Hong Kong, 18 October 2013 ————– Founder and Managing Director of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP, led and moderated a panel session at the 24th Annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) on October 18, 2013 in Hong Kong.
Entitled “WOW vs. POW Identifying the Signal from The Noise in Designing for Today’s (and Tomorrow’s) Travelers,” the multidisciplinary panel session provided images of recent projects and discussed site planning, architectural and interior design trends in hotel and resort design, and their impact on the economic bottom line of the hotel. The panel included architects and hotel operators, and featured James Freeman of FSC Architects, Karin Sheppard of IHG, Chris Singer of WATG Singapore, and Andreas Stalder of Hyatt International Asia Pacific Limited.
With close to 800 delegates in attendance, HICAP was hosted by Burba Hotel Network, Horwath HTL and Stiles Capital Events. The three-day conference was held from October 16 – 18 2013 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation.
Beijing, 27 March 2013 ————– Managing Director of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP, led and moderated a panel session at the 9th Annual China Hotels & Tourism (CHAT) Conference on March 27, 2013 in Beijing.
Entitled “Design for the New Era,” the multidisciplinary panel session discussed architectural, interior design and facilities programming trends in hotel and resort design. Panelists included George Chang of Hyatt Resorts & Hotels, Ken Hu of CCD, Margaret McMahon of Wimberly Interiors, Ian Png of Woods Bagot, and Nigel Summers of Horwath HTL.
With over 500 delegates in attendance, CHAT Beijing was organized by Horwath HTL, STR Global, and the China Tourist Hotels Association (CTHA). The three-day conference was held from March 26 – 28 2013 at the Crowne Plaza Sun Palace Hotel in Beijing.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation.
Hong Kong, 30 November 2011 ————– Hong Kong-based architectural consultancy firm Sepia Design Consultants Limited presented their award-winning architectural concept for a lunar habitat at the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in Hong Kong.
The lecture entitled, “Building on the Moon: The Lunar Scenario of our Future in Space” was delivered by Sepia Design Consultants Limited Managing Director, Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP, as a follow-up to his series of lectures in Boston and Los Angeles in September of this year. Schmidt’s lunar habitat design was co-awarded the Technical Feasibility and Elegance Award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics earlier this year. His design of a lunar research habitat and space hotel scooped an award in an international design competition organized by SHIFTBoston that garnered over 100 diverse entries from around the world.
Schmidt provided an overview of the lunar environment, the rationale behind the design and planning of the 8,000 sq m self-sustaining facility, and the potential for in-situ lunar resource utilization to create construction materials on the lunar surface for such an endeavor. Schmidt noted, “It’s really an exciting time to be alive — with the continuing commercialization of space travel, burgeoning field of space tourism, and long-term potential for lunar Helium-3 to meet the world’s energy needs, we may be back on the moon before we know it.”
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation.
Thomas Schmidt (Sepia Design) and Nigel Summers (Horwath HTL) receive the AIA Hong Kong Award of Merit
Hong Kong, 28 November 2011 ————– Hong Kong-based architectural consultancy firm Sepia Design Consultants Limited in collaboration with Horwath HTL, has been awarded a 2011 Merit Award for Urban Design by the American Institute of Architects Hong Kong Chapter for the “Changbai Mountain Tourism Plan.”
The results of the award program were announced during last week’s awards ceremony and exhibition at the Exchange Square Rotunda in Central, Hong Kong.
Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP explains the Changbai Mountain Tourism Plan at a press conference
The annual American Institute of Architects Hong Kong Honor & Awards Program attracted 17 entries in the urban design category this year, four of which received awards of merit. The Sepia / Horwath winning joint entry depicted a holistic tourism master plan for one of the largest tourism destinations in northern China. The Changbaishan Master Plan revolves around an existing transnational UNESCO biosphere that straddles the border of China and North Korea. Spanning an elevation of 600 m to 2,700 m above sea level, the ecologically-significant Changbaishan tourism area consists of 13,000 sq. km. of various microclimates ranging from temperate hardwood forests to alpine tundra.
