AC Seattle Hotel

Project Statement

Making a building as functional as possible is a universal goal. Finding “the beauty of less” has been hallmark of the minimalist movement. All too often functionality has been achieved without the aesthetics that separate reduced from refined, or simple to sleek. It is also often misconceived that minimalism only applies to the visual. With the visual as our dominant sense, a building that works with ease and simplicity can elevate the user’s sense of calm beyond the visual to the physical, to the comfort of fit, the sensation of getting it “just right” as one can get in a piece of clothing. The success of the AC Seattle Hotel is its ability to carry the “functional beauty” of the AC Hotel brand to physical form and function that hits “just right” with look and feel.

Framework for Design Excellence Narrative

Integration: Delivering Beauty and Function in Balance.

The hotel’s facade design is founded by the strategically placing and sizing of windows to make the most of natural light and create a more spacious and open feel for the hotel suites. Minimal gestures in ornament providing interest and play complete the overall facade composition to the “just enough” balance point of detail. The facade design concept is generated from juxtaposition and playful arrangement of simple geometries that compose the language of a building facade; window, verticality, order, and ornament. This approach of playful arrangement, in one or two movements, of the essential components is the design ethos celebrated and found throughout all areas of the hotel design. Stripping away distractions with focus on the essentials, a sense of calm and clarity is achieved that allows each element to stand out and once arranged, makes a strong visual statement. This minimalistic design prioritizes functionality and usability. Every design choice is made with “beautiful functionality” in mind, ensuring an exterior design of timeless appeal.


Economy: Embracing “Beautiful Functionality”

The AC Seattle Hotel’s typical floor plan provides the greatest efficiency possible without compromise. The success of the hotels floor plans are a result of proper planning based on full understanding of the building, energy, and accessibility codes that ensures that every square foot is utilized efficiently, contributing to guest satisfaction and operational efficiency, which is crucial for any hotel owner. Logical layout of the suites allows the most efficient structural systems. In a time where computer generated angles and curves lend for the making of architectural statements, the sheer efficiency of the AC Hotel Seattle’s floor plan is the statement, again echoing the AC Hotel brand of “Beautiful functionality” This overriding principal directly relates to the bottom line of a hotel’s success. Efficient circulation and wayfinding not only benefits guest as well as staff , but an efficient configuration will also directly affect the project’s profitability. Economies in the plan of a typical guest-room floor configuration is multiplied many times over when considering not only net square footage per floor, cleaning, environmental controls and lighting, and maintenance of any circulation and auxiliary back of house program is directly proportional to life of building profit.


Discovery: Next Evolution of the Hotel Lobby

As a place to see and be seen, the hotel lobby has always served a greater function than other public waiting areas. The hotel lobby is the initial touch point with a design that transports guests with hospitality and sets the tone for a guest’s entire stay. This central hub is the heart of the hotel. The design, ambiance, and furnishings of a lobby are often intended to give visitors an immediate sense of the building’s purpose or the brand’s image. It is also a space dedicated to enjoying the pleasure of being in public. Done well, a good hotel lobby is a city amenity and a positive urban experience, done poorly or underutilized, and it can become a dead space given over to waiting or otherwise hanging around surrounded by too many polished things. As a solution, the lobby design of the AC Seattle is bringing public space inside the footprint of the lobby in the form of a public pass through. This arcade like space is planted and open to the air. It is connected to the lobby via an operable glass wall providing a permeable extension of the hotel’s ground floor. This design addition has allowed the AC Seattle’s welcome space to become something far more exciting, a place where things can happen as a controlled extension of Seattle’s public space. This different way of thinking about the ground floor hotel space rethinks a hotel’s lobby not as blurred private yet public space in limbo, but as a place where activities and events can evolve into more exciting combinations.