The hotel's stone and glass base at the street corner, brick floors above, lit at dusk.
Exterior — rendering

The James New York

SoHo, New York, USA · 2010
Practice
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Team
Claes-Henric Appelquist, Senior Designer
Location
SoHo, New York, USA
Year
2010
Type
Hotel
Status
Design development; not built

The brief was to help a boutique hotel refine its brand of casual American living and find an architecture for it that would work in a city and at a resort alike. The answer was open, terraced space and natural materials articulated as little as possible.

The New York hotel is organised vertically. Small changes of material mark the passage from street to social floors to private rooms. Travertine floors, limestone walls and rosewood ceilings give the lobby the character of a house, and the warm tones continue upstairs. Planters screen the revolving doors from the street.

A lit canopy of fine slats over revolving doors set between pale stone piers.
Entrance — rendering
A dark reception hall with stone columns and a stair rising beside a lit stone wall.
Reception — rendering
A two-level lounge with timber ceiling, stone walls, low seating and a bar to the right.
Lounge and wine bar — rendering
A tall stone-walled room with a sofa, lamp and a stair opening at the edge.
Living room — rendering
A lift car lined in dark panels with a lit bench and shelf across the back wall.
Lift — rendering
A guest room with a low timber bed, a red throw, a timber ceiling and a window seat.
Guest room, standard king — rendering
A white bed against a dark timber frame, with sunlight falling across the wall.
Guest room — rendering
A long dark wardrobe passage lined with open shelving and hanging space.
Wardrobe — rendering
Line drawings of two façades of the hotel showing the added glazed penthouse on top.
Elevations, with penthouse addition
A round dining table under a double-height window hung with deep red curtains.
Penthouse dining — rendering

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill project, shown as part of the earlier experience of Claes-Henric Appelquist. Earlier work