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Karen Hay is a difficult woman to get hold of. In between designing the interiors for the Zaha Hadid-designed Signature Towers Hotel, the executive director of Design Worldwide Partnership (DWP) UAE is also discussing designs for hotels on the Dubai World project, not to mention jetting off to some of the most luxurious hotels in the world.

"You get treated very well at the five-star hotels but it is always difficult when you see everyone lying in the sun while you are slogging it out working on details such as lighting until two or three in the morning," Hay tells Arabian Business just minutes before she attends her next design meeting. From Hong Kong to South East Asia and then to Dubai, Hay hasn't looked back since tossing a coin and deciding to study interior design at Edinburgh University, Scotland. "I was torn between studying textiles and interior design so I tossed a coin and interior design won," says Hay. "I can't image doing anything else now," she reveals.

After completing two years covered in paint, wearing steel toe-capped boots and designing theatre sets, followed by a 10-year stint in Hong Kong for DWP, Hay moved to Dubai and set up DWP UAE, the 10th office for DWP. Along with her husband, Richard, who runs the architecture side of the business, Hay now runs a team of 20 which, if the number of projects is anything to go by, is set to grow ever more rapidly.

DWP UAE focuses on wide range of developments including projects in the hospitality and residential sectors and as well as Signature Towers Hotel, the firm can also list ongoing design projects for Crowne Plaza in Kuwait, Traders Hotel in Abu Dhabi for the Shangri-La group as well as a string of Iranian restaurants. "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride that has only gone up and has yet to come down the other side," Hay laughs as she recalls the office opening.

"There is always a natural wave in the industry and if you can adapt and be able to take on different projects rather than focusing on one field, you will survive," Hay reveals, when asked how she might define her specialty in design. It is probably for this reason that the UAE branch of DWP runs design projects for such a wide variety of developments.

As this region attracts the very best in big-name designers from Frank Gehry to Jean Nouvel and more elaborate designs are evolving, homeowners are increasingly turning to interior designers for individually designed homes and are looking more to trends from the hospitality sector to use in their homes. "My style is very clean and contemporary. People really want contemporary designs now, which surprised me when I first came here. I was expecting people to request over-the-top designs in gold, but most of our clients are asking for something that is modern with Spanish and Italian furniture. Above all they want warmth and luxury," Hay explains.

And it is this sense of luxury that is being requested from Hay and her team. One of the most prevalent luxurious trends at the moment is the focus on the bathroom. "In some hotels up to 50% of the room is used for the bathroom and this can also be seen in high-end residences where bathrooms are looking more like private spas." Hay describes bathrooms in many residential buildings that would not be complete without "large freestanding baths in carved stone - sometimes in the living space rather than in an enclosed bathroom" and "double walk-in rain showers."

Intelligent home systems are also an important growing aspect of home design both now and in the future, Hay predicts. "Intelligent home systems will certainly add value to a home and are almost becoming an expectation now. When people walk into a new home, they want to know where the touch panel is or where the icon is."

Installing a system in the home that controls everything from the lights to the curtains and the home entertainment system at the press of a button is a huge task and Hay advises consulting the correct companies such as Opus who will draw up the correct wiring system before anything else. It is also far easier to install such high-tech equipment at the beginning of a build rather than leaving it as an afterthought, as Hay agrees that coming up with ingenious ways to hide wiring can be tricky. "This type of high-tech approach is very popular but you have to be careful with the feasibility of the system as IT is very fickle. One year MP3 players may be in but the next it can be something totally different," she adds.

An easy transition from outside to the inside is also an important trend for the DWP team who are currently designing Bay Gate Tower in Business Bay which will include four ‘inter-gardens' slotted inside of the building. "Even in this commercial environment, the client wants us to bring the outside in and the inside out. We like designs to have a smooth transition from outside to the inside. This can be done in a number of ways such as using stone and glass walls," Hay explains. "It has a very ‘Zen' feeling about it but is still very warm which is certainly important."

Hay talks about a unique hotel concept that the team is currently working on as a potential trend for the future. The hotel complex on the island of Bangkok on Nakheel's The World project is unique in that each property is individually owned, but also run by a five-star hotel resort. "Buyers will be able to buy a property on the island and live in it for say two months of the year, however, for the rest of the time, it will be run by the hotel and become part of its pool," she says. "Muscat also has a similar project and I was tempted to buy one myself after seeing the designs. It is becoming a popular concept here."

Getting inspiration from other designers, movies and travels would be futile efforts in the end if the end user is not satisfied, Hay agrees. "I always think about the end user. I can look at something and think that's great but then I ask myself if I could live with it. If the answer is no then I tell myself to consider the end user. Everyone has very different tastes but it is very much up to what the client wants at the end of the day."

From luxurious open-plan bathrooms to sharing a second home with a five-star hotel resort, one can be guaranteed that this region has enough design concepts to suit any taste. And if people can't find it now, they certainly will be able to in the future.

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