Navy Pier’s first hotel, Sable at Navy Pier, opened this week in Chicago. The KOO-designed project links the lake with the city that acts as its backdrop.
KOO started with a window box as the organizing principle for the design of the facade and guest rooms. Each of the 223 guest rooms features a window seat with views of Chicago’s skyline and Lake Michigan. The angled surface of each room’s window seat creates a textured exterior that reflects the range of light, shadow, and color of the lake.
The interior design, also done by KOO, pulls inspiration from Navy Pier’s history as a port and the eponymous USS Sable by incorporating subtle nautical cues like weathered brass, ship building materials, and the use of smooth curves similar to those of a ship’s interior cabin. The color palette is grounded by mixed neutrals and highlighted by a spectrum of blues and blue-greens reminiscent of the colors of Lake Michigan.
The design of Sable at Navy Pier also preserves Navy Pier’s structure. A unique structural engineering approach was introduced to protect the pier. The design uses micropiles that thread through the existing pier foundations and lake water to bedrock below. The micropyles support new columns and a new structural slab that creates a platform to carry the hotel floors. The columns create an arcade that supports the hotel rooms above the Sable at Navy Pier’s lobby and newly created retail space.
In addition to KOO as the architect, James McHugh Construction Co. was the project’s general contractor. Sable at Navy Pier is targeting LEED Silver certification.
Related Stories
Hotel Facilities | Oct 22, 2019
Modular, collapsable hotel pods can be built in cities’ interstitial spaces
Connectic by Cooper Carry recently won the 2019 Radical Innovation Award.
Hotel Facilities | Sep 24, 2019
A series of glass ‘igloos’ create the world’s northernmost hotel
Luxury Action, a private travel company, is behind the project.
Giants 400 | Sep 5, 2019
Top 85 Hotel Sector Construction Firms for 2019
Suffolk, Yates Companies, AECOM, Swinerton, and Turner top the rankings of the nation's largest hotel sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 5, 2019
Top 70 Hotel Sector Engineering Firms for 2019
NV5, EXP, Jensen Hughes, KPFF, and Thornton Tomasetti head the rankings of the nation's largest hotel sector engineering and engineering architecture (EA) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 5, 2019
Top 110 Hotel Sector Architecture Firms for 2019
Gensler, WATG, HKS, HBG Design, and Steelman Partners top the rankings of the nation's largest hotel sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
AEC Innovators | Aug 27, 2019
7 AEC industry disruptors and their groundbreaking achievements
From building prefab factories in the sky to incubating the next generation of AEC tech startups, our 2019 class of AEC Innovators demonstrates that the industry is poised for a shakeup. Meet BD+C’s 2019 AEC Innovators.
AEC Innovators | Aug 13, 2019
Stacking the deck: Marriott International embraces modular construction
The hotel giant has more than 50 projects in the works that incorporate prefab guestrooms or bathrooms.
Hotel Facilities | Jul 31, 2019
Hotels are taking steps to curtail their energy and water appetites
But owners and operators must be on the same page to achieve meaningful sustainability, says a new ULI report.
Building Tech | Jun 26, 2019
Modular construction can deliver projects 50% faster
Modular construction can deliver projects 20% to 50% faster than traditional methods and drastically reshape how buildings are delivered, according to a new report from McKinsey & Co.
Design Innovation Report | Jun 25, 2019
2019 Design Innovation Report: Super labs, dream cabins, office boardwalks, façades as art
9 projects that push the limits of architectural design, space planning, and material innovation.