Commissioned at the provincial government level, the Sepia / Horwath tourism plan incorporated existing and future tourism amenities, infrastructure, transportation networks, administrative zones, protected scientific research zones, and UNESCO-protected biosphere areas into a comprehensive long-range sustainable plan for development of tourism in the area.
The competition jurors described this presentation as “sensitive and applauded the effort to reach a higher plane. Of note, the jury recognized the importance of architects playing many roles in the built world including, as this project illustrates: preserving heritage and designing socially, environmentally and economically sustainable blueprints for tourism and infrastructure growth. The plans show a comprehensive set of analysis and recommendations for urban planning, architectural guidelines, policy framework and beyond.”
AIA Hong Kong Competition Jurors
The winning scheme emphasized the adaptive reuse of decommissioned timber camps and the accompanying network of former logging roads for new tourism infrastructure and reforestation efforts. Sepia Design Managing Director Thomas Schmidt noted, “Many of these previously degraded pockets of land already contain basic services within otherwise pristine forest areas and offer an opportunity for infilling sensitive small-scale developments, in lieu of the common practice of clearing massive swathes of virgin forest for unbridled development.”
He added, “In addition to the environmental and planning issues, large-scale tourism development also has important social and economic dimensions; our kind invitation to collaborate with Horwath HTL and to supplement their studies resulted in a long range tourism plan that merged the strengths of our two firms and resulted in a roadmap which is more holistic in character and practical to implement over the years to come.”
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation. Horwath HTL (www.horwathhtl.com) is the world’s largest consulting organization specialized in the hospitality industry, with 50 offices in 39 countries. For information contact: Ms. Sherie Tsang at sepiadesign@biznetvigator.com or at +852 2557 3742
Schmidt was the first prize co-winner of the AIAA’s “Technical Feasibility and Elegance Award” in an international competition for a lunar habitat. The competition sought submissions from around the world for the creation of a technically-viable architectural design concept for a second-generation lunar research habitat. The habitate was to be constructed in the year 2069 — commemorating the 100th anniversary of mankind’s first lunar landing. The international competition, organized by ShiftBoston and sponsored by AIAA, required participants to produce a conceptual architectural design for an 8,000 sq m self-sustaining lunar scientific research base at the moon’s South Pole to sustain 60 residents.
Schmidt’s winning modular design concept provides a pueblo-style subterranean facility open on one side along the rim of a polar crater. Its location would allow for consistent Earth views due to the synchronous rotation of the two bodies, yet shield the bulk of the facility from radiation above with a 3-meter layer of lunar regolith. The design of the modular subterranean facility revolves around an agricultural core at the heart of the facility, surrounded by accommodation, laboratories and various support facilities. In addition to supplying the residents with a source of fresh vegetables and agro-research areas, the agricultural core would be naturally lit from above through a network of vertical light tubes. These would be illuminated by a rotating array of reflectors and photovoltaic cells at the lunar surface. The array would track the sun on its 29-day horizontal course across the horizon of the proposed polar location, provide natural light to subterranean areas below, and capture solar energy to assist in the power generation requirements of the facility.
A polar site was selected for its near-continuous exposure to sunlight, and potential for harvesting nearby water from polar ice. Larger quantities of permanently-shadowed polar surface water ice was discovered in 2008 by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Schmidt’s design of providing exterior Earth views and interior views of the agricultural core from the surrounding accommodation and laboratories was closely aligned with the competition’s criteria of maximizing human comfort for the occupants who might be deployed there for extended periods of time. This unique design feature could help maintain human circadian rhythms through the admission of controlled amounts of natural filtered sunlight
The winning entries will be used as the basis for the upcoming collaborative design and construction of a mock-up terrestrial base slated for construction in Worcester, MA, USA for use in various local educational and research programs promoting lunar colonization and research.
Winning competition proposals were featured in Scientific American in November 2010. Schmidt’s award-winning proposal was part of a traveling exhibition at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA between February and April 2011.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation.
