DETAIL MATTERS
Diamonds in the Design District THE VIRGIN HOTEL DALLAS IS MAKING AN ENTRANCE By Janet Spees, Assoc. AIA
Arriving by car, a visitor passes Dallas restaurant staples Ascension and Meddlesome Moth before turning onto a tree-lined thoroughfare to reach a diamond-patterned building with a canopied entrance. Designed by the 5G Studio Collaborative, this 16-story, 145,000-square-foot tower stands tall above Design District retailers. The Design District has long been known as the go-to place for trendy design products and materials. However, since the Dunhill Group acquired 33 acres and 700,000 square feet of buildings there in 2014, the district has been transforming into a live-work-play neighborhood with more residential buildings, shops, and restaurants. That’s why the addition of a hotel brand like Virgin seemed like the next logical step for Dunhill. Getting the OK for the height of the hotel required working through a Planned Development amendment with the City of Dallas. The city’s desire to maintain the visual corridor from the surrounding area to the Trinity River also influenced the orientation and dimensions of the building’s footprint. “Virgin is very fashion-forward, they’re very fun, they’re cheeky, they like to pay a lot of respect to where a building is, like the culture or context. But they also always have their signature moments of fun, something a little British, something a little offbeat,” says Lauren Cadieux, AIA, project architect of 5G Studio Collaborative. While fun and cheekiness fill the interior design of the 268-room hotel, the exterior is structured and refined. The diamond-pattern facade took inspiration from the patterned concrete masonry unit and brickwork of the buildings nearby.
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COLUMNS // aiadallas.org
PROJECT DESIGN TEAM ARCHITECT: 5G Studio Collaborative: Yen Ong, AIA; Hoang Dang; Lauren Cadieux, AIA; Josh Allen; Michael Doerneman PROJECT DEVELOPER/OWNER: DD Dunhill Hotel LLC/Operated by Virgin Hotel Group ACOUSTICAL DESIGN: Saunders + Associates CIVIL ENGINEER: Stantec CONTRACTOR: Andres Construction ENVELOPE CONSULTANT: Amodal Inc. GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER: Reed Engineering Group INTERIORS: Joel Mozersky / Swoon / Ink+Oro KITCHEN DESIGN: Sam Tell Companies LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: SWA LIGHTING: PH| DC MEP ENGINEER: JSE SPECIALIZED METAL: Cleburne Metals STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Viewtech SUSTAINABILITY: Paladino and Co.
