Albergo Diffuso: District Hospitality + Application to Chinatown

Abstract

The primary goal of this dissertation is to understand what the Albergo Diffuso (AD) type of hotel is, how and why it works in its original context, and to discern its applicability to Chinatown, Honolulu. The ultimate purpose is to explore how a shift in the structure of a hospitality type can have a beneficially reorganizing impact on the host community by renegotiating the dynamics of control to mutually benefit public and private interest. The methodology employed is a combination of case studies and qualitative analysis of the Albergo Diffuso concept, resulting in descriptive summary, literary review, site survey and analysis, and finally a brief masterplan design proposal. The intent is to fully describe the original AD concept and its manifestations in order to understand the circumstances of its origin and transferability to other similar conditions. By situating the AD concept amongst current trends in three areas (tourism, heritage preservation, and urbanism), we arrive at a clearer view of how the AD upholds sustainable values. And through selecting a local site and comparing the circumstances, I conclude that fundamental similarities in situations of economic neglect support transferability, however the superficial differences between a rural and urban context would require a modified subtype, which I am labelling the Urban AD. Future research would ideally include experimentation on the proposed site with thorough pre- and post-occupancy evaluation to quantify the impact of an Urban AD. Developing this urban subtype of the AD has practical implications for all situations of urban decay, even mild examples of economic deceleration since an AD can be scaled accordingly. At its root, the AD concept provides culturally rich districts the organizational tools necessary for connecting them to the level of funding tourism can provide, but in a manner that has embedded checks and balances to prevent unregulated hospitality practice from causing a socio-economic imbalance. The specific application to Hawai’i supports a tourism based economy while providing an alternative to conventional hospitality, which does not engage the community, and current sharing-economy hospitality, which lacks the regulatory checks to properly address exploitation, demographic shift, and safety issues.