Rennaissance Times Square

The Renaissance Times Square first opened in 1992 and recently underwent a year long, floor-by-floor refurbishment process at a reported cost of US$24 million. This is part of what the brand’s Senior Vice President, Rita Cuddihy, has described as ‘establishing Renaissance as a worldwide category leader’, a process involving ‘major renovations, property conversions and new constructions’ as well as the not inconsiderable sum of US$2bn spread globally.

This particular property in Midtown Manhattan is being presented as the first in the next generation of post-rejuvenation Renaissance Hotels, so it is perhaps no surprise to find a big name design team, Chicago’s Jordan Mozer & Associates, behind the re-furb; or half of it at least.
For this is today a hotel with two very distinct personalities: the public persona, that of Mozer’s communal areas located on the first floor of the hotel (which is in fact the third floor of the building as the lower two are taken up by retail), and the private persona, that of the rooms themselves as created by Callison, an architectural design team from Seattle.

The former is very New York, full of theatrical ‘lifestyle spaces’, eye-catching design and quintessentially Mozer-like curvatures in the most unusual places. The latter, in contrast, is fiendishly functional with barely a curved table-leg in sight.

Starting with the third floor, main lobby light fixtures consist of hanging droplets of illumination in oval-shaped clusters. These organically formed yet strangely otherworldly design elements help create an immediate sense of intrigue and fantasy that continues throughout this part of the building.

Structural pillars peppering the lengthy space have been covered in a white outer shell that appears inspired by a Henry Moore sculpture; such are its oddly human contours. In fact however, they pick up on, and develop, one of the key design hooks running through Jordan Mozer’s work here, what can only be described as a slightly overweight ‘X’ shape.

Once a guest has picked up on this distinct visual mnemonic, they start to notice it in the chair-backs at the bar, in the wall sculptures by the ground floor lobby elevator, and in numerous other subtleties that the design team no doubt enjoyed threading into their visual language.
Lounge, dining and bar chairs also play off this criss-cross silhouette, whilst serving as colour-coded hints as to what guests might get up to in each zone: cobalt blue for waiting in the lobby, navy blue for sipping a Cosmo at the bar, brown for surfing the internet and red for eating from Chef Zak Pelaccio’s Asian-inspired menu in the restaurant (Pelaccio is also the man responsible for The Sanderson’s new Malaysian restaurant, Suka).

Forming a backdrop to all of these areas is a long, curving copper-plated rear wall that looks like something from a Richard Serra installation at MOMA. Intricate, naturally occurring detailing on the thin copper strips used to coat the wall neatly contrast with the silky smooth leather furniture and sleek metal finishings around it, adding depth and character to the floor’s aesthetics.

Up in the 310 bedrooms and suites things are considerably calmer. Indeed, at times it is as if they have been designed explicitly not to draw attention to themselves, unlike the flashing billboards of Times Square outside. These follow the new ‘Urban Guest Room’ template created by Callison for roll out across various Renaissance Hotels & Resorts. 

Dark wood furnishings, muted blues, golds and creams are all there to create a sumptuous yet subdued environment for those looking to escape from the 24/7 hubbub of Midtown Manhattan.

Two brand standards illustrate how management have invested their money to maximise the guest’s in-room experience: bedding and technology. Renaissance Revive bedding makes the bed into a genuinely inviting feature with high thread count sheets, down comforters and decorative pillows. In-room connectivity panels meanwhile allow guests to convert the 32” flat-screen TV into a personal entertainment centre, whilst simultaneously charging any number of gadgets from one central hub.

The 17 Junior Suites are a moderate step up from the Kings and come with extra living space for a sofa, low-lying table, desk and a second, larger 42” flat-screen TV. In terms of colour scheme too, the suites up their game somewhat by incorporating a geometric print, black and gold fabric twinned with tonally complementary carpets.

In one of a handful of overt nods to the low-key rooms’ more extrovert third floor neighbour, soft leather headboards all come in a cobalt blue that perfectly mirrors that of the chairs in the lobby. Similarly, bathrooms have detailed white and blue mosaic tiling that re-appears outside the hotel’s main entrance on Times Square.

Predominantly however, the sensation is that of there being very much a dichotomy of styles in this property; guests are asked to make a considerable leap between the reality of the Renaissance experience on the third floor and that of the rooms above.

In its defence, the proximity of W Times Square just across the road means that a progressive re-fit was precisely what the psychoanalyst ordered, and even the hardiest of business stayers are unlikely to turn their noses up at a lively destination bar or restaurant. Give them a room with an inadequate number of plug sockets, or an uncomfortable bed on the other hand, and you’ve lost them forever.