Authenticity travels too: Designing for traveller experience in the twenty-first century

The following design practicum is an exploration of authentic traveller experience involving both the global and local community in Winnipeg, Canada, and how this experience is encouraged through the design and space planning of a travel hostel. The design of a mixed use facility consisting of hostel style accommodation, rentable apartment space, and a small grocer supports increased interaction between travellers and locals living and working in the area, and travellers occupying the space. This interaction is considered significant by the specific group of independent travellers who are the focus of the hostel design, contributing to the degree of authenticity of traveller experience (Newlands, 2004, p. 225).;The design objective involves the provision of space for authentic traveller experience, achieved while meeting the basic needs and desires of an expanding group of budget travellers. The concept of progressive authenticity implied by cultural anthropologist and ethnographer Edward Bruner is presented and defined in relation to spaces of exchange and mobility. This idea influences major design decisions directly affecting the level of interaction and communication between all users of the facility. The performative nature of hostel culture dictates the need for various levels of flexibility and control over both private and public space, contributing to the transitional quality of the hybrid culture created within the hostel and beyond. Increased relationship within and between the multinational travel and local culture is a positive outcome of successful space affectiveness, or place and community development --- the resulting authentic traveller experience encouraging tolerance and cultural appreciation.;Keywords: Authentic, community, experience, hostel, interaction, intercultural, mobility, space affectiveness, travel, traveller...