Portland, Oregon-based firm Skylab has completed work on the 401-room W San Francisco. The firm tackled the guestrooms and major amenity spaces in this multi-phased renovation. The lobby is slated for the next phase.
The new design draws its inspiration from San Francisco’s region and history, abstracting elements from the past and present—including a healthy dose of funky elements from its psychedelic days—to marry history and culture with the hotel experience. The rooms and suites offer a mischievous representation of San Francisco, featuring gold spackle that marks opportunity and potential connections in the social web.
After first developing the overall concept, dubbed Dynamic Fog, the team investigated ways to play with San Francisco’s defining physical characteristics, including the hills, fog and street grid, and cultural attributes such as the city’s roots as a boomtown during the Gold Rush, and the epicenter of technology and innovation it is today. The design team developed three guestroom configurations for corridor in-line and corner room options, with an additional penthouse design featuring a mix of bold solid surfaces and soft fabrics. An additional five high-end “glamping” rooms, complete with exterior terraces, expand traditional notions and bring the outside in and the inside out. Hallways and common areas received a similar treatment, including new carpeting and wallcoverings.
Other phases included reworking the meeting and event spaces, such as FIT gym—a new glass-domed daylight space with integrated day/night LED lighting systems. The Social Terrace atmosphere creates a multi-sensory environment for exercise or hanging out.
Photo: Brian Walker Lee
