expertise > Building Types > Hospitality + Residential

Hospitality + Residential Architecture

Pickard Chilton brings deep credibility in applying innovative thinking and creative design to deliver a range of multi-family residential and hospitality projects internationally. Highly contextual, responsive to their respective markets, and contributing to thriving, livable communities, these apartment and condominium projects include luxury high rises and exclusive branded residences as well as transit-oriented and mixed-use developments. With selected projects offering market- and below-market rates, we seek to create a welcoming, safe, and healthful environment that appeals to a range of residents.

Similar to the transformative shifts that we are experiencing and incorporating into our office building designs, the design of these next generation multifamily properties is evolving as well to be more communal, inter-generational, and integrated environments. In addition to the convenience and retail amenities commonly available, there is now a tremendous focus on wellness as well as a growing expectation for more experiential amenities.

With a high degree of sustainability an expected standard, these efficient properties offer residents greater control, comfort, and energy savings. The gamut of on-demand amenities and smart features range from digital concierges and hands-free interactive intelligent building platforms to rooftop farms, terraces, and near-instant access to ride and car-sharing services.

In locations such as Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston, projects designed by Pickard Chilton have included such prominent hotel brands as AC Hotel, Bulgari, Four Seasons, Marriot, JW Marriott, and W Hotel.

530 Howard Street, a proposed residential tower in San Francisco

Rising 840 feet (255 meters) from San Francisco’s SoMA neighborhood, 530 Howard is a residential tower designed to complement the city’s skyline while maximizing views to San Francisco Bay. The transit-oriented development incorporates a fifth-floor pedestrian bridge directly connecting to the 5.4-acre Salesforce Park and the Salesforce Transit Center. The tower will be taller than any existing apartment building in the city, and will be the third tallest in the city.

Proposed entry to 1633 Broadway, a multi-family development

Pickard Chilton was recently named a finalist for Metals in Construction magazine’s international design competition.

For the 2023 edition of its popular annual design competition, the magazine invited participants to explore the conversion of a large outdated commercial office tower to an innovative residential use. The aim was to address and draw attention to the concurrent trends that office vacancy rates are at an all-time high and that the environmental carbon impact of the construction industry is appropriately being further scrutinized.

As its subject tower, the brief identified a 1970’s New York City office building, the Paramount Plaza, located at 1633 Broadway in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. The brief contemplated the reconfiguration of the large office floor plates to residential units as well as a reimagined and enhanced ground-level experience which would consist of various retail spaces, a large public plaza, and two existing Broadway theaters: The Gershwin and the Circle in The Square.

Transforming the tower program from commercial to residential presented the unique opportunity to consolidate and reduce the footprint of the building’s core infrastructure. However, daylight analysis of the resulting floor plan demonstrated the primary challenge: the center of the tower receives inadequate natural daylight for residential use. In addition, the significant lease depths of the existing commercial floor plan created challenges to providing market-appropriate unit layouts.

To resolve these issues, floor plates were strategically carved to allow ample natural daylight to reach the center of the building and the enclosure wall was offset from the perimeter of the floor. The resulting floor layout provides the unprecedented and unique opportunity for every unit to have a spacious exterior balcony, or their own “urban back porch”. 

After examining numerous options for the best use of the center of floor plate, the final design proposed “The Hub,” an amenities-rich experience that rises through the new core of the entire tower to create a vibrant social spine for the building’s residential community.

With more publicly-oriented spaces and amenities located within the podium, specific fee-based venues and activities can be opened to the greater public to provide nominal income opportunities to offset potential rent increases for building residents.

Furthermore, the dramatic post-Covid work-from-home shift has significantly impacted both workplace and home environments. As such, the tower’s new residences are generous, allowing ample space for families to feel comfortable yet have rooms that can serve as private work areas.

At the ground level, direct access to the subway system below is celebrated and announced with a series of large glass doors that open, eliminating the boundary between the plaza and the dynamic space within. Access to the subway, a grocery store, a community center, and other public amenities activate the site and continuously draw in visitors. Lastly, The Gershwin and Circle in The Square theaters are enhanced, bringing additional excitement to the block and district. Their entrances are accentuated with new entrance canopies to attract and welcome the public.

The design proposal for Avocet Tower, a transit-oriented development project designed with an enhanced shading system.

Avocet Tower is a new mixed-use, transit-oriented development, comprising nearly 400,000 gsf of class-A office space, a 220-key hotel, above- and below-grade parking.

Tokyo Midtown Yaesu connected to Tokyo station

Envisioned as a human-scaled and sustainable transit-oriented development, Tokyo Midtown Yaesu is a 240-meter, mixed-use tower with a below-grade transportation hub offering direct access to Tokyo Station. 

Master planned on a 20-acre site on the South Side of downtown Dallas, Newpark Dallas has been envisioned as a transformative and sustainable mixed-use development that will imbue in the heart of Dallas a renewed vitality and a collection of welcoming pedestrian-oriented spaces. 

The design of Block IV enhances the environment, livability, and accessibility of the Takanawa Gateway City through its smooth and direct connection to the flow of the master plan. 

The Rosslyn Plaza master plan envisions the development of a mixed-use complex comprising three new office towers and two residential towers.

Kingdom Tower is the landmark centerpiece of Kingdom City, one of the largest and most comprehensive real estate developments to be built in Saudi Arabia.

The high-performance low-E glass curtain walls of Four Seasons place, located in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

Four Seasons Place brings luxurious residences and hotel accommodations to the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Design proposal for Dubai’s prestigious waterfront precinct, The Atrium with glass facades for light-filled interiors.

The Atrium are luxury residences designed for Dubai’s prestigious waterfront precinct creating a symbolic gateway as the two towers merge at the 47th floor.

Pages

We are passionate about our clients, our work, and the positive impact of every building we design. If you have a difficult design challenge, contact us to create a solution that realizes your vision.