Thompson WASHINGTON DC Thompson Hotels arrives in the US capital, with Parts and Labor Design devising a scheme that honours the city’s maritime past. Words: Alia Akkam • Photography: © Julie Soefer
L
ike District Wharf, the buzzy waterfront
completed the interiors for Thompson Nashville
development a 10-minute drive west,
in 2016, reinforces this nostalgic maritime
Navy Yard in southeast Washington –
narrative with a delicate hand.
its namesake the historic United States Navy
At the reception desk, guests are greeted by a
shipyard and ordnance plant established in 1799
striking abacus-inspired art piece. The design
– is booming. Consider The Yards, a 42-acre
firm’s own creation, it fuses honed Breccia
mixed-use complex on the Anacostia River,
Capraia marble, nautical rope, stained oak
situated between the landmark naval facility and
detailing and slender metal attachments finished
the ballpark of Major League Baseball team, the
in bespoke tarnished silver satin. According to
Washington Nationals. Packed with restaurants,
Jeremy Levitt, co-founder and Partner at Parts
shops and upscale residences, it exemplifies the
and Labor Design, it’s a contemporary, quiet
American capital’s glittering growth in recent
allusion to the notion of mapping your course;
years. It is here that Thompson Hotels, now
a primitive approach to navigation.
part of Hyatt’s brand portfolio, has opened the district’s first full-service, luxury hotel.
More rope, incorporated into tactile lighting fixtures, melds with weathered wood and glass
Although the 225-key Thompson Washington
partitions in the lobby. The convivial Thompson
DC is housed in a brand new 11-storey building,
Bar Room – increasingly the domain of political
the local office of Studios Architecture ensured
movers and shakers given the hotel’s proximity
that the richly textured iron spot face brick
to the United States Capitol – is the centrepiece
and metal façade, dominated by large factory-
of the space, encapsulating the design team’s
style windows, organically blends in with the
mission of forming an open, energising social
industrial surroundings. Inside, Parts and Labor
hub. Faced with a black plaster finish and
Design, the New York-based studio that also
topped with the same stone that graces the
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