PROJECT REPORT: HOTELS, RESTAURANTS & BARS 39


furniture designed by Saarinen, and ironmongery on the main and side entrances, were lost.


As a result of these alterations, and in order to accommodate all the modern services required in a high end hotel, the upper fl oors were largely demolished and re-built behind the existing facade to accommodate guest rooms. The building’s original U-shaped block had a fourth side added as an extension to the rear to increase the sizes of hotel rooms on typical levels. This also enabled a new core layout with a central atrium, above the fi rst fl oor, providing a visual connection between the fi rst fl oor lobby and the hotel room levels above. Saarinen’s early design studies included


ADF SEPTEMBER 2026


a pronounced cornice level on the street frontage in the same checkerboard pattern, which was never realised. Chipperfi eld seized on this idea, extending the facade vertically to add a double-height sixth storey designed to complement the composition and language of the fl oors below. The new Portland stone O-frames are built to a different scale and rhythm to distinguish the fl oor from the levels below.


Above the building’s crown, and behind the winged form of sculptor Theodore Roszak’s gilded eagle, another two storeys were added and set back to create a golden rooftop pavilion featuring a bar and penthouse suites, each reported to cost up to £24,000 a night.


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Chipperfi eld seized on an idea from Saarinen’s early design studies, extending the facade vertically to add a double-height sixth storey designed to complement fl oors below


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