Dream Downtown Hotel by Handel Architects

Dream sits on a though-block site, fronting both 16th and 17th Streets, and is adjacent to the Maritime Hotel. In 2006, Handel Architects was engaged to convert the main annex for the National Maritime Union of America headquarters, designed by Albert Ledner, into the Dream Downtown Hotel.

Along the 17th Street exposure, the sloped façade was clad in stainless steel tiles, which were placed in a running bond pattern like the original mosaic tiles of Ledner's Union building. New porthole windows were added, one of the same dimension as the original and one half the size, loosening the rigid grid of the previous design, while creating a new façade of controlled chaos and verve. The orthogonal panels fold at the corners, continuing the slope and generating a contrasting effect to the window pattern of the north façade.

The 16th Street side of the building, previously a blank façade, was given new life. The skin is constructed of two perforated stainless steel layers, its top sheet of holes a replication of the 17th Street punched-window design and the inner sheet a regular perforation pattern. The outer rain screen is punctured with porthole-shaped Juliet balconies for the guestrooms and peels up at the ground level to form the hotel canopy and reveal the hotel entrance.

The original through block building offered limited possibilities for natural light. Four floors were removed from the center of the building, which created a new pool terrace and beach along with new windows and balconies for guestrooms. The glass bottom pool allows guests in the lobby glimpses through the water to the outside (and vice versa) connecting the spaces in an ethereal way. Light wells framed in teak between the lobby, pool and lower level levels allow the space to flow. Two hundred hand blown glass globes float through the lobby and congregate over The Marble Lane restaurant. Fixtures and furnishings were custom designed for the public spaces and guestrooms to complement the exterior design and to continue the limitless feeling of space throughout the guest experience.