Shop Talk with Dutch East Design Vol. 10

For anyone who might not be familiar with Marcel Breuer, can you describe his vision as a modernist and how that was visible in the existing interiors?

To say Marcel Breuer’s influence over furniture design and architecture is significant is an understatement! The Pirelli Building is an example of Breuer’s modular prefabricated approach to architecture, a system which can be observed in his buildings all around the world in the Brutalist style. Brutalism is known for its honesty and reverence for materials, especially concrete. One exciting example of where prefab and in-situ cast concrete come together are the historic stairs, where the precast steps are contained within the board-form concrete stairwell. But mostly the building is known for its striking presence, from the outside.

The building is set to be the country’s first Passive House and Net Zero certified hotel. Can you walk us through its Power Over Ethernet system, and how it contributes to the Hotel Marcel’s sustainability goals?

To achieve Net Zero operationally, you need to minimize power consumption while maximizing power generation. One strategy implemented to reduce power consumption was to use only Power Over Ethernet (PoE) lighting throughout the property. It is very common now for all bulbs in new construction to be LED, but PoE goes one step further by cutting out the line voltage AC network (110 V) altogether. Instead, in Hotel Marcel, lights, motorized window treatments, and guest room refrigerators are all connected to a 24 V power network by ethernet cable. Overall energy use is anticipated to be reduced by more than 30%, as a result of this system. This is not just a boon for energy consumption, but the flexibility in design provided by working with ethernet cable is tremendous, especially when it comes to integrating lighting with furniture and millwork.

The profiles of the RBW lights used in Hotel Marcel were a perfect fit for our design of its interiors. We specify RBW products for their clean lines and compatibility with a great range of our projects, and the fact that RBW was already manufacturing fixtures to work with PoE made it so much easier to specify, but not only from a convenience point of view - it’s exciting to be part of a pioneering project, so we wanted to partner with other companies who embrace a spirit of innovation.

See PoE at work in the graphic below.

Given the historic relevance of this building, did you face specific challenges and constraints during the renovation? What role did they play in shaping the project?

We’ve worked on a number of historic adaptive reuse projects, and it is typically required that any new intervention does not engage in mimicry. Hotel Marcel was the exception, in that we were required to reinstate the original and long-gone acoustic tile ceiling in all of the guest-facing areas. We also had to find a way to re-use the original 1’ x 4’ ceiling lights. Our challenge was to find a way to do this without invoking the feeling of an office building, which the original building in fact was.

Using the housing of the original 1’ x 4’ lights, we created a very different effect by installing a custom prismatic lens, reminiscent of the building faceted facade, using new power over ethernet lamping, of course. Another significant constraint to work within was the 5’ building module. Because guest room demising walls could intersect a window opening, guest rooms had to be laid out to be either 10’ wide or 15’ wide. Both of these constraints created creative design solutions which ended up being very powerful guiding principles of the project’s interior design.

What was the look and feel you hoped to achieve, as far as materials and palettes?

In 2018, Business Insider declared in an article that the building was rated as the state's ugliest, according to the residents of Connecticut. We are huge fans of Brutalism, and were thrilled to be awarded the interior design and branding for this building’s next chapter, Hotel Marcel, but understood that not everyone sees this style of architecture with the same fondness. So our goal was to reintroduce the public to the site and this kind of architecture by taking a very human, warm approach. By following some of the same principles, including honesty of materials, we worked to create a soft, inviting interior to the concrete exoskeleton. We’ve used natural wood, handmade tile, and an overall palette that is sympathetic to a human experience.