In the past decade, the Marriott Renaissance Capital View Hotel and Residence Inn are the first hospitality projects in Arlington County, Va., to earn LEED Gold certification. The $119 million, 14-story project sits as the centerpiece of a mixed-use complex at the northern end of Potomac Yard, a 1 1/2-mile-long rail yard redevelopment site. The Arlington Capital View also stands as the first structure to house both a full-service Marriott Renaissance Hotel and extended-stay Residence Inn under one roof.
The 300-room, full-service Renaissance Hotel features an expansive lobby, restaurant, coffee shop, 10,000-square-foot grand ballroom, approximately 17,400 square feet of flexible event space and 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The Residence Inn at the southern end of the building houses 325 guest rooms. Both brands have their own lobbies and public spaces, and connect only on the second and third floors where they share a meeting space and the swimming pool and fitness center, respectively. Sustainable features include a green roof on the podium/ base, the highly efficient skin and top-end mechanical systems. The interiors, designed by ForrestPerkins of Arlington, Va., celebrate movement in kinetic and intriguing ways. The interior spaces are connected and the design flows from one inviting space to another, encouraging visitors to explore the property. The project also includes 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space, a 24,000-square-foot conference center and below-grade parking for 526 cars.
The structure sits at the terminus of Center Park, a linear green space that includes an amphitheater, retail and public art spaces. Cooper-Carry Inc., Alexandria, Va., was the architect tasked with incorporating the two Marriott products into one space.
“The two products couldn’t be more different,” says Andrea Schaub, AIA, of Cooper-Carry Inc. “Renaissance Hotels are designed with a clean, modern aesthetic and amenities that appeal to people on the move. Guests staying in the Residence Inn are there for longer periods of time, so they’re designed with a homey ambiance. We had to find a way to pull the two disparate products together.”
In response, Cooper-Cary looked to the sites’ history as one of the busiest rail yards on the East Coast for inspiration. The firm created a light-filled structure imbued with the feel of motion that has the soul of a boutique hotel and the amenities for business or leisure travel. Metal pulls the two concepts together.
The Miller-Clapperton Partnership Inc., Austell, Ga., fabricated 25,297 square feet of 4-mm Reynobond aluminum composite material panels with an FR core in a Smoke Silver Metallic Colorweld 500 finish; 17,769 square feet of 4-mm, Reynobond ACM panels with an FR core in an Anodic Clear Colorweld 500 finish; and 35,398 square feet of 4-mm, Reynobond ACM panels with an FR core in a Pure White Colorweld 500 finish, all from Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga. The metal panels were used for the columns, canopies, fascia and soffits throughout the structure. Metal was also used to create a metal spandrel and can be found on the canopies of the Residence Inn on one side, and as exterior wall cladding to create a sleek, crisp contemporary look for the Renaissance Hotel on the other. The varying colors of the metal panels define the structure’s properties.
“The tapering columns at the main entrance were the most difficult feature to fabricate,” says Scott Stafford, spokesperson for Miller-Clapperton. The architects followed the curves of the site to form the shape of the building, which was so tight they had to carve out a 45-foot space for the porte cochère, wrapping it around the curtainwall to hide the valet station, a support column and a hot-air intake vent. The east and west elevations are dominated by a large curtain wall that stands 36 feet tall at the main entrance and extends 150 feet along varying flat and radius planes to enclose the main lobby of the Renaissance Hotel. The curtainwall curves along the grand staircase and finishes at the second-level conference room. On the west elevation the wall drops to just 15 feet. There the point-supported glass wall system includes a unique “glass spire” consisting of three 12-inch-diameter, 50-foot-tall vertical steel tubes wrapped in laminated glass and arranged in a triangular sloping pattern.
“This was an exciting and challenging project to be involved with,” says Alan Gordish of Pioneer Cladding and Glazing Systems, Baltimore, the metal panel installer, “due to the complexity in scope, design and coordination.” For example, the curtainwall segments and turns along a 200-foot run that is 35 feet tall. Pioneer installed the panels in Miller- Clapperton’s caulked-joint system utilizing a typical 1/2-inch sealant between each panel.
Alcoa Architectural Products,
www.alcoaarchitecturalproducts.com
