her hotels. Hotel Confidential offers exclusivity, intimacy, modernity - and unexpected delights. She lies back on the chaise-longue, reflecting on sea and sky…”

The Sleep Sets will once again be located next to the Sleep Bar on the Gallery level in London’s Business Design Centre. Visitors will be able to hear the designers make their case before a panel of judges in a conference session on Day Two of Sleep, followed by the lunchtime announcement of the winner of The Science of Tribes Sleep Set competition.

Superfutures: Sleep Bar
Interior design and branding agency Superfutures has been tapped to create the 2016 Sleep Bar, the pop-up installation designed afresh each year by a celebrated creative talent. The design of the Sleep Bar grows increasingly innovative and experiential, with one winning and two shortlisted concepts honoured in the ‘Best Pop-up Bar’ category for the last three years of the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards competition. Experiencing the bar has become an annual event in itself, the heart of the show where visitors and participants mingle with esteemed colleagues both known and new. Superfutures’ creative team has embraced the opportunity to let their imaginations fly, finding inspiration in ‘The Science of Tribes’ so that the bar will become a lens to further explore the individual meanings behind the tribes illustrated by each neighbouring Sleep Set bedroom.

Ben Webb, Director of Superfutures explains: “Our thinking behind this year's event is to push the boundaries of the Sleeper Bar whereby the main focus is no longer purely on the bar. Our ambition is to create the ‘Sleep Experience’, integrating both the Sleep Sets and Sleeper Bar into one coherent space. It will be a fully immersive experience provoking the senses through a series of environments all stemming from one simple question: Which tribe will you choose?”

Sleep will take place on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd November at the Business Design Centre in London. Register for a complimentary pass to Sleep and find out more about the conference and exhibition as well as Sleep Set at www.thesleepevent.com.