Late last year, Mary Alice Palmer and fellow founding principal Olga Acosta embarked on a new venture with ROAM Interior Design, an independently operated hospitality design studio launched by HKS. The practice, previously known as HKS Hospitality Interiors, has since completed the Ritz-Carlton, Portland in Oregon, with a number of other projects in the works.
Here, Palmer shares how her experiences—and a love of discovery—led her to where she is today.
How did your background influence your career path?
Mary Alice Palmer: I am essentially a Westerner, having grown up between Texas and California throughout most of my life. Navigating two very diverse cultures—surf culture versus debutants—I am an unusual hybrid. I believe my experiences traversing this terrain as well as the spaces in between opened my mind to the possibilities beyond the prescribed or average expectations.
What is your first design memory?
MAP: My father’s friendships with many artists and architects exposed me, at a very early age, to many studios and galleries. As a bachelor, he lived in his friend John Lautner’s Schaffer House and had a great appreciation for modern architecture, which he shared with me throughout my life.
A suite at the Ritz-Carlton, Portland
Give us a bit of your background: college, first jobs, early lessons learned.
MAP: Attending Parsons School of Design in New York afforded me incredible exposure to all that the city has to offer in addition to an amazing design education. Beyond four walls, fantastic stories unfolded daily setting me on a path as an adventure junkie.
My first job in New York was freelance window display, creating little visual stories around the city. In my penchant for opposites, I earned a position with John Saladino balancing my downtown art school vibe and the rarefied world of luxury interiors. I learned to remain open-minded about experiences. There is something to be gained in taking the road less traveled. This set me on a trajectory that included set design in the film business, founding a luxury leather goods company, and now designing hospitality environments.
Tell us about the newly launched ROAM Interior Design.
MAP: As a new independently operated luxury design firm with specialization in hospitality and residential categories, ROAM is made up of an award-winning team of 25 design veterans underscored by a well-established international portfolio of luxury brands. With plans for further expansion, our two studios in Dallas and London work holistically with an intimate knowledge of every project. Our strategy is global reach with a hands-on approach.
How did you come to work at the firm?
MAP: I was recruited by HKS in 2011 to start a new practice in hospitality interior design. As the practice had not existed prior to my arrival, I was able to build something from scratch formulating the genesis of ROAM. The next dozen years were devoted to building our art and refining our process to deliver creative and innovative hospitality projects inspired by insatiable curiosity. In November 2023, HKS announced ROAM, our rebranded, independently operated luxury design studio, allowing us to more freely showcase our work and operate independently with external partners, expanding the firm’s reach within this highly competitive landscape.
A guest patio at the Bishop’s Lodge, Auberge Resorts Collection, in Santa Fe
What projects are you currently working on?
MAP: We are working on a refresh of Esperanza, an Auberge Resort, which won the Gold Key Award for best resort in 2016. We have four luxury residential projects in the works in New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico; eight Caribbean resort projects in design; and we are working with the Mitsis brand in Greece, just to name a few.
What is your favorite part of hospitality design?
MAP: I am obsessed with the art of discovery, journeys, and place—that a life well-lived is one of insatiable curiosity that finds inspiration and creativity through exploration. Adventure leads to the crafting of narratives through immersive, multifaceted spaces that evoke a sensory-driven experience. I have a passion for beauty and storytelling. I love the opportunity to make the ordinary extraordinary.
Es Fum restaurant at the St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort
What trends are you seeing in hospitality right now?
MAP: Quiet luxury creates the framework for a sensory-driven experience that becomes personal to the individual engaged in the journey, not a brand override. Hospitality happens within and beyond four walls.
What is your dream project?
MAP: I search for a sense of luxury with the freedom to relax without a timeline in surroundings that exceed expectations. Dream projects successfully provide this framework no matter the location because everyone needs to let their minds ROAM a little more freely and rest their spirit.
What are your goals for ROAM?
MAP: The ROAM team will continue to provide the same level of excellence developed during the last dozen years. In addition, we will collaborate with HKS and directly with hospitality owners, brands, operators, developers, and architectural partners globally, offering a menu of services (including interior design and interior architecture, branding, product design, creative direction, strategy, art and accessory curation, and F&B concept development). The difference is in the ability to tell the story of ROAM more clearly and authentically breaking with preconceived notions and becoming the ambassadors of the road untraveled.
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