Brutal Building Renovated

Sequel to my 2022 post: Building Under Renov(ari)ations.

A hulking edifice built on stilts in the “brutalist” style, stands next to IKEA in New Haven, Connecticut. This massive concrete building, designed by noted modernist architect Marcel Breuer, was a neglected, empty, eyesore for many years.

Originally designed in 1966 as an office/R&D complex for Armstrong Rubber Co., it was acquired (company, site, and buildings) in 1988 by Pirelli. In 1999, the site was sold to developers who dreamed of an enormous shopping mall, abandoning the project just one year later. In 2003, IKEA purchased the site and ultimately — after fighting preservationists and the AIA — demolished most of the low-rise R&D buildings, sparing only the section below the hi-rise offices. For more than a decade, the building sat idle and vacant, its forbidding façade of crumbling concrete glowering grimly down at IKEA shoppers…

[Made a short poem out of that last line, on my poetry blog.]

As you can see, there’s a grim geometry to the building which is somewhat interesting, but a bit drab and difficult to photograph. Finally, after repeat visits to the site (yes–shopping at IKEA) in various weather conditions and at different times of day, I discovered the building’s secret: It comes to life on any clear afternoon, when sun hits the northwest-facing side!

Afternoon sunlight creates dark triangles and lines in sharp contrast to the weathered concrete exterior; windows reflect light onto pavement, people, cars, trucks, and the IKEA next door.

It’s Now Hotel Marcel

The brutalist building has been recently renovated and repurposed as a “green” hotel and conference center, named Hotel Marcel, part of the Hilton family of properties…

Hotel Marcel is a Hilton hotel in the Long Wharf district of New Haven, Connecticut. It is housed in the Armstrong Rubber Company Building, later known as the Pirelli Tire Building: a former office building designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer. The structure is a noted example of Brutalist architecture. Since its renovation into a hotel, the building operates as a zero-energy building, generating enough renewable energy to sustain its operations.
–Wikipedia