Design Lab is a hospitality design firm, Asian-born with an international outlook. We offer master planning, architecture and interior design services. Our leadership all have a strong design background and a wide range of experience working on hotel and resort projects throughout the world in Europe, Middle East, Central America, China, India, Asia and the Pacific.
We do not have a predetermined design style, rather we approach each project as unique where the site, the local culture, and ideas from the client and operator all inform a holistic design approach.
From experience we know that a resort must be commercially and operationally viable as well as beautiful. Turning a design into a reality is a team effort where we work closely with other design and technical consultants, the operator and the client.
Alvaro Paredes
Principal
Spanish architect and co-founder of Design Lab. Alvaro graduated from the University of Navarra in Spain
where he also completed a Masters degree in Urban Planning and Design. After completing his studies
he worked on several projects in London and Spain before deciding to move to Southeast Asia.
Prior to launching Design Lab Alvaro worked for several years at Denniston architects in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Here he had the opportunity to be involved in some of the top hospitality projects in the world in places such as Brazil, Bali, Portugal and China, and for operators such as Aman Resorts, Hyatt, GHM and Mandarin Oriental.
At Design Lab he is exploring another scale of projects. He oversees conceptual design for all projects, always studying local culture to give each project a sense of place in a contemporary way.
Virginie de Paeuw
Design Director
Virginie is a Belgian Architect and Interior Designer and co-founder of Design Lab. She completed her
studies in Belgium and Spain, where she graduated with Distinction and received the Norman Foster
prize for her challenging designs.
During her career Virginie has worked in architecture practices in Spain, Vietnam, France, Japan, Malaysia and Bali. Before launching Design Lab she worked for Kengo Kuma’s office as project architect in charge of large scale competition projects, some of which were highly recognized and published in the architectural press.
From Japan she went to Malaysia, working for Denniston architects in Kuala Lumpur where she specialized in hospitality design. As project architect her main projects were Aman and Cheval Blanc resorts. These included Amanoi in Vietnam where she finalized documentation and saw through the construction as site architect.
Paul Francey
Associate Director
Paul is a British architect specialized in hospitality design. He has worked in UK, Spain, Fiji, Malaysia and
Macau before joining Design Lab. Since almost the beginning of his career he has worked in hospitality
design with 15 years in this field. He has been involved in all stages of projects from concept design
through to detail design and construction administration.
His years of experience make him an expert not just in conceptualizing the projects but also following up the construction on site and designing construction details to suit the local culture and environment.
Gregoire Michal
Interior Design Director
Greg is a French interior designer whose career has been spent in hospitality design.
After completing his studies in Belgium, he moved to south east Asia, working with Denniston in Kuala Lumpur. He remained at Denniston for over three years working on various projects with luxury hotel brands such as Aman Resorts, One and Only and Mandarin Oriental. Greg later moved to Vietnam for new experiences where he has managed teams working on hospitality and restaurant projects both internationally as well as in Vietnam.
He has been involved in all phases of projects from initial concept, to construction details, to completion. He has a passion to always discover something new on each project, whether it be a new country, new materials or new design ideas.
