Boutique Design - September 2014 - 32

boutiquedesign.com september 2014

4 The Doi Moi restaurant in
Washington, D.C., marries
an existing, historic building
and a new addition. GrizForm
unified the two spaces by
installing a bar that runs the
length of them both.

5 A half-century ago, John Portman & Associates designed the
office tower at 230 Peach St. in
Atlanta. The firm is now back in
that building, designing a Hotel
Indigo that will be housed on
eight of its lower floors.

ERIC L AIGNEL (DOI MOI);
COUR TE S Y OF JOHN
P O R T M A N & A S S O C I AT E S
( 2 3 0 P E AC H S T.)

reflect the destination," he says. "Even the most brandloyal guest now expects a different experience in a
Miami Beach location than what they would find from
the same brand in Manhattan. So, what better way to
truly capture the essence of a place than by repurposing
buildings that are already part of the fabric of the place?"
Also at work, says GrizForm's Bové, is what she
describes as "the DIY/rustic/industrial aesthetic" movement that was born during the Great Recession. "That
downturn spurred designers to reuse items and spaces
in ways that create authentic experiences," she says.
For all their popularity, AR projects present some
unique and sometimes vexing challenges for designers.
As an example, Portman points to his firm's work to
convert eight lower floors within the 27-story 230
Peach Street office building in downtown Atlanta into
a Hotel Indigo. (The firm's plans for the tower include
renovating the floors above the hotel as state-of-theart office space.)
Portman notes that that 50-year-old building was
originally designed by his firm. "But it's not like our old
plans told the story of what exists in the building today,"
he says. "We discovered that a half-century of tenant
fit-outs and upgrades had created a situation where
existing conditions were inconsistent from floor to floor,
and in some cases, from office to office. That made
converting the office bays into configurations suited to
today's guest rooms all the more problematic."
Changing an office building into a hotel also typically entails making major overhauls to the structure's
entrance and exit systems, FRCH's Stapleton notes.
His firm ran into that situation in its role as design
architect for the conversion of the historic Bartlett
Building in Cincinnati-a century-old structure
designed by legendary Chicago architect Daniel
Burnham-from a bank headquarters into the Renaissance Cincinnati Downtown Hotel. (Cauhaus Design
did the project's interiors.)
"The original building had its main banking hall on
the second floor, and our plans involved converting that
space into a meeting and ballroom space," he explains.
"But in making that decision, we had to install several
new stair towers to accommodate the increased foot
traffic that would be going up to that area."
There's also the issue of figuring out which features
in an existing building to keep-and which ones have
to go. In some cases, GrizForm's Bové notes, local
historical societies or ordinances play a major role in
such decisions.

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Boutique Design - September 2014

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