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Angled view of the hotel. Photo © Joseph Romeo Hotel bar with light fixture inspired by the shape of the Potomac River. Photo © AC Hotel
Photography Washington DC Downtown
Chapter Design Award in Architecture Conscious of the AC Hotel brand’s roots—it was an
AC Hotel by Marriott independent chain based in Madrid, Spain, before becoming
a subsidiary of Marriott International in 2011—the architects
Washington, DC
sought to convey “an intimate European-inspired sensibility”
WDG Architecture in the design. The defining feature of the street façade is an
array of two-story window modules, each canted inward from
Interior Designer: PDG Studios bottom to top. While the slender proportions of these modules
Landscape Architect: LSG Landscape Architecture accentuate the building’s verticality, their slanted forms
Structural Engineer: Tadjer-Cohen-Edelson & Associates Inc. animate the façade, casting sharp shadows at certain times of
MEP Engineer: Jordan & Skala Engineers Inc. day and evoking a large-scale version of the louvered jalousie
Civil Engineer: VIKA Capitol windows that were once popular in hot climates. The window
Building Envelope Consultant: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger modules were prefabricated in a factory environment, allowing
Code/Fire Protection/ADA Consultant: Jensen Hughes precise and efficient production with minimal waste. During
LEED Consultant: Paladino construction, they were installed at a rapid rate of two floors
General Contractor: LendLease per week.
The regularity of the window grid is interrupted by an
DC’s building height limit has yielded a uniquely horizontal opaque metal panel at the right side of the façade (as seen from
modern American city, accented by a few vertical landmarks the street), which conceals an exit stair. The panel is angled
such as the Washington Monument and the Old Post Office inward from right to left, creating a dynamic contrast to the
tower. The city’s early commercial buildings tended to have vertical slope of the window modules. Narrower versions of the
vertical proportions thanks to their small footprints, but as late large panel continue across the top and down the left side of
20th-century developers assembled ever-larger sites, downtown the façade to form a giant asymmetrical frame for the window
became packed with full-block buildings whose designs often array. At the ground floor, large glass panels can be fully
emphasized width over height. Meanwhile, many recent opened to connect the hotel’s bar and lounge to the outdoor
commercial projects have been sheathed in taut glass curtain seating area.
walls, which can be elegant, though their unrelieved planar The wood-paneled bar and dining spaces, designed by
façades do not always make for interesting streetscapes. PDG Studios, are warm and inviting. The most striking interior
The new AC Hotel by Marriott, on 19th Street, NW, feature is a hanging light fixture whose sinuous form was
represents a dramatic break from those trends. The building inspired by the shape of the Potomac River. PDG also designed
filled in a rare mid-block gap in one of the most densely the guest rooms, adapting the chain’s prototype to fit the
developed areas of the city, and its design, by WDG building’s location and specific floor plans.
Architecture, turns that relatively narrow site to advantage by The AC Hotel is notable as the first new hotel built from the
celebrating the vertical dimension. The hotel’s main façade also ground up in downtown’s Golden Triangle area (northwest of
introduces a sense of depth and texture to the street plane while Lafayette Square) in 50 years.
maintaining the slickness and sophistication evident in the best
of the recent curtain-wall boxes.

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