Hospitality

The lobby bar located on the east side of the lobby positions hotel guests and Angelenos alike to take in a privileged view of downtown LA. Looking over the skyscrapers, financial district and historic core, this "never-before-seen” perspective is the backdrop for the upscale bar formed out of bookmatched Italian marble, darkened nickel silver liquor display and custom-designed bar lamps.

A black glass wall features a historical image of the Studebaker Dealership that originally occupied the site of the hotel, overlaid with text glowing in amber neon. It reads: "From MAIN we SPRING to BROADWAY and over the HILL to OLIVE, O wouldn’t it be GRAND if we could HOPE to pick a FLOWER on FIGUEROA." This old adage was taught to children to help them remember the order of the downtown streets. This feature weaves together a historical image and narrative authentic to the property that enriches the guest experience.

The "Surfurbia" ecology lives almost entirely on the expansive 7th-level pool deck and pool bar. Various patterns of blue and white tile mark key features including elevator and escalator lobbies, pool house showers, changing rooms, and the pre-function spaces adjacent to the indoor/outdoor Junior Ballroom. Together with a collection of murals and graphics of synchronized swimmers, navy blue sun chairs and striped lounge chairs, the pool deck experience evokes the nostalgia of summers at a Southern California beach house. A hand painted mural of “The Pool Ladies”, five synchronized swimmers in red suits, reinforces the mood and experience.

The pool bar is literally a pool carved into the side of the building with a bar in it. The sideways swimming pool is complete with white tile and blue lane dividers, a pool ladder and underwater pool lights, minus the water. The furniture includes blue flotation chair foam while the lights overhead are fashioned after buoys. Planter boxes frame the dining areas and are marked with oversized pool-depth marker symbols and the traditional “No Dive” symbol, which is where the bar gets its name.

The curving forms that define this auto-oriented space evoke a sense of motion and serve as a continuation of the building’s exterior architecture. The Porte Cochere is designed as a “drive-in lobby”, featuring high ceilings and natural light flooding in on three sides.

The 20-foot-tall mural above the main drive aisle spans an entire city block from Wilshire Blvd to 7th Street. Embracing the “Autopia” ecology, the hand-painted mural depicts elements of the Los Angeles horizon line instantly recognizable to those driving across the city. A silhouette of billboards, power lines, palm trees, cell phone towers that look like palm trees, and landmarks like Watts Towers and Randy’s imposing donut deliver an experience that is uniquely Los Angeles. 

Check-In

High-speed double-decker elevators deliver guests into the 70th-floor lobby with panoramic views of Los Angeles. The check-in pods seamlessly integrate the view beyond through a system of light-backed fiber optic concrete panels. The custom illuminated graphic transposes the widely recognized perspective of Los Angeles' endless grid of streets and boulevards as seen from the hills or air at night.

Immediately above the check-in area hangs a three-story-tall light sculpture made up of internally illuminated, multi-color resin segments. The intersection of the 10 and 110 freeways, directly in view, are the inspiration for this “Autopian” design. Freeways, while often uninspiring by car, become a light show of red, white and orange lights at night from 70 stories above. The ‘strung’ form is derived directly from mapping this key intersection including the on and off ramps, underpasses, overpasses and connectors. As if made from string, these draped strands are given form by gravity. The resin is molded to resemble headlights, tail lights and side lights.

Lounge

The lobby lounge responds to the southern views of the sprawling streets and boulevards. The structured furnishings, gridded fabrics and urban fixtures are an extension of the “Plains of Id” ecology in view. The custom rug designs are softened abstractions of the perspectival streets aglow after dark as viewed from a plane landing at LAX, from Griffith Park or the newly completed 70th-floor lobby.

Lounge Bar

The lobby bar located on the east side of the lobby positions hotel guests and Angelenos alike to take in a privileged view of downtown LA. Looking over the skyscrapers, financial district and historic core, this "never-before-seen" perspective is the backdrop for the upscale bar formed out of bookmatched Italian marble, darkened nickel silver liquor display and custom-designed bar lamps.

A black glass wall features a historical image of the Studebaker Dealership that originally occupied the site of the hotel, overlaid with text glowing in amber neon. It reads: "From MAIN we SPRING to BROADWAY and over the HILL to OLIVE, O wouldn’t it be GRAND if we could HOPE to pick a FLOWER on FIGUEROA." This old adage was taught to children to help them remember the order of the downtown streets. This feature weaves together a historical image and narrative authentic to the property that enriches the guest experience.

