Originally designed by local El Paso architects Trost & Trost in the 1930s, The Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park has recently reopened after a historic rehabilitation project. The project includes 130 guest rooms, 7,600 sf of event space, a lobby bar, and a rooftop bar overlooking the Franklin Mountains and Mexican border.
The hotel’s design motif represents a hybrid of the Art Deco style of the 1920s and the naturalistic, Native American adobe architectural styles. The design team worked to accommodate modern hotel operation and amenities while also rehabilitating key aspects of the original design, including all of the historic signage, brick facade, precast deco reliefs and signature medallions, the bronze on many of the storefronts and second-floor windows, interior wood trim surrounding the tower windows, the clay and tile roof, and the Spanish-tiled pyramidal crown.
Upon entering the lobby, guests are greeted by the reinstated double-height atrium (which was previously enclosed during a mid-century renovation), stained glass, skylights, wood beams, decorative stenciling, and an original railing on the historic staircase connecting the first and second levels. The design team used old newspaper stories and photographs published around the hotel’s first public opening to reinterpret many of the original elements with custom light fixtures, materials, and color choices. In areas where the original terra cotta tile flooring was missing, Cooper Carry used concrete flooring to create a layered texture.
See Also: One of Europe’s largest office and warehouse buildings is made entirely of wood
The Ámbar Restaurante and Lobby Bar includes a 40-foot-high back bar that displays one of Texas’ largest tequila collections being a sheath of amber glass and polished stainless steel. A contemporary style staircase is partially concealed behind the bar and amber glass to provide server access to the wall of tequila as well as secretly connecting the main dining room and exposed theater kitchen to a cellar-like private dining space located in the former trunk and boiler rooms. Check-in is located to the side of the bar. La Perla, a 5,000-sf rooftop bar and restaurant, is located on the 17th floor in the former penthouse suite. The space includes tiered-seating and built in garden planters to create intimate seating areas.
The project officially opened on June 17.
Project Design Team
Cooper Carry's Hospitality Studio - Project Lead
The Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry - F&B; Restaurant + Bar/Rooftop Bar
Forrest Perkins - Lobby/Meeting Rooms/Guestrooms
Related Stories
| Mar 11, 2011
Holiday Inn reworked for Downtown Disney Resort
The Orlando, Fla., office of VOA Associates completed a comprehensive interior and exterior renovation of the 14-story Holiday Inn in the Downtown Disney Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The $25 million project involved rehabbing the hotel’s 332 guest rooms, atrium, swimming pool, restaurant, fitness center, and administrative spaces.
| Mar 11, 2011
Guests can check out hotel’s urban loft design, music selection
MODO, Advaya Hospitality’s affordable new lifestyle hotel brand, will have an urban Bauhaus loft design and target design-, music-, and tech-savvy guest who will have access to thousands of tracks in vinyl, CD, and MP3 formats through a partnership with Downtown Music. Guest can create their own playlists, and each guest room will feature iPod docks and large flat-screen TVs.
| Mar 11, 2011
Texas A&M mixed-use community will focus on green living
HOK, Realty Appreciation, and Texas A&M University are working on the Urban Living Laboratory, a 1.2-million-sf mixed-use project owned by the university. The five-phase, live-work-play project will include offices, retail, multifamily apartments, and two hotels.
| Mar 9, 2011
North Korea resumes construction of 'world's worst' hotel
Is North Korea finally serious about completing construction of Ryu-Gyong Hotel—once called the world’s worst building—after years of neglect and secrecy?
| Mar 9, 2011
Igor Krnajski, SVP with Denihan Hospitality Group, on hotel construction and understanding the industry
Igor Krnajski, SVP for Design and Construction with Denihan Hospitality Group, New York, N.Y., on the state of hotel construction, understanding the hotel operators’ mindset, and where the work is.
| Mar 9, 2011
Fast food franchises are taking the LEED
Starbucks, Arby’s, and McDonald’s are among the top when it comes to fast food franchises implementing sustainability practices. This article takes a look at the green paths these three brands are taking, and how LEED factors into their business and their future.
| Feb 15, 2011
Iconic TWA terminal may reopen as a boutique hotel
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hopes to squeeze a hotel with about 150 rooms in the space between the old TWA terminal and the new JetBlue building. The old TWA terminal would serve as an entry to the hotel and hotel lobby, which would also contain restaurants and shops.
| Feb 9, 2011
Hospital Construction in the Age of Obamacare
The recession has hurt even the usually vibrant healthcare segment. Nearly three out of four hospital systems have put the brakes on capital projects. We asked five capital expenditure insiders for their advice on how Building Teams can still succeed in this highly competitive sector.
| Jan 25, 2011
AIA reports: Hotels, retail to lead U.S. construction recovery
U.S. nonresidential construction activity will decline this year but recover in 2012, led by hotel and retail sectors, according to a twice-yearly forecast by the American Institute of Architects. Overall nonresidential construction spending is expected to fall by 2% this year before rising by 5% in 2012, adjusted for inflation. The projected decline marks a deteriorating outlook compared to the prior survey in July 2010, when a 2011 recovery was expected.
| Jan 25, 2011
InterContinental Hotels Group gets LEED pre-certification
InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, announced that its in-house sustainability system Green Engage has been awarded LEED volume pre-certification established from the USGBC and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. IHG is the first hotel company to receive this award for an existing hotels program.
