At the core of this Conrad Hilton project in lower Manhattan
was the transformation of an existing conventional, vacuous
hotel atrium. Our strategy has been to capitalize on the
atrium’s inherent geometries to address its disjointed
character and functional predicaments. The intention was to
create a unified identity for the space, while dealing with the
atrium’s overwhelming scale, and designing it to
appropriately house multiple activities.
The atrium displays an immense Sol LeWitt drawing as its
main feature, which acts as a point of inspiration for our
design, and incorporates the art as a centerpiece. Framing
the Sol Lewitt, we introduced a series of suspended “veils,”
whose atmospheric effect at once fills the space while
seeming to expand it. Weighted vertical lines and sinuous
horizontal curves flow through the project’s entire language,
producing new effects that disrupt the atrium’s stark
monumentality.