A city that has set the pace for architectural culture, Chicago constantly updates its landscape, drawing on its glorious past in new authorial proposals. This incessant dynamism of hospitality structures – both newly built and revitalized – created by outstanding interior design and architecture firms from around the world, fills the map of the city with obligatory stops for design lovers. Here we take a look at three of the most recent and appealing, different in style and inspiration, but sharing a maximum drive for design excellence.
Hotel EMC2: let’s explore!
The exact point where art and science intersect: this is the origin of the Hotel EMC2 project, which pays homage to Albert Einstein, borrowing the name of the most famous theory in the world. The Autograph Collection hotel chain, which includes the Hotel EMC2, wanted a design concept that blends creativity and imagination. The Rockwell Group translated this concept into a project consisting of an endless game of constant discovery for its users. Starting from its ostentatious façade, designed by Koo & Associates in collaboration with David Rockwell and its team. The striking entrance, which features a volume that occupies two entire floors and hosts an array of shelves stacked on top of each other, is the first element of exploration.
A series of details guides the guests inside, surprising them with the library, which extends towards the lobby and envelops the whole reception area, creating a curious alternation of recesses and bends. This other ‘world’ reveals itself, allowing you to immerse yourself in a bizarre jumble of objects, books and original pieces of art, carefully selected from works by local and international artists. Art, science and design feed on each other, continuously alternating or merging on all of the hotel’s 21 floors. Along the corridors leading to the rooms – 195 in total – the carpet features images of molecules magnified under a microscope, while the rooms themselves boast a tailored look. Almost everything is specially designed and made by the designers.
The Ritz-Carlton Chicago: energy inside
The new Ritz-Carlton Hotel shares the intense, vibrant energy of the city that hosts it. It was built in 1976 as an integral part of the development process of Water Tower Place, an iconic address in Chicago. Recently, all the hotel’s rooms have been renovated with the aim of consolidating the city’s rich architectural heritage through industrial innovation and forward-thinking design. The concept was developed by BAMO.
