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Radisson launches its first Blu hotel in North America
Radisson launches its first Blu hotel in North America
Few hotel companies get the opportunity to launch a new brand in what is already a much admired, even iconic, building - but that's what happened when Carlson Hotels opened its first North American Radisson Blu in Chicago's Aqua Tower.
Radisson Blu, formerly Radisson SAS, is a known international luxury brand, with more than 100 hotels and resorts in London, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Beijing and more. The company was searching for the right place to open in the U.S., and then in May of 2010 it learned another hotel chain (reportedly Fairmont) was backing out of its commitment to occupy the first 18 floors of Aqua, a unique building receiving worldwide accolades.
Aqua, completed in 2010, is already a star on Chicago architecture tours, and it takes a lot to impress city residents, who daily live with some of the most stunning buildings on the planet. Designed by 42-year-old Chicagoan Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, it rises 82 storeys in the Lakeview East district, a comparatively newly developed area well located, with the Chicago River to the north, Milennium Park to the south and Lake Michigan to the east.
Here's how New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger poetically described the building: "Aqua ... is made of the same tough, brawny materials as most skyscrapers: metal, concrete, and lots of glass. But the architect ... has figured out a way to give it soft, silky lines, like draped fabric ... Gang turned the facade into an undulating landscape of bending, flowing concrete, as if the wind were blowing ripples across the surface of the building. You know this tower is huge and solid, but it feels malleable, its exterior pulsing with a gentle rhythm."
Radisson has added interior details that complement the building's design - colourful, contemporary and straightforward, with many references to Chicago's past and particularly to the printing industry, which was once centred nearby. Carpeting in the main foyer is patterned with a bird's-eye view of Chicago streets; murals of street scenes deck the hallways; and room numbers and signs are done in a font borrowed from typesetters. Because of the building's unusual design, layouts vary from room to room, but each room has a balcony and doors that open. This is possible because the undulating shapes break the force of the punishing Chicago wind.
The building has earned a number of awards, as well as Silver LEED certification for its environmental innovations. One award is from the animal rights group PETA. Why? Because Aqua's shape and specially designed glass deter birds from flying into it, thereby saving thousands of avian lives each year.
Radisson Blu Aqua is in a quiet location, but still within walking distance to many of Chicago's major attractions, such as Millennium Park and the Art Institute. The Art Institute has recently added about a third to its floor space, in a new wing designed by architect Lorenzo Piano, making it the second largest art museum in the U.S. This lets the museum exhibit more of its huge store of art - though even now, only four per cent of its treasures can be exhibited at any one time.
Lovers of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art especially value the museum's collection. At the turn of the last century Chicago philanthropists travelled to France to buy paintings by then little-known artists such as Renoir, Monet, Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh and donate them to the Art Institute. Now the museum is considered to have one of the best collections of such art in the world. Among the popular pieces is Seurat's pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
There are also many classic American paintings, such as Grant Wood's American Gothic, which in 1930 was entered in a contest, the prize being a showing at the museum. It has been there ever since. There are also rooms full of paintings by Georgia O'Keefe, who was a student at the School of the Art Institute. Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, bought by the Institute in 1942 for $3,000, is a perennial favourite.
After a morning of art, it's just a short cab ride or a walk to the Shedd Aquarium, which features, among many other exhibits, an Oceanarium that recreates the rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. There, it's possible to see dolphin shows and even to have a "beluga encounter" (although belugas are not native to the Pacific Northwest). This involves suiting up in hip waders, wading into a beluga pool and following a trainer's instructions for signalling the whale to vocalize, dive, etc., for a fish reward. Participants can also feel the whale's melon (the fatty roll on the top of the head), give it welcome gum massage and even get a kiss on the cheek from the beluga. For those concerned about the animals' welfare, this "encounter" is only offered a few times a week, and the half-dozen whales are rotated. There's also a penguin encounter, which does not entail getting wet. |
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發表於 2012-1-15 07:31
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