a peek into the lobby

working plans, section

Brad Jensen of Icon Visuals

Another exciting addition to the artists at Link: Brad Jensen!
Click on any of the photos below to visit Icon Visuals' website.

Jen Stark

Jen is a another artist participating at the art-hotel.
Click on any of the photos below to visit Jen's website.

Paper Sculpture:
detail:

Illustration work:detail:

Otto Orellana

Otto was the first artist to join me for Link. He's also an awesome dj. If you're in BR, you should go check out a window installation he did for Urban Outfitters.

Schematic Plans

Level 1:

Level 2:

Level 2 - Alternative Layout:
Level 3:

Level 4:

Common Guestroom Configurations

Common room dimensions and layouts from Interior Graphic Standards.

Multiple Grids

The illustration below shows the grids contributing to the layout of guestrooms. The orange lines show the window openings. Red lines represent structural grid.

Block Diagram | option 2

Block Diagram | option 1

Physical Space Requirements

(click to enlarge)

Precedent: Byblos Art Hotel

...this pale ocher mansion is enjoying a second renaissance—as a five-star hotel showcasing the spectacular furniture, paintings, photography, and sculpture assembled by Dino Facchini, creator of the fashion label Byblos. "Our idea was to make it a small curated museum of contemporary art and design," Facchini says. "We have about 300 pieces, and everything is listed on the walls of each room."

Goodman, Lanie (4/1/2006).Martini Modern. Interior Design.

More information can be found on Byblos Art Hotel's website.

Precedent: Graphic Artists

I found the most wonderful book, infact a series, which talks about artists who have traditionally worked in two dimensions moving into the third and working with interiors. As an interior designer (student) I am more than happy to embrace their arrival. The passage below is taken from the first book in the series.

The idea that there may be a link between illustration, graphic design and interior design is not the first thing that springs to mind when considering design. A few years ago you would not have been able to put this amount of words together on the subject, but nowadays there are countless examples of sophisticated, lovingly detailed and highly illustrated rooms. It has a lot to do with the return of ornament to art and design...we are not talking about a return to classic at decoration. This decor aims to free the wall from its function as a barrier and give the beholder a perspective that breaks out beyond formal space.

Klanten, R. (Ed.). (2005)). Hidden track: How visual culture is going places. Berlin: Gestalten Verlag.

I wasn't surprised to find one of my precedents from last semester in this book - Hotel Fox.

Precedent: Hotel Fox

Hotel Fox in Copenhagen was done for the launch of Volkswagen's Fox car. It has been the primary precedent for the concept of room-as-gallery in my hotel. The focus on graphic and urban artists as well as the fantasy element of Hotel Fox appeal to me the most.

These are some of the guestrooms at Hotel Fox:





More information can be found at Hotel Fox's website.

Precedent: La Purificadora

La Purificadora is an important precedent for me in this project. The size of the hotel is comparable to Link, minus the gallery. There are only 26 guestrooms and it is also located in a historic building.

The pool, located on the roof and adjacent to the terrace, is very long and narrow. I had ruled out the possibility of a pool after reading (in what has become my textbook for the semester: Hotel Design, Planning and Development) that the minimum dimensions for a pool are such that I can not accommodate one the roof in addition to the lounge. The photo below shows the pool during the day as well as at night when it offers a fantastic glow for those on the rooftop terrace.

Another aspect of the hotel that I like are the room layouts. They are 388 square feet with a glass wall enclosing the closet.

Plan of their Superior Room:
More information on the hotel can be found on La Purificadora's website and in Architectural Record's Building Types Study archive.

Daylight Study

Logo

I've been considering different logo options and I've posted some of the more popular ones here, as well as some I have developed since the studio review. In all of the logos I have proposed, I use two juxtaposing elements: romantic/grunge, simple/ornate, modern/antique. I'm doing this because of the 'pleasantly schizophrenic' character that the hotel will ultimately take on.


1. I used the typeface Helvetica CE and replaced the 'i' in 'link' with a crystal chandelier.



2. This is similar to logo 1 but with a larger chandelier that hangs further below the threshold of the text.



3. Here I am using an ornate frame silhouette which doubles as a escutcheon. I was trying to convey ART and HOTEL. An earlier iteration of this idea involved another name for the hotel which was the address of the welsh-levy building. It was a room number plaque with a somewhat ostentatious outline and sleek, Neutraface-like numbers.



4. This is another version of logo 3. The typeface is 'Impact Label'.



5. Shelter symbol with chandelier.




6. Hotel symbol with decorative frame.



7. Tipi with chandelier. The typeface is Helvetica CE 35 Thin.