The Challenge of Context
Cooper Carry has a special passion for urban, mixed-use projects—and for all the challenges that make the mixed-use design process unlike any other. The firm is particularly adept at guiding full-service projects in urban, mixed-use environments; making the most of limited service projects in mixed-use urban spaces; and creating consensus among the various interest groups that drive mixed-use development—architects, city planners, community groups, developers and local business.
Cooper Carry Hospitality is led by Pope Bullock and Bob Neal. Together they have tackled a number of highly complex, highly successful projects in urban, mixed-use environments. We spoke with them about some of the challenges and rewards of creating within established contexts.
Let’s talk about a powerful recent trend—the growth of mixed-use projects in urban environments. What separates the urban mixed-use design experience from the suburban?
Pope: It’s the difference between a greenfield and an urban masterplan. Usually when we work within an urban masterplan, if we haven’t created it, there are design guidelines, controls, and specific contextual issues. You’re given a set of criteria, you design to them, you walk it through an approval process, and then you build it. Typically those guidelines are about placemaking—ensuring that a series of buildings take on a similar language, a familiar architectural vocabulary.
Bob: You’re inventing the context in a greenfield environment—there’s no context there
to relate to. Generally, in a masterplanned project you have a single architectural hand creating context between buildings, so your creativity is guided in an important way by your surroundings. But not infrequently—our Sugar Land, Texas, project is a good example—there are two or three architects working on buildings in the same development. That’s a challenge. You have three or four buildings going up side
by side, and it has to look like it’s been done by one hand when it’s finished.
How do you achieve that common aesthetic?
Bob: Sometimes you sit down with other architects working on the project and bring
your plans together and try to establish some continuity. Other times you are at different stages in the process and the challenge is different. In the resort we’re developing in Virginia Beach we were hired to do the hotel and another firm was hired to do the retail project and a parking structure across the street. It needs to appear as though it’s done by one hand. We’re working with them to make sure those facilities look like extensions of the hotel.
Pope: Add to the process the challenge of interpreting the design guidelines, managing community expectations, and guiding the review and approval process—and you can see how many different levels of agreement are needed.
For a full-service project, what kinds of existing infrastructure do you have to address in the design process?
Bob: In our Main Street project in Sugarland, Texas, for instance, there are retail developments, a square, a courthouse, an office building, and another office building
in close proximity to the hotel site. We had to respond to all these existing structures. It
was the same with the Carlyle Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s the challenge of context. Where there is no context, you create the context. It’s a blank slate. But in urban areas,
it is never a blank slate. You have to first be responsive to the intricate urban context in which you are working, and then channel your creativity within the guidelines the context imposes.
Pope: The Carlyle project is part of a larger masterplan development that is an old rail yard in Alexandria, Virginia. One of the last such sites. But the community has created design guidelines that control the scale of the buildings, to make sure they step away from the street, and to make sure there are a variety of materials used. Often the design guidelines impose a set of standards that nobody can actually afford and that are inconsistent with the formulas that make these projects successful. We help in the
artful negotiation of ensuring that the city’s guidelines are conceptually met while
keeping the developer’s goals in tact.
How does the challenge change when you’re involved in a limited-service project
in a masterplanned environment?
Bob: It is particularly challenging when you are asked to address a limited-service project in a masterplanned context, because traditionally the prototypes for limited-service hotels, and the corresponding brand guidelines, are intended for free-standing structures in suburban areas.
Pope: And yet you have many of the same issues with the limited service project.
Then what defines a limited-service project?
Bob: Smaller budgets. Not offering all the services of the full service hotel. No
three-meal restaurant, for instance. No room service.
Pope: And what we try to do is upscale a limited-service hotel—within the context of limited-service brand standards.
How do you upscale a limited-service hotel?
Pope: The Hilton Garden Inn in Suffolk, Virginia is a prime example. We’re adding meeting space and a three-meal restaurant to attract patrons from the city. The city is trying to upgrade the image of the hotel and make it a destination for the local community.
Bob: And because the city is trying to spur economic growth with this hotel, and not just meet a specific need, they’ve allowed us to design something very special—a hotel with all the standard amenities, yes, but also a hotel with an outdoor amphitheater, a rebuilt board walk along the river, and a porch that overlooks the water.
Pope: In the end, it will be the kind of place where, if you live in Suffolk, you might take your spouse or family to dinner. Hotels are not normally seen as destinations for the surrounding community, but we’re trying to alter that perception.
Bob: And there are other ways to create value in the hotel for the local community. The Suffolk Hilton will have a 7,300 square foot ballroom. (Typically, limited service locations only have one or two smaller rooms.) It is more than enough space to cater large community events, like weddings.
It’s starting to sound like a full-service product.
Pope: Ultimately, although it may have the brand standards of a limited-service hotel,
it will function as a full-service hotel. A lot of developers who are going into urban environments—because of their budgets—will end up doing limited service. We know how to upscale a project within the urban context and within the confines of a limited-budget.