Beijing, 30 March 2011 ————– Managing Director of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP, led and moderated a panel session at the 7th Annual China Hotel Development and Financing Conference on March 24, 2011 in Beijing. Entitled “Creative Design and New Technology,” the multidisciplinary panel session discussed the interface and impact of new building and systems technology relative to the design of hotels and resorts.
Panelists includes James Freeman of FSC Architects, Holger Kehne of Plasma Studio – GroundLab Beijing, Craig Takahata of WATG, and Randy Totel of KXA Architects.
With over 600 delegates, the China Hotel Development and Financing Conference was organized by Horwath HTL, STR Global, and the China Tourist Hotels Association (CTHA). The three-day conference was held from March 23 – 25 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Sun Palace Hotel in Beijing.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation.
Hong Kong, 22 February 2011 ————– Architect Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP was selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) New England Chapter as the recipient of the “Technical Feasibility and Excellence Award” for his lunar habitat proposal in the recent international “Moon City Competition.”
Organized by SHIFTboston, and supported by various organizations which included the AIAA New England Chapter, the Boston Society of Architects and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), the “Moon Capital” competition sought submissions from around the world for the creation of a technically-viable architectural design concept for a second-generation 60-person lunar habitat to be constructed in the year 2069, commemorating the 100th anniversary of mankind’s first lunar landing. The international competition required participants to produce a conceptual architectural design for an 8,000 sq m self-sustaining lunar scientific research base at the rim of a crater at the moon’s South Pole.
According to the competition organizers, of the 102 entries received from across the world, only 16 entries were deemed technically viable relative to the exacting specifications and criteria required by the competition. Schmidt’s entry and a close competitor tied for first place in the technical feasibility category and were each given awards.
Schmidt’s winning modular design concept provides a pueblo-style subterranean facility open on one side to Shackleton Crater to allow for consistent Earth views due to the synchronous rotation of the two bodies, yet shield the bulk of the facility from radiation above with a 3-meter layer of lunar regolith. The design of the modular subterranean facility revolves around an agricultural core at the heart of the facility, surrounded by accommodation, laboratories and various support facilities. In addition to supplying the residents with a source of fresh vegetables and agro research areas, the agricultural core would be naturally lit from above through a network of vertical light tubes illuminated by a rotating array of reflectors and photovoltaic cells at the lunar surface. The array would track the sun on its 29-day horizontal course across the horizon of the proposed polar location, provide natural light to subterranean areas below, and capture solar energy to assist in the power generation requirements of the facility.
A polar site was selected for its near-continuous exposure to sunlight, and potential for harvesting nearby water from the large quantities of surface water ice discovered in 2008 by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Schmidt’s design of providing exterior Earth views and interior views of the agricultural core from the surrounding accommodation and laboratories coupled with maintaining human circadian rhythms through the admission of controlled amounts of natural filtered sunlight was closely aligned with the competition’s criteria of maximizing human comfort for the occupants who might be deployed there for extended periods of time.
The winning entries will be used as the basis for the upcoming collaborative design and construction of a mock-up terrestrial base slated for construction in Worcester, MA, USA for use in various local educational and research programs promoting lunar colonization and research.
Winning competition proposals were featured in Scientific American in November 2010, and Schmidt’s award-winning proposal will be part of a traveling exhibition at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA between February and April 2011. Schmidt has also been invited to present and discuss his award-winning concept at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and at a special session at the 3-day AIAA National Space 2011 Conference to be held 27 – 29 September 2011 in Long Beach, CA, USA at the Long Beach Convention Center.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation. Competition organizer SHIFTbostonis an organization seeking to catalyze change and promote the future of the urban environment through international competitions. With over 31,000 members, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest professional society devoted to the global aerospace profession and in promoting the progress of engineering and science in aviation, space and defense. As one of the first engineering and technology universities in the US, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is on the cutting edge of many research areas including biotechnology, fuel cells, information security, materials processing and nanotechnology. WPI’s best-known alumnus was Robert H. Goddard, the “father of modern rocketry.”
The Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series by architect Thomas Schmidt
Hong Kong, 6 November 2010 ————– Architect and award-winning author and illustrator Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED® AP, has been awarded a 2010 chapter Citation from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Hong Kong Chapter for the creation of the Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series™.
Schmidt, Managing Director of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, was selected by AIA Hong Kong to receive one of two annual Citations in recognition of his significant achievement in promoting the values of cultural heritage, eco-tourism and vernacular architecture in the Chapter’s Asia-Pacific region through his creation of educational graphic novels. The Chapter Nominating Committee described the novels as, “… richly informed through detailed research and vividly portrayed through exquisitely hand-drawn illustrations.” As per the Chapter’s bylaws, this recognition is extended to individuals or organizations for their achievement in promoting the value of architecture in society and for fostering public awareness of issues related to the built environment.
Schmidt was presented with the Citation at the joint AIA Hong Kong / C40 Conference dinner on Friday, November 5, 2010 at the historic Helena May in Hong Kong.
Bumbling Through Sumatra, the second volume in the Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series™ and recent recipient of a bronze medal in the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards, seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures. Author and illustrator Schmidt noted, “As an architect, I am flattered to have received this prestigious award from my professional peers, and from an international organization that continues to champion the value of traditional vernacular architecture.”
Consisting of more than 76,000 US-licensed architects, emerging professionals and allied partners in design, the US-based American Institute of Architects (AIA) has represented the professional interests of architects and design professionals for over 150 years. TheBumbling Traveller Adventure Series ™ is published by Kakibubu Media Limited and is distributed throughout Asia by Foreign Press Distributors and MPH Distributors Sdn Bhd. The series is also available for international purchase through Kakibubu.com, Amazon.com and other online portals.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures, which was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) through a 2010 Chapter Citation.
Hong Kong, 16 October 2010 ————– Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP of Sepia Design Consultants Limited moderated an interactive panel discussion entitled “What’s Old Is New Again: Renovation / Repositioning Strategies” at the 21st Annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) on Friday, 15 October 2010 at the InterContinental Hong Kong.
The session featured three case studies of successful hotel renovations. The recent renovation of the Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai was presented by James Kaplan of Fairmont Raffles International. This was followed by a presentation of the renovation of the DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur by Guy Phillips of Hilton Worldwide. The session concluded with the repositioning of the Park Hotel Group brand and properties, presented by Allen Law of Park Hotel Group.
The overview of the three case studies was rounded out with a discussion of common renovation challenges from an architect’s perspective by Soh Leen How of SRSS, followed by discussion by audience members.
As Asia’s largest and longest running hotel investment event, HICAP has become the most important gathering of hotel investors, financiers, and leading industry professionals in the Asia-Pacific region.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures.
Schmidt contributes his thoughts during a panel on adaptive reuse
Hong Kong, 16 September 2010 ————– Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP, Managing Director of Sepia Design Consultants Limited participated as a panelist in Perspective Magazine’s first “Brain Trust” series of discussions held on 16 September 2010.
Held at Poggenpohl’s Hong Kong showroom and jointly hosted by AIA Hong Kong, the topic of adaptive reuse was discussed. The discussion included creative methods to renovate and revitalize buildings and neighborhoods, methods of maintaining historic urban environments, and key differences between renovation and restoration. Moderated by Dr. Christine Bruckner, AIA of CEBruckner Architect and Suzanne Miao of Perspective Magazine, speakers included Barrie Ho of Barrie Ho Architecture, Greg Yager of RTKL, and KS Wong of Ronald Lu & Partners.
Perspective Magazine’s “Brain Trust” project is a series of discussions featuring leading architects, designers and influencers, in which hot topics and current issues facing the design and planning industry are highlighted.
Editor’s Note: Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP is the founder of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, an award-winning design consultancy specializing in creative and sustainable design solutions for the hospitality industry. Schmidt is also author and illustrator of the award-winning Bumbling Traveller Adventure Series which seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures.
