Hotel Marcel, a Tapestry Hotel by Hilton, will open its doors in April 2022. And when it does, it will be making eco-friendly history.
Located in the Pirelli Building in Connecticut, Hotel Marcel is set to become the nation’s first Passive-House certified and first net-zero energy hotel. The hotel, designed by New York City-based Dutch East Design and architecture firm Becker Becker, will also become one in about a dozen LEED Platinum certified hotels in the United States.
According to a statement provided by the hotel, Hotel Marcel will feature 165 guest rooms and suites, a full-service new American restaurant and bar, a lounge, and 7,000 square feet of meeting and event space, along with a courtyard and galleries. And, the entire hotel will be all-electric, generating 100% of its electricity and energy for heat and hot water with a rooftop solar array and solar parking canopies.
“With the climate crisis and continued use of fossil fuels posing an existential threat to humanity, I felt an obligation to build a building that can serve as a model for environmental sustainability,” Bruce Redman Becker, from Becker Becker, shared in a statement. “The question should not be why are we doing this, but why isn’t everyone else?”
Beyond solar panels, the hotel will also include a Power over Ethernet lighting system, renewable on-site energy generation, as well as extensive upgrades to enhance interior air quality. According to the statement, the building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) rating is projected to be 34 kBtu per square foot, which boils down to meaning it will use 80% less energy than the median EUI for hotels in the United States.
“It is a rare opportunity to be offered such an iconic structure to reimagine into a hotel,” Larah Moravek, co-founder, Dutch East Design, said. “We wanted to honor the distinct architecture and celebrate the building in all its glory. We took an intentional position to allow the interiors to be the soft underbelly of the Brutalist exoskeleton.”
And in the case of Hotel Marcel, eco-friendliness and beauty are not mutually exclusive.
Inside the hotel, guests will find themselves surrounded by a palette of earth-inspired colors and textures, from its custom wood reception desk to its concrete gray and caramel rooms that all come with fine walnut finishings throughout.
In each guest room, visitors will also be delighted to find gorgeous pieces thanks to fine artist Kraemer Sims Becker, who is spearheading the artwork selection and the private art collection for the hotel. Sims Becker is putting an emphasis on showcasing female artists, including works by Brooklyn-based artist Cory Siegler, whose work can be found in both the king suites and double queen rooms.
After filling their souls with art, guests can fill their bellies with good food at the hotel’s full-service new American restaurant, BLDG. The restaurant will serve locally sourced items, including New Haven lobster rolls and duck confit sliders, alongside a wine list highlighting biodynamic and organic wines from Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Chile, and California.
Bookings are now live with rates beginning at $229. For more information and to book your visit, check out the hotel’s website here.
