hospitalitystyle.com

(January 2012) posted on Wed Jan 11, 2012 EST

Hilton McLean Tysons Corner “cuts” its 8-story atrium down to size.

By Mary Scoviak

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The giant scale of a hotel’s public spaces can be an excellent canvas for bold, striking design. It can also be an intimidating vacuum where unwanted details stick out like a sore thumb. So, when Larry Traxler, senior vice president, global design services, Hilton Worldwide, set out to give the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner an update, he knew what the challenges would be. Beyond the uninviting bulk of the space,the elements that dominated guests’ first impression weren’t exactly high style. “In the previous arrival experience, guests were greeted with a wall of elevators, so we had to find a way to minimize their appearance and create another focal point within this lobby volume,” says Traxler.

He and his team knew some of the elements they wanted to emphasize—like many hotels, lighting would be a key feature—but they also needed a way to create a more appealing space that used its design and architecture to make a readable map of lobby functions. The first step was bringing the space down visually. Having chosen the bar as the focal point, Traxler and his team placed a proscenium-like feature over the bar, essentially bringing the look of the atrium down to four stories. A light-and glass sculpture suspended within the arch and a series of TV screens down one side add detail to personalize the feature. Glassy globes in shades of brown hang from the atrium ceiling, another optical illusion that removes the Alice-in-Wonderland effect. The next stage in the design was creating an environment that could be tailored to each guest. “

The furniture was also scaled appropriately for the space and arranged in such a way to offer multiple areas for large or small groups; as well as varying zones of activity for those who want to be in the middle of the action versus those that prefer to watch from the fringe,” says Traxler. The last key was taking the attention away from the eyesore of the elevator doors. Since they couldn’t be moved or hidden, unobtrusiveness was the goal. “We choose to minimize the elevators by painting them with metallic bronze and incorporating very dim interior light in the cabs that create the perfect back drop for the new focal point,” adds Traxler.