Between stranded passengers and frequent fliers holed up on their laptops until that early morning flight, airport hotels are blessed with a built-in guest base. Captivating design, then, typically gets tossed to the backburner. In Dallas, that notion gets turned on its head at the Grand Hyatt DFW at the country’s third biggest airport; it opened only six years ago yet just underwent a $13 million renovation.
“Located in the middle of the airport, our design uses the hotel’s context as its genesis,” explains project manager Lindsey Klein of SeifertMurphy, the local design firm that oversaw the revamp of the Grand Hyatt’s 298 guestrooms, 39 suites, corridors, meeting space-“A lot of people fly in just to use the boardroom, so it needed to be upgraded and feel more residential” -and lobby lounge furniture. “As the keystone of the terminal in which it is found, the hotel brings to mind the nature of air travel, the materiality of the flying machine, and the abstracted landscape as seen from above. Building on those thoughts, we took clues from the exclusivity of the luxury airport lounge and the design of private jets.”
When jet-lagged guests enter their rooms, energy-saving LED and CFL lights and a window shade system turn on; upon exiting, they turn off. Stimulating views of planes and runways remind them where they will spend the night, but hard-surface floors in the foyer, granite-topped nightstands, custom reading lamps, and electric mirrors surround them in “first-class” modern style. “The business traveler in his bespoke suit inspired our concept. The design is relatively clean, sophisticated, and unfussy. It’s an escape from the hustle and bustle of business travel,” Klein says.
The hotel’s centerpiece is undoubtedly the collection of over 1,300 artworks by local photographer Richard Bettinger of the Bettinger Studio, known for his trademark “Decompressionism” that delineates movement through the reflection of light and color. A multitude of art pieces in each room is key to providing “unprecedented luxury,” notes Klein: “Because international business travelers often spend more time in hotels than their own residences, our tailored design provides a calming atmosphere.”
