Hospitality Design - September 2015 - 177

with plastic architectural figures walking
the streets. The team took a risk nearby,
adding bleacher seating (wired with power
for guests to plug in and a dropdown TV
screen for showing popular sports events)
in what was previously dead space under a
staircase, highlighted by a neon quote from
the musical Chicago on the wall.
The bar-which also serves coffee and
bites throughout the day-is backed by an
installation of angled window-like panels
housing mirrors and hand-drawn sketches
of Chicago celebrities, whose names are
scrawled like chalk on a blackboard across
the ceiling. In the Artist Studio off the
bar, created as a quieter sanctuary to grab
a drink or eat, large-scale two-sided art
pieces of the cityscape with silhouettes of
individuals stand in the windows to form a
dialogue with passersby on the street. And
etched on a glass wall dividing the studio
and the bar is the poem "Chicago" by Carl
Sandburg subtly illuminated by a lighted

curtain "to further represent the city's rich
literary history," McDonough says.
Yet the standouts are two pieces that are
more than meets the eye. What seems like a
painting of a yellow taxi covers a wall next
to reception, but upon closer look, guests
realize it is made from thousands of pencils.
And structural columns-now freed up from
the arched headers and a removed wall,
"create almost a colonnade in the space,"
McDonough explains-are dressed on one
side with a photo of ballet dancers (a nod to
nearby Joffrey Ballet), and on the other, an
image of a moving L train. At quick glance,

it seems like a cut up photograph, with
sections on each of the four pillars. But if
guests stand in a certain point in the space,
they see the full picture. "Look and look
again-it's about intrigue," explains Stoeckl.
"We are never revealing everything to guests
right away; we let them discover things on
their own."
Still to come: a reimagined rooftop bar
and ballroom, set for the first half of next
year. hd
get t ys. com; waterma rkc a p .co m; ma rri ot t .co m

Renaissance Chicago
Downtown Hotel
Owner

Carey Watermark Investors

Management Company

Marriott International
Hartshorne Plunkard
Architecture, Chicago

Architecture Project Team

Paul Alessandro and
Stephen Marcus

Interior Design Firm

The Gettys Group, Chicago

Interior Design Project Team

Liz Kay, Chris Garcia,
Laura Kay Light, Meg
Prendergast, and Chris
McDonough

Swavelle/Mill Creek
Fabrics, Fabricut, S. Harris,
P/Kaufmann Contract,
Romo, Villa Nova, Zinc
Textile, Integra Fabrics,
Valley Forge Fabrics,
Duralee, Sahco, Eastern
Accents, KnollTextiles,
Mokum Textiles, Carnegie,
Concertex, Maharam, and
Teknion

Flooring

Virginia Tile, Junckers
Hardwood, and Daltile

Contractor

Norcon

Furniture and Casegoods

Shawn | Austin Contract
Furnishings, Potocco, and
Kimball Hospitality

Purchasing Firm

Benjamin West

Project Managers

The John Hardy Group

Seating

Lighting Consultant

CharterSills and Associates

Engineering

KJWW (MEP) and Forefront
Structural Engineers
(structural)

Foodservice/Kitchen Consultant

Next Step Design

6

Brintons, Sponge Cushion,
Room & Board, and IKEA

Fabrics

Architecture Firm

5

Carpet and Rugs

Designform Furnishings,
Royal Custom Designs,
Amtrend, American
Leather, Charter Furniture,
Arketipo, Phase Design, Lily
Jack, Functionals, Design
Within Reach, HAY, Moroso,
Emeco, and Animavi

Media Consultant

Lighting

LOBBY
Millwork

Wallcoverings

Media Services Worldwide

555 International,
Chemetal, ColorQuartz,
Caesarstone, Stone Source,
and Ann Sacks

Preciosa, Royal Contract
Lighting, Cerno, and Séura
Astek, D.L. Couch, and
Design Concepts in
Wallcovering

Window Treatments

Miceli Drapery

Art and Accessories
2. Artist Hirotoshi
Sawada created a series
of mobiles throughout
the hotel, including a
flurry of metallic strips
above the reception.

3. Artist Hirotoshi
Sawada created a series
of mobiles throughout
the hotel, including a
flurry of metallic strips
above the reception.

Indiewalls, Chicago Art
Source, and TKesh Creative

Bath and Spa

Toto USA

hospitalitydesign.com September 2015

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