Bob: We interpret their prototype appropriately in urban conditions. The Hilton
Garden Inn prototype was actually conceived for suburbia. The reception building in
the prototype includes a clerestory window and a large sunlight space that is more appropriate in a suburban setting, where there is more room to work with. But Hilton
is adamant that you have to have this feature. So we take it and build an interpretation
of it in a volume of a larger building.
Do you find more limited-service projects in the market when the economy is sluggish?
Pope: There are more being done now. When you come out of a real estate cycle and there’s not as much building underway, limited-service projects will pick up because they are easier to capitalize. You can launch an $8 million dollar project much more easily than you can an $80 million dollar project.
Bob: And in a less robust economy, flags can still strengthen their market share in a particular area. Often, limited-service hotels are built to support a full-service hotel in
the area. You may come into an urban area and build a Hilton and then two blocks away build a Hilton Garden Inn, to give your guests an option while still expanding your hold
on the market. Travelers like to stay with their favorite flags.
When you compare limited-service brand standards to full-service brand standards, is it just a matter of paring away amenities?
Bob: Full-service hotels typically start between 200 and 300 keys, while a limited-service hotels start at 125. So the scale is significantly smaller. Generally, you are then able to use more inexpensive types of construction techniques. But we have found ourselves building limited-service products in urban areas in which the exterior materials are just as important as with a full-service product.
Because of the need to create something that matches the character of the neighborhood?
Bob: Yes, in urban environments, the quality and character of the neighborhood is important to retain. And it is a special challenge to maintain an urban aesthetic within
the budget restraints of a limited-service project—it takes extra skill.
You must work in dramatically different urban contexts?
Pope: Absolutely. Just look at three of our recent projects. Two Hilton Garden Inns, one completed in Evanston, Illinois and the other about to begin construction in Suffolk; and a Courtyard at Marriott in Birmingham, Alabama. The geography alone gives you some idea of the urban variety we’ve encountered. The Courtyard in Birmingham, for instance, is located downtown and is integral to the University of Alabama Birmingham medical campus. The Hilton Garden Inn in Evanston is set in a mixed-use area in urban
Chicago that includes retail, a cinema, and parking. And this is a hotel that features, among other things, a swimming pool, restaurant, and thousands of square feet of meeting space on .8 acres of land.
Bob: And its context—and purpose—really shaped the design of the Hilton Garden Inn
in Suffolk. The goals of the city guided how we used the existing urban context.
In this instance, where the city has a set of goals it wants to achieve, how much say do they have in the design process?
Pope: They hire the developer to really create what they feel is in the best interest of
their budget and goals. And if a project is publicly funded, we have to include the public through public review boards, and they have a tremendous influence over what we do. The Kiawah resort, for instance, has an architectural review board that’s involved.
Have you been seeing more public/private projects like the one in Suffolk?
Bob: The public-private venture is a distinctive trend in recent years. These projects are inherently mixed-use, so we have a real facility for them. The collaboration between a public agency and the private sector creates functional opportunities for both parties. They share resources, and they also share in the risk and rewards. Since both parties are invested, there is a common interest. And that makes these projects dependent on consensus. We believe our experience managing the consensus-building process can be a real asset for developers and public agencies.
These ventures usually involve hotels?
Bob: Maybe the most popular public/private venture is the Convention Center/Hotel. Usually, the public builds the convention center with meeting rooms, kitchens, parking decks, etc., and the private sector builds the hotel. The developer benefits because he can build a smaller, more efficient, less expensive hotel since some of the service, like parking, are handled by the convention center. The public sector benefits because the project delivers increased tax revenue, job growth and a more vibrant, active area.
A win-win situation for both. What’s the catch?
Pope: These projects are challenging in their complexity. There are more audiences to satisfy, and the process is more public, more collaborative and inclusive. The design architect must facilitate the public process, designing through a series of public workshops to build consensus. The public definitely wants to participate. But we’ve found that good ideas survive public scrutiny. The positive outcome is that the community feels a sense of ownership in the project, and this fosters harmony
between businesses and the people that live near them.
Can you describe how you manage the public process?
Bob: We’ve really developed a design culture here to address the design process in public-private ventures, which are by definition mixed-use environments. When our firm was engaged to design the Lancaster Hotel and Convention Center in Pennsylvania,
the public was invited to come and talk about their neighborhoods, business districts,
art groups and their interests. Our team facilitated, asked questions and, most importantly, we listened. By the end of the night we had a great deal of knowledge
about the special interests groups and the constituents who attended. Only after really listening can the thoughts and words of the community be incorporated into the design process.
Pope: Based on the community’s input, we wrote a set of guiding principles that would shape the design. Our goal was to make connections with the community’s history and tradition. And those connections were reflected in our design work.
Is this ability to guide a public design process a point of distinction between Cooper Carry and other firms?
Pope: It can be. Because of the inherent complexity of these kinds of projects, it’s important to have consultants involved who have experience handling public-private ventures in mixed-use environments. Generally, a developer’s process is much more compact, shorter in duration. The public process slows them down. It forces them to listen and then move forward in a manner that may not coincide with the way they
usually work. Achieving a consensus from a large group can be a challenge. But with
the proper guidance, we find it can produce some very successful solutions.
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