An interview with Brendan O’Molony and the American Glamping Association [December 6, 2022]
Q: Tell us a bit more about why you started a company in the glamping industry.
A: It was, in my bones, a profoundly creative pursuit tied to a primal need for adventure and the tapestry of ancient stories that connect us. I was equally obsessed with innovation in tent design and technologies for a sustainable future. I saw the opportunity to develop a ‘new tent architecture,’ a compelling product experience that combines the advantages of durability and comfort in conventional dwellings with those of a soft aesthetic and low impact of fabric structures.
Q: Tell us a bit about where your glamping business is today? Where do you see your business in the future? A: Our mission is to engineer superior, high-performance fabric structures optimized to site, ensuring a safe, comfortable, and lasting product and guest experience. We call this Made for the Wild. We continue to innovate with engineered modular systems and holistic configurator intelligence in our new pre-designed product lines by building upon our technical design expertise, flexible partnership philosophy, and site-based design approach. By 2024 we will offer our clients an interactive configurator platform (THS Config). THS Config will have the flexibility and speed to adapt pre-designed Tenthouse structures for more personalized and site-appropriate developments and within budgets. THS Config will function as a parametric simulator and solutions developer across three design-to-site drivers for glamping: nature-interactive architecture, structural loading factors, and passive-low energy comfort design. It will be a game changer that cuts out the ground-up time and cost required for typical custom projects.
Q: What are you most excited about within the glamping industry moving forward? A: Introducing non-conventional lightweight building into standards will allow our industry to flourish. Through the hard work and dedication of organizations such as AGA, Tenthouse standards are in development, and opportunities are expanding for high-performance, thin envelopes as a compelling design strategy for mainstream outdoor hospitality. In terms of sustainability, the ongoing development of low impact tented experiences contributes to the conservation of wild habitats, which help sustain ecosystems, build water security, and uplift marginal communities all over the world. These things connect us all and speak to eco-innovators as leaders in the rise of the circular economy.
Our future is definitely lightweight.