The Clubhouse: a Hybrid Hotel and Office Facility
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The Clubhouse: A Hybrid Hotel and Office Facility by Travis Hatch B.A. in International Studies, May 2011, University of Utah A Thesis submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Art May 17, 2015 Thesis directed by Emily Bishop Adjunct Professor of Interior Design © Copyright 2015 by Travis Hatch All rights reserved ii Abstract The Clubhouse: A Hybrid Hotel and Office Facility Business travel accounts for approximately 50% of all hotel stays, and hotels increasingly cater to this class of traveler. Back in the office, many companies seek to provide their staff with on-site, hotel-like amenities, such as fitness centers, on-site catering, restaurants, cafes, and even hair salons, in an effort to increase productivity, by keeping staff satisfied and at work longer. Providing on-site amenities in office buildings has been shown to improve employee satisfaction and retention, with the potential for increased productivity. While providing first-class amenities can be too costly an endeavor for some businesses to undertake alone, it is one already assumed by many hotels in order to be competitive. Combining operations would distribute the associated costs and allow for a wider array of services to be offered, as has been evidenced by existing models, such as mixed-use developments that combine hotels with residential and retail aspects. The Clubhouse is a model for a hybrid facility, including an upscale, urban hotel and high-end office suites, with shared operations, circulation and use of amenities. It seeks to meet the needs of two differing design programs under one roof, creating atmospheres conducive to business and inviting for hotel guests, without jarring transitions. In order to execute this, the design explores the concept of hybrid and overlapping, which the two-sided facility embodies. Through the manipulation of light, sound, color, and accessory, the design will gradually transition along a gradient, producing a cohesive aesthetic suitable for all parties. iii Contents Abstract iii Figures v Preface vi Thesis Statement 1 Chapter 1 Trend: Hotels Are Catering to Business Travelers 2 Trend: Firms Are Providing More Office Building Amenities 3 Case Study: The Googleplex 6 Further Proof of Concept: The 1980s Experience 7 Chapter 2 The Clubhouse Project in the Context of Mix-Use Development 9 The 20-Minute City Meets the 5-Minute Business Experience 12 The Business Case: Why the Clubhouse Design Makes Economic Sense 13 Case Study: The Westin Galleria Houston 14 Trend: Joint Hotel-Residence Developments Are on the Rise 15 Chapter 3 The Clubhouse Concept 19 Dichotomy of Office and Hotel Designs 20 Gradient Approach for the Clubhouse Concept 25 Methodology of implementation 27 Chapter 4 Criteria for the Site and Design of the Clubhouse 32 Site: 1801 K Street NW 33 Programming 35 Conclusion 43 End Notes 44 Bibliography 51 iv Figures Figure 1: Venn diagram highlighting proposed shared services, created by the 19 author Figure 2: Adjacency matrix for The Clubhouse, created by the author 22 Figure 3: Gradient approach in design of shared spaces, created by the author 25 Figure 4: Office lobby rendering, created by the author 28 Figure 5: Mid-level lounge rendering, created by the author 29 Figure 6: Mid-level lounge slab opening and conference room rendering, 29 created by the author Figure 7: Hotel lobby rendering, created by the author 30 Figure 8: Exterior of 1801 K Street NW, Washington, DC, photo taken by the author 33 Figures 9 : Site plan of 1801 K Street NW, created by the author 34 Figure 10: Stacking diagram of 1801 K Street NW, created by the author 35 Figure 11.1: Programming square footage requirements, created by the author 37 Figure 11.2: Programming square footage requirements, created by the author 38 Figure 12: Level 1 floor plan, created by the author 39 Figure 13: Level 2 floor plan, created by the author 40 Figure 14: Level 3 floor plan, created by the author 41 Figure 15: Level 4 floor plan, created by the author 42 v Preface The idea for the Clubhouse first came to me, while working as a decorator. A client of mine moved his business into a downtown office suite, with views of the White House. Being in such a fantastic location, he wanted to recreate his office into a place worthy of entertaining clients. The existing fluorescent lights and traditional office furniture didn’t fit the bill, and his vision was for something avant garde. Almost instantly, I decided to abandon typical office layouts, and instead created a design based on a hotel lounge. Having always loved hospitality design, the visual hybrid was enchanting to me. I thought about my client entertaining international visitors in his new set up—part office, part lounge, sipping a cocktail, talking shop, watching the lights come on at the White