Renowned New Yorkbased designer Tony Chi has come up with a completely new concept – what he calls “reconcepting” – to transform this 20yearold luxury hotel into a unique property combining classic modernism with traditional American style
Washington, DC, November 21, 2005 – Park Hyatt Washington closed its doors on August 1 and is set to reopen next spring as a brand-new luxury hotel unlike any other in the nation’s capital. Following a $24 million gutting, redesign, and “reconcepting” program led by tour de force designer Tony Chi, founder/president of tonychi and associates, the “New Park Hyatt Washington” will combine classic modernism with traditional American style while capturing the city’s unique cultural and natural attributes.
The inspiration for this exciting renovation of Park Hyatt Washington flowed from two fairly obvious factors in the building and its location – the need to be a modern design on the one hand and the need for some classic American touches on the other. The modernity fits Park Hyatt’s luxury image and make today’s sophisticated traveler instantly comfortable and at home, while classic American elements do justice to the hotel’s neighborhood, which is to the fashionable west of the city on 24th and M Streets and close to historic Georgetown.
The broad scope of the $24 million project involves:
• recreating the ground floor including the lobby and reception areas;
• creating a Lobby Bar and Salon, featuring a Tea Cellar offering rare teas;
• creating a new open-kitchen restaurant, Blue Duck Tavern, introducing a “farm-to-table” concept;
• redesigning all of the 215 guest rooms, including the Park rooms and Park suites, as well as the
guestroom corridors;
• redesigning the mezzanine floor’s five executive boardrooms.
The modern details of the design will all be in polished glass, stainless steel, and concrete combined with the classic American touches of warm limed oak, gray limestone, American quilt patterns, persimmon colored burlap, and off-white lacquer. Cherry Blossoms will be celebrated at the hotel entrance with imagery of Cherry trees. Classic American Windsor style chairs and rocking chairs will be found throughout the hotel.
Key features of the restaurant, Blue Duck Tavern, will include an open staff pantry, similar to a residential kitchen, and an open kitchen with fireplace (and wood burning oven), a glass enclosed wine cellar, and private tasting room. The Lobby Bar and Salon entrance will be flanked by large easels of limed oak and off-white lacquer for the display of modern paintings. The Lobby Bar itself will feature glass enclosed "Capitol Hill" booths. The broad design features and colors, modernism with a classic American touch, will be continued throughout the guest rooms and suites and guest corridors.
Bedrooms will all have lavish spa-inspired bathrooms, comprising a third of each guestroom area, and featuring dark gray limestone with a separate rain shower, and an extra deep soaking tub that lets water overflow into a separate shower area.
Opened in 1986, Park Hyatt Washington is a favorite with the city’s elite and the preferred choice of business travelers. It is ideally situated at the edge of fashionable Georgetown near the Smithsonian Museum, Embassy Row, Kennedy Center, national monuments, and eclectic shopping, galleries, and restaurants.
Chi, whose 21-year-old company is a multi-disciplinary design firm engaged in interior, architectural and landscape design, and urban planning, says, “My designs for Park Hyatt Washington bring together a dynamic and attractive modernism with classic American style. Modern for today’s sophisticated traveler, classic American in deference to the fashionable and historic area in which it is located.”
“By ‘reconcepting’ the property,” he adds, “a brand new hotel is poised to cater to lobbyists, senators and other politicians, business travelers, and high-end tourists in a warm, friendly, relaxed and non-competitive setting.”
Considered a visionary in his field, and for which he has been widely recognized, Chi brings a fresh approach to his restaurant and hospitality projects through his vibrant and instinctual approach to design. In 2000, he was honored with Interior Design’s Hospitality Award for “Best Hotel Restaurant” in acknowledgement of his excellent work on NoMI at Park Hyatt Chicago.
Tony Chi’s impeccable and innovative style has influenced the face of Hyatt across the globe. He recently completed “the residence” at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, the city’s first residential style, multi-functional event facility, as well as a new collection of suites at Grand Hyatt Tapei. In April 2003, tonychi and associates completed the tavern-style Oak Door, China Room, Juniper, and Maduro Bar at Grand Hyatt Tokyo.
About tonychi and associates
tonychi and associates is a global design practice with literally hundreds of projects to its credit in the world’s major capital cities and exclusive travel destinations. Based in New York, the firm was founded in 1984 by Tony Chi, a true modernist with a passion for impeccable style and design innovation.
Tony Chi’s objective is to link architecture, interior design, graphics, and furnishings to create spaces and places that are theaters for the performance of light, color, texture, and symbol. He delivers sensory appeal and entertainment every time. Tony Chi – and tonychi and associates – set design trends.
In the past two decades tonychi and associates have completed projects for the Hyatt Group in Osaka, Tokyo, Chicago, Taipei, Bangkok and Sydney with Hyatt projects in the pipeline in Bangkok, Taipei and Beijing.
Media inquiries for tonychi and associates, should be directed to Tammy Chou at (212) 868 8686 or Kylie Perkin at kperkin@bigpond.net.au or +(617) 5476 7803.
About Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Intimate and residential in style, Park Hyatt hotels promise elegant and gracious service on a personal scale and are further distinguished by prime locations and exceptional interior design. Hyatt International Corporation and its subsidiaries operate 24 Park Hyatt brand hotels in 15 countries, with an additional ten hotels under development. There are seven Park Hyatt hotels in the United States and Canada.
There are 214 Hyatt hotels and resorts (over 90,000 rooms) in 43 countries around the world, operating under the Hyatt®, Hyatt Regency®, Grand Hyatt® and Park Hyatt® brands. Currently, there are an additional 28 Hyatt hotels and resorts under development, including 10 new hotels in China. Hyatt Corporation (domestic U.S., Canada and Caribbean hotels) and Hyatt International Corporation (international properties) are subsidiaries of Chicago-based Global Hyatt Corporation. Global Hyatt Corporation is also the owner of Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc. (timeshare), Hyatt Equities, L.L.C. (hotel ownership), and U.S. Franchise Systems, Inc. (which franchises Hawthorn Suites, Microtel and America’s Best Inns).
In January 2005, Global Hyatt Corporation also added an additional 141 U.S. properties to its growing portfolio with the acquisition of the upscale, limited service AmeriSuites hotel chain. These properties will be renovated and repositioned under the new Hyatt Place select service brand in 2006.
From the U.S. and Canada, reservations for any Hyatt hotel worldwide may be obtained by calling 1-800-233-1234 or logging onto www.hyatt.com.
Mutsumi Mizuno
Phone: (202) 419-6688
Email: MMizuno@hyatt.com