Hotel Marcel Connecticut
When finished later this year, Hotel Marcel will be the first and only net-zero hotel in the United States.
CONNECTICUT – A renovation is underway in a 54-year-old former rubber factory.
The facade of the building, designed by renowned architect Marcel Breuer, remains unchanged, but everything within the walls of what is known as The Pirelli Building in New Haven, Connecticut has been redesigned and rewired with a clear and “clean” purpose.
“We will create one of the most sustainable hotels in the country,” says architect and developer Bruce Redman Becker FAIA, LEED AP from Becker + Becker.
When finished later this year, Hotel Marcel will be the first and only net-zero hotel in the United States.
“No fossil fuels are used in this hotel and all the energy we use is produced on site,” explains Becker.
It’s a great achievement in an industry that has historically been anything but energy efficient. The hotel segment consumes a lot of energy as the hotels are usually occupied around the clock. Lights and air conditioning are always on.
Becker bought the building from Ikea, the youngest owner of the Pirelli building. The hotel has a lot in common with the budget Swedish furniture store’s New Haven outpost. He imagined the project and supervised all phases.
1,000 solar panels will generate enough electricity to heat and cool the entire 156 room hotel and to provide lighting and energy for the building’s kitchen and laundry, which will be electric.
“In reality, very few hotels use all-electric mechanical systems, and I’m not sure there are any with electric kitchens and electric laundries,” Becker said. “And the interesting thing is that these technologies are available and have been around for decades. But they weren’t a huge priority until people recently realized the importance of moving away from fossil fuels.”
In the Hotel Marcel this ranges from the solar panels on the roof to the special leak-free insulation in the walls.
“It’s basically like making a thermos flask out of the outer wall,” explains Becker.
Triple-glazed windows keep the temperature stable and reduce noise, special heat pumps provide heating and cooling with fully electric renewable energy and Ethernet cables supply LED lights.
The cost of all of the retrofitting is roughly $ 50 million, but that cost will pay for itself over time, Becker says.
“Every decision we made as an architect and developer was made with the aim of reducing energy consumption, using the existing technologies and then generating this energy on site,” he said.
The hotel is operated by Hilton, which says the success of its business is linked to its ability to operate and grow sustainably.
“Many travelers want sustainable options when they travel, they want to have a good feeling about how they are spending their money,” says Pauline Frommer, Editorial Director of Frommers.com.
According to a June survey of 29,000 travelers from the Booking.com website, 81% of travelers say they want to stay in sustainable accommodation for the next year.
“Sustainable travel attracts people very much,” said Becker. “If they have the choice of staying in a place that is committed to sustainability or one that doesn’t, that gives us a marketing edge.”
Frommer predicts that many other hoteliers will be closely monitoring the success of the Hotel Marcel.
“I think if they are successful it will show other hoteliers that this is something they want to pay for and we should,” she said.
Marketing advantage or not, Becker says the hospitality and construction industries in general don’t have much choice when planning for the future.
