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Hotel Marcel

Pirelli Tire Building, Armstrong Rubber Co.
Altered
  • Brutalist
  • Identity of Building/Site
  • History of Building/Site
  • General Description
  • Evaluation
  • Documentation

Hotel Marcel

The Hotel Marcel, seen from the North, alongside solar canopies that allow it to attain net zero.

Credit

Seamus Payne

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Hotel Marcel, New Haven, CT. Photo credit: Zach Pontz. 

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Hotel Marcel

Armstrong Rubber Co.

Credit

National Trust Online

Site overview

Originally designed for the Armstrong Rubber Company in 1968 and later inhabited by Pirelli Tire Co., the Hotel Marcel is a fantastic embodiment of the design ideals held by architect Marcel Breuer. The building is composed of a two-story research and development structure at grade, with four stories of administrative offices “hanging” above. Between these two building parts is a 2-story gap, giving the administrative tower portion the illusion of suspension. Enveloping the entire building are pre-cast concrete panels of varying scale and design, depending on the function they enclose. The panels provide protection from the sun, a Breuer preoccupation, and give the façade a tremendous physicality and depth. The end result is a continually changing impression of the building, depending on the day, season, and weather. After over 20 years of vacancy and continuous advocacy efforts, the building reopened as the Hotel Marcel in the spring of 2022.

Awards

Design

Award of Excellence

Commercial

2022

A Commercial Award of Excellence is given for the restoration of the Armstrong Rubber Company building, formerly Pirelli Tire and now Hotel Marcel, designed by Marcel Breuer and Robert Gatje and completed in 1970. Hotel Marcel represents the sustainable reuse of an iconic modern structure to suit the needs of today. The structure’s dramatic suspended office block was originally intended to be a symbol of modernity in New Haven, visible from the newly built Interstate 95, while meeting the client’s needs for office and research space. Since Pirelli Tire vacated the site in 1998, the structure was threatened with demolition for two decades. After a portion of the lower level was demolished, local advocates stepped in with a public campaign to encourage the city and its owners to repurpose the remaining building. Hotel Marcel is now projected to be the first Passive House-certified hotel in the United States, operating with zero carbon footprint. The exterior of the building, board-formed concrete and terrazzo stairways were carefully cleaned and preserved, and the concrete perimeter walls were treated to create a high-performance envelope. Breuer’s sculptural pre-cast ‘Mosai’ panels were air-sealed and coated to further preserve them. This act of re-use at a large scale with a site that was neglected for decades should serve as a case study for others and a call to rethink our culture of disposability. 

“It is an ambitious transformation that achieved the difficult task of making a hotel out of an office building - while maintaining the original aim of providing a visual gateway to New Haven - and making it solar and net-zero in the process!”

- Caroline Constant, 2022 Jury member
Client

500, LLC

Restoration Team

Becker + Becker Associates (Integrated Architecture and Development services, Design Architect and Architect of Record): Bruce Becker, FAIA, LEED AP, Kraemer Sims Becker, Violette de la Selle, Alice Tai, RA, Vivie Lee; Dutch East Design (Interior Design); GNBC Consulting Engineers, P.C. (Structural Engineering); LN Consulting Engineers (MEPFP Engineering); Blades & Goven, LLC (Landscape); Land-Tech Consultants, Inc. (Civil); Philip R. Sherman, P.E. (Code); Steven Winters Associates, Inc. (Envelope, Sustainability); Hoffmann Architects, Inc. (Roofing); Second Law (Energy); Sinclair Digital, LLC (Power over Ethernet and Design Integration); Ageto Energy, LLC (Microgrid designer); van Zelm, Heywood & Shadford, Inc. (Commissioning); Focus Lighting, Inc. (Lighting); MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC (Historic); Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc. (Acoustic); Babbidge Construction Company, Inc. and Consigli Construction Company, Inc. (General Contractors)

Primary classification

Industry

Designations

Connecticut State Register of Historic Places, listed in 2000

National Register of Historic Places, April 2021

Location

500 Sargent Drive
New Haven, CT, 06511

Country

US

Case Study House No. 21

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The Hotel Marcel, seen from the North, alongside solar canopies that allow it to attain net zero.

Credit:

Seamus Payne

Hotel Marcel, New Haven, CT. Photo credit: Zach Pontz. 

Armstrong Rubber Co.

Credit:

National Trust Online

Designer(s)

Marcel Breuer

Architect

Nationality

American, Hungarian

Robert Gatje

Architect

Nationality

American

Affiliation

Marcel Breuer

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