Hotel Ray

Hotel Ray is a 57-room green hotel that stands on the site of the original Eames studio. It introduces a new paradigm of ecotourism to the already diverse Venice tourist culture. While ‘green’ is typically only associated with engineering feats of recycled materials and energy generation, Belzberg Architects took their cue from the research and production methodologies of the Eames’ and has combined that with their interest in digital design techniques to generate novel effects and spaces. Hybrid recycled woods have higher twisting and bending tolerances than conventional wood; Recycled fiberboards expose new textural surfaces when milled by a computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) router, and subterranean cogeneration plants and cooling systems free the roof for multiple activities and amenity—a space typically filled with mechanical equipment.

Status: Unbuilt

Project Type: Adaptive Re-use; Hospitality; Building Type: Type 2 Ground-Up with Historic Preservation; Size: 100,000 sf

Location: Venice, CA

Partner: Hagy Belzberg, Brock DeSmit

Project Manager: David Cheung

Project Team: Aaron Leppanen, Barry Gartin, Bill Bowen, Carina Bien-WIllner, Chris Arntzen, Daniel Rentsch, Lauren Zuzack

Awards:
2008 Los Angeles Business Council Architecture Award: Green Concept Design
2008 National Hospitality Design Award

Publications:
Collection: US Architecture, 1000x Architecture of the Americas, A+Architecture Plus (Dubai), Hospitality Design magazine, Venice CA, Art & Architecture in a Maverick Community