flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Santa Monica Professional Building restored into a modern hotel

Hotel Facilities

Santa Monica Professional Building restored into a modern hotel

Howard Laks Architects designed the project.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | February 16, 2021
Santa Monica Proper Hotel exterior during the day

All photos: Tim Street-Porter

The former Santa Monica Professional Building, originally built in 1928, has been converted into the Santa Monica Proper Hotel by Howard Lake Architects (HLA).

The city landmark was converted into 55 rooms for the hotel complex. A newly designed seven-story addition, which includes 216 rooms, is linked to the landmark building with a bridge. The ground floor is activated with retail, restaurants, and landscaped paseo, all open to the public.

 

Santa Monica Proper Hotel connection bridge at dusk

 

HLA’s design approach was to contrast the original building’s elegant Spanish Colonial Revival architecture with a free-form new building designed that avoids direct visual competition between the structures. The addition’s curving plan and walls drape around the historic building. The curved wings of the new building angle to harmonize with the 1928 building’s Y-shaped plan, while also contrasting to the faceted, angular shape of the historic building.

Additional team members include Chattel, Inc. (preservation architect), Elysian Landscapes (landscape designer), Kelly Wearstler (interiors), HLB Lighting Design (lighting consultant), Morley Builders (general contractor), Saiful Bouquet Structural Engineers (new building structural engineer), Structural Focus (landmark building structural engineer), KPFF Consulting Engineers (civil engineers), Donald F. Dickerson Associates (MEP engineer), and GAIA (LEED consultant).

 

Santa Monica Proper Hotel exterior at dusk

Related Stories

Hotel Facilities | Nov 29, 2018

Disney’s new 15-story tower at Coronado Springs to open in July 2019

Reservations for Gran Destino Tower began on Nov. 27.

Modular Building | Oct 12, 2018

DeSimone Consulting Engineers designs the tallest modular hotel in the United States

The hotel was originally designed as a cast-in-place concrete structure.

Mixed-Use | Oct 4, 2018

Four-story hotel and adjacent affordable housing community opens in California’s Sonoma County

Axis/GFA Architecture and Design was the architect for the project.

Reconstruction & Renovation | Aug 21, 2018

The massive facelift of New York’s famed Waldorf Astoria moves into Phase Two

The refurbished hotel will feature fewer, but larger, guest rooms.

Hotel Facilities | Aug 10, 2018

How hospitality design makes spaces of all types better for users

Responding to these shifting expectations, building owners and design teams working in other markets now regularly embrace leading ideas from the world of hospitality and infuse them into their projects.

Hotel Facilities | Aug 1, 2018

'Home away from home' is hoteliers' newest theme

Creating an experience, with the accent on local color, is flavoring hotel design.

Mixed-Use | Jul 17, 2018

Water Street Tampa’s developer reveals details about this project’s public spaces

This $3 billion waterfront neighborhood will also include three hotels.

Sponsored | Hotel Facilities | Jul 13, 2018

Hotel renovation: More than just minding the dust

Do you know the vital signs for avoiding moisture & mold problems? Will your brand standards cause you headaches? How will you recover costs if you do get into trouble?

Adaptive Reuse | Jul 9, 2018

Work, park, live: Inside Cincinnati’s parking garage turned lifestyle hotel

The Summit hotel and conference center is a converted parking garage that was once a factory.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021