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Emerging NY firm re-imagines the urban hotel
The project, a 55-storey hotel in Times Square comprised of a 3,500 sq ft
ground floor restaurant, a 3,000 sq ft spa and gym facility, 540 rooms, and a 3,000 sq ft sky lounge.
Nature, as a literal and conceptual imperative, is integrated throughout the
design to create a serene respite in the densest of urban fabrics.
Architectural components embody nature in re-imagined forms, and extract its intrinsic productive beauty. Strategies emerge that contribute to unique spatial experiences and superior environmental quality. By exploring the juxtaposition with the surrounding urban context, a new adaptation of Nature lying between the natural and artificial, reveals the dynamic qualities of the site and imbues natural forms with new meaning.
Creating an oasis-like experience, a vast skylight in the lobby is layered
with a screen of wood baguettes that integrates building systems and allows natural light to filter deep into the space. The recessed entry strengthens the street connection and overlapping zones of restaurant, bar, lounge and lobby encourage public interaction inside.
Reception is defined by an interior 'forest', which pulls guests from the
busy street into a quiet garden that naturally filters indoor pollutants
from the air. A digital canopy montages images of naturally occurring
geometries with urban forms creating a visual interrogation of their
presumed dichotomy.
The hotel rooms are conceived as being a retreat, a sanctuary within the
forest - the bed and desk forming a tent encampment below a ceiling of super graphic natural forms, light filtering through window shears of organic cut out patterns.
The lights of Times Square encircle the rooftop Sky Lounge. A zone of
mirrored ceiling panels extends natural light into the space, and a
variegated wood 'trunk' encompasses the lounge core. The ceiling panels are laser cut with a foliated pattern, creating a stainless steel canopy of leaves at the top of the city, while reflecting the twinkling visage below.
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