Bathrooms

The lobby bathrooms located on the northwest corner of the floor are marked by a floor-to-ceiling art installation featuring two well-known neon signs from LA’s past. Composed of “ironing man” and “diving lady” the enlarged photo is overlaid in part by actual neon.

The interior walls and stalls are lined with red back-painted glass and custom light fixtures. Two custom-designed glass urinals provide users with an obstructed view out while “seeing a man about a horse”.

The mirrors mask the view beyond with the exception of the clear glass words—‘Side View’ in the women’s room and ‘Rear View’ in the men’s room. The block letters cut out of the mirror are animated by the view beyond with the vibrancy of the 101 freeway and Hollywood projected prominently within each letter.

The 73rd-floor open air deck with 360-degree views features publicly accessible amenities including a rooftop bar, multiple lounges and an event space. Enclosed by a continuous glass wall, the south deck features a bar faced in terra cotta panels that runs the length of the central core wall. Directly adjacent to the bar, fire pits and custom faux-grass benches define the central lounge. Custom high-back “bird cage” chairs line the perimeter while a curvilinear terra cotta banquette wraps a large water feature lined with handmade tiles, offering up soothing background sounds to guests.

On the northeast corner, a private lounge surrounds a black marble bench seamlessly integrated with a custom-engineered fire and water feature. This feature comprises a grid of columns of flames reaching two feet in height, hovering over a dark sheet of water. The raw carved wood chairs, soft furnishings and blankets make for a comfortable niche with commanding views of the San Gabriel Mountains. The remaining deck at the northwest corner is reserved for special events and gatherings.

The signature glass sail that gives shape to the top of the tower soars 100 feet above the roof deck. The Spire, the namesake of this space, tops out at 173 feet above the roof deck and 1,100 feet above the street level below, making this the highest point and public lounge west of the Mississippi.

The WG café is an anchor food amenity in the building’s podium serving the hotel, offices, and convention center. The venue is a floating mirrored glass box located within the gallery space at street level and is flooded with daylight.

This urban living room is conceived as an interface between the hotel and the city, an urban juncture that is visible from all podium levels and across the plaza. The space serves as the passage between indoor and outdoor, and connects the porte cochere and the plaza.

Indoor trees reinforce a human scale. Built-in banquettes, upholstered with ribbed, perforated leather, reference automotive upholstery and LA’s long standing car culture. Rocking chairs and communal tables offer a respite from the hubbub of the city.

The café is made of reflective blue glass and thin accent lights. The roof of the café is patterned, as seen from the balconies above, and visually completes the intricate stone floor pattern below. As urban camouflage, the café walls reflect the surrounding environment, highlighting the building’s architecture.

Located on a unique L-shaped site in Downtown Glendale, the Hampton Inn and Suites includes 94 guest rooms with one basement parking level and five stories above grade.  The hotel lobby provides an inviting entrance for guests and visitors along Colorado Street by engaging the sidewalk and encouraging the use of a café seating area which links guests to a neighboring hotel.  This project continues the redevelopment transformation of city’s downtown area and supports the adjacent Americana mixed-use project as a regional destination.  The use of brick, stucco, metal, and glass reinforces the urban and commercial uses in the area, while the articulation of the exterior envelope and roof lines break up the building’s massing, blending with the surrounding context of smaller buildings.

Currently under construction and located directly adjacent to the forthcoming Metro Station at Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Wilshire La Brea seeks to blend the boundary between residential and hospitality by combining the lifestyle of a 125-key boutique hotel and an attitude-enriched 121 branded residential enclave. 

It is designed as an eight-story podium-style building with five-levels of Type III over three-levels of Type I construction with subterranean parking levels. While the retails on pedestrian-friendly street level are easily accessibly for public users and residents alike, spacious areas of the upper floors provide outdoor amenities including rooftop pool, bar, cabanas and lounge areas that take in the views in all direction from the site. 

Designed in collaboration with design architect, Morris Adjmi Architects, the building is intended to pay homage to the cherished Art Deco architecture found in the surrounding area in a contemporary fashion.