Client: Chartres Lodging Group

Overview

Novotel Times Square has gone through a dramatic top-to-bottom renovation to elevate the hotel’s position as a destination to experience Times Square. Stonehill & Taylor created a new vision for the 320,000 s.f. hotel inspired by the end of the year rituals, referencing Times Square’s pop-culture significance as the host of world's biggest New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Goals

Stonehill & Taylor commissioned a large number of original artwork to reposition the hotel and bring their design concept alive by a diversity of voices. The resulting body of work defines the hotel as a unique destination to experience and reflect on the meaning of Times Square.

Process

The team gave a number of artists the same brief, pushing each artist to express their vision of “rebirth”, “renewal” and New Year’s Eve traditions from around the world, in their preferred mediums and styles.
Behind the reception desks, artist M. Dawe's mounted mirror and glass cubes reflect the space, lights and guests looking at the installation, referencing the passage of time. The same artist created a bold typographic work on mirrors spelling “Renew” that present distorted reflections of guests.
Floor-to-ceiling video columns in the lobby feature animated works by four artists throughout the day. Emily Weil used YouTube footage of Polar Bear Club’s NewYear's Eve dive into ice-cold waters to create lyrical abstractions on video.
Chris Martin’s artwork made of anodized aluminum chains lines the wall of the lobby. Inspired by the lights and pulse of Times Square, the piece allows guests to run their hands through the chains to interact with the piece.
The hotel’s restaurant SuperNova features the allegorical mixed-media piece by Todd Alexander on the wall. The whimsical collage features a chance meeting of two strangers at night in a surreal park setting surrounded by good luck tokens from New Year's Eve traditions from around the world.

Additional Information

A unique outcome from the collaboration between Stonehill & Taylor and Shawn Trentlage is the lobby bar. Featuring a tall column of light, the bar references the sun, the center of the earth’s yearly rotation. This cylindrical wine bottle rack surrounds LED panels that change color throughout the day, creating different mood settings and experiences for visitors. Lines and facets emulating an armillary sphere break out from the reception area into the main lobby and converge at this visual center of the lobby.