The new Marriott Marquis incorporates the historic Gompers Building and was designed for LEED Silver certification.
WASHINGTON – Marriott International has opened the doors of its newest premier location and 4,000th hotel: the $520 million Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. Located adjacent to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the hotel was designed in a collaboration between international architecture firms tvsdesign and Cooper Carry as the new anchor hotel. It’s one of only five Marriott Marquis flagged properties in the United States.
Cooper Carry and tvsdesign took both a contemporary and historic view of the hotel’s place in the nation’s capital through caretaking of an important structure on the site. The design incorporates the historic Samuel Gompers AFL-CIO headquarters, located on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 9th St NW. The eight-story structure is a unique focal point on the hotel’s facade. Inside, it contains an upscale bar, fitness center and boutique guestrooms. Though linked to the larger hotel, the Gompers building has its own unique charm.
The four-star Marriott Marquis is another asset to attract meetings and events to the convention center. The 15-story building, which was designed to LEED Silver certification standards, has 1,175 rooms and features more than 105,000 square feet of meeting space. One of the six restaurants was designed to recall Hot Shoppes diners with which the Marriott family got its start.
“The success of this hotel is a direct result of the close partnership between tvsdesign and Cooper Carry during the design process,” said Roger Neuenschwander, president of tvsdesign. “It truly was a 50-50 collaboration.”
“Each firm pushed itself to do its best work, and the result is a design that we believe will stand the test of time in our nation’s capital,” added Bob Neal, principal with Cooper Carry.
The Grand Lobby is the nexus of the hotel, with an open, welcoming atrium flooded with natural daylight from a football field-sized skylight. The centerpiece is a sculpture named “The Birth of the American Flag,” created by Baltimore-based artist Rodney Carroll. The piece reaches to the fifth floor of the 15-story building, making it the largest artwork in any Marriott hotel. The lobby floor features white marble from Greece that is inlaid with black marble from China to create a pattern resembling the famous cherry trees of Washington, D.C., which is best seen from above.
One of the hotel’s most interesting challenges is the programmatic requirement to locate the majority of conference and meeting space below grade. The hotel has 15 stories above ground and another 94 feet below – nearly as deep as the hotel is tall. The below-grade meeting space was thoughtfully designed to incorporate natural light that will filter from the south-facing glass curtainwall above. An underground concourse connects directly to the convention center, easing passage for convention goers.
The project’s developers are Quadrangle Development Corp. and Capstone Development. Marriott International is operating the hotel.
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