House. That’s when the thought hit me-- it would be so nice for his guests, if they could just walk down the hall to their hotel room, afterwards. From there, the idea grew. I wanted to create a hybrid facility, with offices and a hotel, based on hospitality design. The hotel would offer discounted guestroom rates to the office tenants, creating incentive for resident companies to utilize the hotel, when hosting out-of-town clientele. Furthermore, hosting their clients on-site would allow for quick and easy handling of business affairs, and let companies curate their guest’s experience. And it just made sense to offer the use of hotel amenities to the resident office suites. I wanted to facilitate “business with pleasure,” where every guest and employee feels like they were given the key to the executive lounge. The more I researched, the more my idea made sense. Several trends strongly indicate the financial viability of the model, and I designed a program to fit the user needs, on both the hotel and office sides. The Clubhouse was born. vi Thesis Statement Following overlapping trends in office and hospitality design, this thesis proposes the creation of a hybrid hotel and office facility, with shared operations and amenities. 1 Chapter 1 Trend: Hotels Are Catering to Business Travelers A key design element of the Clubhouse project revolves around the notion that a major segment of the hotel guest community is comprised of business travelers that have much to gain from state-of-the-art business amenities, and from the reduced workload attributable to “doing business” in a hybrid environment of hotel and business communities. Business travelers have been described as “the driving force in the hotel industry” because they “make up about half of all hotel guests in the United States.”1 Business travel continues to increase. By one estimate, U.S. business travel volume grew 7.2% in 2013 alone.2 As a measure of revenue, even in light of negotiated corporate rates under which many business travelers operate, it appears that rates are increasing faster for business travelers than for the population at large. One recent study from the Tisch Center for Hospitality at New York University found that the average 2013 negotiated corporate rate for hotel stays increased by about 5 percent, whereas the average daily rate for U.S. hotels overall went up about 4.5%, based on interviews with industry executives and financial data.3 In an industry with total annual revenues topping $163 billion in the United States alone,4 even a modest difference equates to significant dollar values. Pairing a hotel with a state-of-the-art office building has obvious appeal for the business traveler. Particularly if business travelers are traveling to meet with tenant office holders, potential problems with the travel experience are minimized. Currently, some corporations take advantage of economic models under which they make some form of exclusive arrangement with a hotel or chain in order to achieve the best 2 rate possible for their clients and employees. However, these low rates are typically available only for the largest corporations.5 In the Clubhouse model, the corporate- rate concept is significantly improved upon because the hotel operator would offer discounted rooms as an amenity of office tenancy - regardless of the size of the corporate tenant. Trend: Firms Are Providing More Office Building Amenities There is an unmistakable trend to provide more and better amenities in the office environment. The international commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield further observed that, “Several major owners are looking at including amenity programs across their entire portfolios.”6 One prominent business publication pointed out: “The bells and whistles…that landlords use with increasing vigor these days to sell residential condos, are making the leap into the office sector. The owners of properties including two of the city’s best-known landmarks—the Empire State Building, and 75 Rockefeller Plaza—are spending big bucks to create everything from gymnasiums to roof terraces. They are doing it to burnish their properties’ appeal (and rents) in the eyes of a new generation of tenants. Once an isolated phenomenon, the amenities arms race has taken off in recent months.”7 Part of the rationale for expanded amenities in the office environment is found in demographic trends. As more millennials enter the workforce in white collar capacities, they expect a more hospitable work environment. This “new driver pushing commercial landlords to up the amenity ante” is a result of “a changing workplace with a lot more millennials and a different set of expectations.”8 Or as Cushman & Wakefield 3 would have it, “Amenities are attractive to tenants. If landlords are willing to provide them, it gives their building an advantage.”9 Major office developer Times Equities Inc.