Downtown Seattle Hotel

The new Downtown Seattle Hotel is the largest hotel in the Pacific Northwest and fills a critical need for the region as it grows into a preeminent destination for national and international events. The building is a contemporary composition of pure geometric forms hovering over a transparent and inviting public space at the base of the building. An 8-story podium is the base for the 500-foot tall hotel tower with 103,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom spaces, ground-level retail, and an art-filled hotel lobby welcoming visitors and guests.

A mid-block pedestrian and vehicular passage through the podium connects to an existing alley to accommodate all loading dock, parking garage access, valet, and drop-off services within the interior of the block, leaving the street perimeter free for continuous public space with wide sidewalks, street furnishings and landscape.

The placement of the tower on the south corner of the block relates it to the dense commercial high-rises of downtown and the new convention center expansion, while framing the Olive/Howell triangle as a significant space within the shifted urban street grid.

The building directly engages the city with its open and active lower levels, which include the lobby, porte-cochere, restaurants, bars and shops. The ground level spaces blur the boundary between the lobby and landscaped sidewalks, creating an integrated experience between the interior, exterior and city life beyond. A prominent second level offers additional retail space, a bar and restaurant, and a lobby lounge space.

On the exterior, the building’s minimal material palette is composed of polished white concrete panel and structural glass walls to express the composition of public and private spaces, while reinforcing the connectivity of the public spaces to the city beyond. The white concrete podium is positioned over a transparent glass wall lining the sidewalk around the building. The glass wall, ranging up to 45-feet-in-height, achieves maximum transparency through the use of low-iron glass and a minimally intrusive structural support system. Stainless steel, T-shaped support mullions feature a combination of matte and polished surfaces. The reflection from these polished-edge surfaces provides a subtly nuanced detail throughout the street-level public spaces.

The tall ground floor lobby features full-height white, Venetian plaster walls, recalling the polished white concrete of the exterior. Stone and carpeted floors, fritted glass, locally sourced wood finishes, and specialty casework and lighting fixtures complete the primary interior materials.

The project also adds notable contributions to the artwork within Seattle’s urban landscape. Throughout the building, paintings, photographs, and sculptures have been curated to animate the building’s public spaces and guest rooms. Six local photographers were commissioned to provide some of the 1,260 pieces of room art, while large-scale artworks by Cecily Brown and Michael Heizer in the lobby provide a dramatic welcome to the reception area.

The hotel is a transformative project for the Pacific Northwest, and beyond its scale and the complexity of its program, the building redefines the role of a large urban hotel within the city, placing people and events at the center of the hotel experience.