About HBA Design Consultants
HBA Company Information
HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, a leader in hospitality interior design worldwide, remains keenly attuned to the pulse of changing industry trends governed by today's more sophisticated world traveler. HBA interior designers have a detailed knowledge of design with a depth of experience that enables us to identify interior design trends at the source, make definitive predictions about new directions and innovations in the interior design industry, and to influence design standards at a global level.For four decades, our interior design professionals have been guided by the HBA design philosophy of creating a sense of place - a well-designed and integrated package of fantasy, drama and creature comfort delivered on time and within budget. Hirsch Bedner Interior Design’s ultimate objective is to add value, to raise standards and enhance the brand of an HBA interior design project's owner and operator. From continent to continent, each Hirsch Bedner interior is the result of a unique and sensitive response to location, architecture, and client vision. HBA provides a comprehensive package of hospitality design services that follows a project from its planning stage through to installation and implementation. Additionally, our graphic design division, Graphis International, offers complete brand and identity programming specifically coordinated to reinforce and intensify the visual impact of the interior design themes, while our art specialists assist in the development, through to installation and implementation. Additionally, our graphic design division, Graphis International, offers complete brand and identity programming specifically coordinated to reinforce and intensify the visual impact of the HBA interior design themes, while HBA art specialists assist in the development, procurement, and management of custom art programs that are created to compliment and enhance each Hirsch Bedner interior design project.
With offices around the globe, our international presence and worldwide knowledge of the interior design industry presents us with an opportunity to rewrite the language of design with each new project. Hirsch Bedner Design is philosophically open to the influences of new technology, new locations, and fresh ideas, and we will continue to push the aesthetic envelope, giving our projects the strong, inspired identities that forty years ago shattered all preconceived notions of standardization and predictability and revolutionized the practice of hotel design.
People
Michael Bedner
As Chairman and CEO of Hirsch Bedner Associates, Michael Bedner leads the largest, most experienced, professionally diverse, and successful hospitality interior design firm in the world. In 1964, Mr. Bedner and his partner, Howard Hirsch, revolutionized hospitality design by creating a totally new professional discipline.Throughout his career, Mr. Bedner has expanded this discipline into a functional art form that continues to evolve. His vision and creative energy provide inspiration to the entire industry and his design influence can be seen in hundreds of the finest hotels throughout the world.
Mr. Bedner's combination of traditional training with over 40 years of international hands-on experience have provided him with a singular understanding of the cultural, programmatic and financial aspects of a variety of diverse project types. This understanding makes him uniquely qualified as a consultant for virtually every aspect of the hospitality business, from conceptual planning to budgeting and installation.
By applying his expertise to the daily direction of the company's projects, Michael Bedner continues to be a leader in expanding the vision and scope of the hospitality design business to include resorts, boutique hotels, cruise ships, restaurants, casinos, spas and myriad other projects. Under his leadership, HBA has raised the bar in every area of hospitality design and developed extraordinarily strong teams for graphic design and art consultation.
Gaining his own formal education at the University of Michigan, UCLA and Stanford University, Mr. Bedner has been active in supporting a number of high profile educational programs in the design field. He has lectured extensively at institutions in North America and Asia, provided space and staffing for hospitality design classes conducted through UCLA's Extension, and even design classes conducted through UCLA's Extension, and even set up a Design Competition and Awards Program at UCLA to honor his partner and HBA's co-founder, Howard Hirsch.
Beyond directing eleven offices worldwide with a staff of 275 professionals, Mr. Bedner has continued to create his own innovative, distinctive designs. Throughout his career, Michael Bedner has remained committed to the three principles on which he and Howard Hirsch based their business: to have fun, to learn and grow from every experience, and to produce the best design possible for each project.
Howard Pharr
From the time that he was seven years old, Howard Pharr knew he wanted to be an architect. Relentlessly pursuing his childhood dream, he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and graduated with his Bachelor of Architecture in 1972. During the next decade he made a significant imprint on Atlanta's rapidly burgeoning metropolitan skyline, participating in the design of such influential landmark projects as the Omni International Hotel and the Ardmore Condominium complex. But it was his exemplary interior designs for the Coca-Cola Company's International Headquarters that cemented his reputation for excellence in the hospitality design industry. After completing his work with Coca-Cola, he moved on to design the interiors for Bank of America's regional headquarters.In 1981, he accepted a position with the newly formed Atlanta office of HBA International. He ascended rapidly within the firm's ranks and ultimately assumed responsibilities first as Managing Partner, in 1991, and then as President in 1997. Under the guidance of his creative hand, the Atlanta office has secured its worldwide reputation for providing the ultimate in hotel and resort design, and in response to exponential industry growth and the increasing needs of a sophisticated client base, Pharr established an HBA design office in Dubai, UAE. He remains responsible for the oversight and operations of three HBA offices – Atlanta (1980), London (1987), and Dubai (2000).
Pharr's personal philosophy of creating singularly unique and remarkable interiors parallels the HBA design credo – to a create a sense of place; a well-designed package of fantasy, drama and luxurious comfort – and presents him with the opportunity to create fresh, innovative designs with each new project. Providing comprehensive design services for an impressive roster of new and existing clients in North America, Europe and the Middle East, Pharr has expanded the Atlanta office to include a staff of more than 40 professional interior designers, and he believes that solid relationships with clients like Hyatt International, Marriott International, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental, InterContinental, Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, serve as testament to his firm's ability to meet and exceed the expectations of the best and brightest names in the hospitality industry today.