Joining Marriott International’s Autograph Collection, Hotel EMC2, Chicago
Joining Marriott International’s Autograph Collection, Hotel EMC2 celebrates the convergence of art and science through design, cuisine and guest experience. Words: Giovanna Dunmall | Photography: Courtesy of Rockwell Group
When Scott Greenberg, President of SMASHotels and owner of Chicago’s The Wit, told Rockwell Group of his vision to base Hotel EMC2 on Einstein’s theory of relativity, partner and studio leader Greg Keffer admits to being momentarily worried. “This might be a little strange as a hotel,” he recalls, laughing. Fortunately, Greenberg – who had embraced the idea of a strong narrative and was willing to take risks – worked with the design team to layer and refine the concept, leaning on the convergence of science and art for more considered inspiration. “It’s always intrigued me that people distinguish art and science as two different disciplines; I see them as one in the same,” commented Greenberg, ahead of the opening. “Our unique hotel will pay homage to the symbiotic relationship of these fundamental concepts and transcend the traditional hospitality experience. It will educate, inspire and ignite imagination and innovation at every turn, challenging guests to expand their understanding of how everything is connected.”
Picking up the story, Keffer continues: “We started talking about what made science exciting, and that’s when we introduced this idea of art meets science, and the poetic nature of that kind of matching.” While the theme may at first seem arbitrary, the Streeterville neighbourhood in which the hotel is located is in fact known for its biotech start-ups and medical research institutes. It’s also walking distance from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Alder Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry, where hands-on exhibits aim to get the creative juices flowing. On arrival at Hotel EMC2, a typographic design with the words of Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci reads ‘Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses – learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else’, setting the scene for what lies ahead.
“The idea of collecting and gathering information was seen as something that both a scientist and artist would indulge in,” explains Matthew Nadilo, Associate Interior Designer at Rockwell Group. And so accordingly, at the heart of the public spaces on the ground and first floors, is an enormous freestanding bookcase lined with rows and rows of leather-bound books, forming a divider between the restaurant and bar on one side, and lobby and lounge on the other. Constructed by local set designer Jason Haag, the bookcase is composed of an eclectic mix of antique Jacobean armoires, reclaimed metal cabinets and custom-made units to create a scaled, textured landscape as well as nooks and crannies on both sides that bring warmth and character to the double-height space.
In the restaurant – known as The Albert in a nod to the theoretical physicist – Executive Chef Brandon Brumback experiments with flavours and artistic plating, again inspired by art and science, to produce a variety of inventive dishes. Elsewhere in the dining room, a grid-like structure above the copper-clad bar is filled with glass beakers that wouldn’t look amiss in a chemistry lab, but double as handy infusers for house-made cocktails. The piece works as an alternative chandelier and helps – along with informally stacked surrealist works by West Coast painter Paul Bond and cartoonish murals by local artist Jonathan Plotkin – to make the voluminous space feel more intimate.
Up one floor, the mezzanine lounge operates as a business centre and morphs into a private events space by night, replete with a leather and rose gold vintage steamer trunk that opens to become a custom-made cocktail bar. The flexible 2,000ft2 space honours Emmy Noether, one of the greatest maths minds of all time, and the principle of symmetry, while the meeting rooms follow a classroom aesthetic, with installations by British mathematician, artist and scientist Dr. Eugenia Cheng featuring chemical and mathematical formulae scrawled captivatingly on large blackboards. Creative expression continues in the 195 guestrooms, influenced by 1920s laboratories. Theatricality and unique touches abound, from the illuminated magnifying glass through which to read the room number, to the floor-to-ceiling pole on which an old-school phonograph speaker amplifies music from a guest’s own smartphone. “It references the science lab utility poles from which you get your gas supply or clamp your test tubes,” says Nadilo of the quirky feature. Its polished rose gold finish – replicated around mirrors, beds, desks and much of the lighting – alludes to copper and its conductive properties but also adds a touch of luxury to the narrative.
The drinks cabinet and fridge with its perforated mesh metal doors and orb light within is also inspired. “Like the shower, it becomes another beacon or lantern in the room, casting light rather than just being a dark object,” says Nadilo. The illuminated shower cubicle is fully glazed allowing views through to the bathroom and circular mirror with its double-framed lighting effect. “The shower was very much about transparency and making the room bigger,” adds Keffer, though a luxuriant deep blue curtain featuring Da Vinci-esque sketches of the human form can be drawn for privacy. Above the bed’s tufted leather headboard, a framed artwork printed on metal features an atmospherically cloudy scene and the outline of a human face that speaks of the dream-like half-awake state where an inventor or artist is said to feel at their most creative. It echoes the interactive artwork above the lift doors that shows a storm brewing and becoming more intense with bolts of lightning as the lift arrives and the door opens.
Greenberg is clearly an adventurous and open-minded client. As well as an Amazon Echo gadget in every room, be has purchased two three-feet-tall robots for the hotel, rather endearingly called Leo and Cleo, who make housekeeping calls. It is hoped that these technologies will free up staff for more pressing matters, such as human interaction with guests. As experiences go, Hotel EMC2 is pretty memorable; especially for guests who find themselves in the elevator with a robot in tow after they’ve made one of their room service calls. The design execution is playful, and, as is often the case with Rockwell Group, richly and intelligently mined throughout the property.
sources: Sleeper, 01-02, 2018
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