Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, International Hotel Interior Designer

Who is Mr. Neal Prince? Mr. Prince is a trained Architect from Rice University, an Art Historian, Art Collector and a person with a vast passion for Motion Pictures and Theatre History, especially Set Designs. These elements came together to build a foundation to Mr. Prince's skills, which later became recognized as his ability for designing Hotel and Restaurant Interiors. Mr. Prince incorporated his own passions of above, into an International branding philosophy that remains as strong today as it was when he developed his philosophy of Hotel and Restaurant Designs, which is visible today, in Hotels worldwide. But what makes Mr. Prince different? He was a pioneer within this Industry, along with Dale and Pat Keller, of Hong Kong, in designing Hotels in countries that never had an International Hotel presence. Mr. Prince, along with Kenneth Smith (Interior Designer), Charles Alvey (Graphic Designer), Richard Simpson (Graphic Designer), William Embury (Interior Designer), Joe Grusczak (Interior Designer), James Ray Baker (Interior Designer) and Irene D'Alessio (Interior Designer) and many others were the first, to sent the standards for International Hotel Interiors. And what is incredible is that he did not have the grand budgets that most designers have today. Mr. Prince used local talents and products, when available and appropriate, to augment his designs, which, in return, allowed local Artist, Gallery Owners, Merchants and vendors to view InterContinental not as an invader, but as a partner in creating new sources of commence within the local economy. What is even more unique in Mr. Prince being different, was that Mr. Prince has always credited his success, not in the terms of "I", but "WE". Mr. Prince, being from Corsicana, Texas, has always remained modest and respectful and always have contributed his success due to the fact that designing hotels is a "TEAM" effort, from his Departmental Staff to his Professional Associate Designers that he had brought on to do a certain project for the vast inventory of InterContinental Hotel holdings. This website is to bring together the collections, resources, stories and images documenting a period of time, before computers, mobile phones, fax's or video conferencing. This website is to recapture the time when International Hotel Design Industry remained in its infancy before the growth and development into what we have today as multi billion dollar companies. Each Hotel on this website will encompass how Mr. Prince and his Staff and Professional Associates overcame the troubles of designing Hotels, from a historic point of view, to what was necessary to open the Hotels, maintain the Hotels, and what lessons were learned to be applied for the next project.

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Hotel:

InterContinental Kinshasa Hotel

Years ago the adventurous traveler depended on the river to carry him or her to the bustling market city of Kinshasa. Today, they can ride the jet stream to the modern N'Djili Airport and within half an hour finds themselves basking in the poolside sun at the new, at the time, the Hotel InterContinental Kinshasa. The Hotel rose ten stories above the mighty Congo River, which was fully air-conditioned Hotel in the residential section of Kilina is just minutes from the pulsating heart of the capital. The mood throughout is African, blending all the color of the ageless land with the comfort and conveniences which InterContinental Hotel guest to take for granted.

Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, AIA, ASID

Location:

Kinshasa, Zaire (1971)

Architect:

Lead Interior Designer:

Neal A. Prince, R.A., A.S.I.D, Lead Designer

V.P. of Graphic and Interior Design Department, InterContinental Hotel Group 1960-1985

Rooms:

271 completely air-conditioned rooms. In a residential section by the River Zaire a few minutes from the shopping center, close to Parliament and next to World Trade Center.

Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, AIA, ASID

Photograph courtesy of Arie de Zanger, IHC Photographer

Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, AIA, ASID

Photograph courtesy of Arie de Zanger, IHC Photographer

How does Mr. Prince's identify an outstanding Hotel?

Response: When you arrive at the Hotel, telephone room service and order a club sandwich to be delivered to your room. Once the room service had delivered your requested club sandwich, take a moment to access how it was prepared, what materials they used to create your club sandwich and then taste the sandwich. Mr. Prince firmly believes, from 55 years of travelling around the world that if a Hotel is able to prepare the "simple" club sandwich correctly, then that Hotel is being operated correctly.

Restaurants/Lounges:

2 specialty restaurants, 4 informal restaurants, cocktail lounge, bar, pool snack bar and casino.

Brasserie Bar Rendering -

Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, AIA, ASID

LaVeranda Bar Rendering -

Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, AIA, ASID

Letoile Lounge Rendering -

Inter-Continental Kinshasa Hotel, Kinshasa, Zaire, Mr. Neal Prince, AIA, ASID

Meeting Facilities:

5 function rooms accommodating up to 800 people

- No Photograph is available at this time-

Images held by the Collection:

This earlier image is another example of the detail graphics and designs that were created by the talents of Charles R. Alvey and Richard Simpson, of the InterContinental Hotel Corporation's Department of Interior & Graphics Design. This image is another example of InterContinental Hotel's competitors copied for their own Graphic's applications. In some hotels, this image is used to this day.

STATEMENT

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL

INTERIOR AND GRAPHIC DESIGN

POLICY

NEAL PRINCE

The approach to hotel design differs greatly from interior design for an individual. The latter is dictated by the aesthetic environmental pleasures of one particular person or family, whereas hotel design is a coordinated effort between the functional requirements if IHC Hotel Management and Operations, the architectural concept and space allocation, the desires of the local hotel company, the limitations of restrictive budgets, and the harmony and market of the country in which a hotel is located – all combined to produce a profit marking plant reflecting the current international tastes of a widely diversified market.

Although standardization would appear to be desirable in a rapidly growing industry, experience indicates the most successful efforts are based on individuality related to the country of origin rather than standardization of design, but with an overlying emphasis of international standardization of quality and service.

Each hotel in each location produces its own surveyed, conceptual, and operational requirements of IHC, its own local interior designers, and its own problems of local availability and manufacturing; however, the following outline of goals is generally applicable:

A. To produce good design based primarily on the functional needs and requirements of IHC Operations in order that Management can merchandise fully the facilities provided and develop a high quality of service; this design to be approached simultaneously along the following avenues:

1. Concept (objectivity) – initiated by IHC Operations and local Hotel Company (where applicable).

2. Function (utility) – based on past experience and current consumption of practical innovation.

3. Construction (fabrication) – utilization of local market facilities and methods wherever possible.

4. Budget (feasibility) – dictated by market surveys indicating the initial expenditure warranted by projected profits.

5. Beauty (design) – a conglomerate result of the thinking and ideas of all parties involved coordinated into a smooth, compatible result.

B. To insure that the original design concept and subsequent development of each project is based not on the likes and dislikes of any one faction but expresses the taste and insures the comfort of the international guest; and also utilizes, wherever possible, the trades, manufactures and craftsmen as well as the arts and crafts, ornamentation, styles, and traditions indigenous to the country in which a project is located.

-Director of Interior & Graphic Design

Hotel Development

Neal Prince, AID, ASID

The following Exhibit is a memorandum from March 5th, 1971, by Mr. Prince's, regarding the policy on "How to Design Hotel Guest Rooms", from an Interior Designer point of view, by Mr. Prince:

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