3. Marriott Marquis Washington, D.C.
TEAM PLAYERS
OWNERS: Quadrangle Development Corp.; Capstone Development
OPERATOR: Marriott International
ARCHITECTS: Cooper Carry Architects; TVS Design
INTERIOR DESIGNER: HOK Design
GREEN BUILDING CONSULTANT: Paladino
From the time the project team drew up the first blueprints for the Marriott Marquis Washington, D.C., achieving LEED Silver certification was an important goal. But with 1,175 rooms, 105,000 square feet of function space, and five restaurants, the sheer scale of the project presented a major challenge, especially given Washington’s aging infrastructure.
Multiple players and lots of moving parts were required to deliver a final product that would conserve energy and reduce water use without sacrificing the four-star guest experience. Cooper Carry Architects and TVS Architects, both of Atlanta, designed the hotel in a joint-venture collaboration, with interiors by HOK Design. Green building and sustainability consulting firm Paladino served as the commissioning authority for the project, which debuted in May 2014.
Prior to opening, the Marriott Marquis, which is owned by Quadrangle Development, along with its partner Capstone, officially received a silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED. Sustainability features in place at the property include a heat recovery system, an all-glass rooftop for natural lighting, low-flow toilets and sink aerators for improved water conservation, a wastewater management system, and energy-efficient lighting. Compared to a typical hotel of its size, the property will save an estimated 18 percent in energy costs per year, representing $500,000.
Rachel Sowards, director for Paladino, says the team kicked off the project by setting goals and throwing ideas against the wall in relation to not just sustainability but also performance and profitability. “The goal setting really takes into account all aspects of the building process and what the outcome will be once it’s a functioning hotel,” Sowards says.
One of the most successful ideas that came out of the planning stages was the hotel’s wastewater management system, which collects stormwater and air-conditioning condensate in a 40,000-gallon tank for use in irrigation and cooling tower make-up water. “The design team figured out exactly how to incorporate these things into the infrastructure plan without having to derail the progress of design,” Sowards says.
The system is expected to provide 10 million gallons of reclaimed water per year. Not only does this reduce the amount of potable water required and the embedded energy associated with treating and pumping it, but it also reduces the amount of stormwater contributed to D.C.’s combined sewer/stormwater system, which can overflow into the Potomac and ultimately the Chesapeake during heavy rainfalls.
The project also incorporated $14 million worth of regional construction materials, such as concrete reinforcement, tile, gypsum units, panel ceiling systems, and linear wood ceilings. A major driver of this achievement involved working in concert with the general contractor and architect throughout the process, Sowards says, and maintaining an open dialogue. Although the hotel is a new build, an adaptive reuse component anchors the southeast corner of the property. The Plumber’s Union building, a historic seven-story brick and limestone structure constructed in 1916, has been transformed into a guestroom tower with a rooftop lounge.
“A lot of the things we’re doing that are new and innovative green technologies are really just getting back to our roots and thinking about how people did it before, when craftsmanship and local materials were the only option,” Sowards says.
As a sustainability consultant, Sowards must constantly push boundaries when it comes to balancing comfort with energy performance. “How much are we willing to tweak that comfort bandwidth? Ultimately, in a hotel product, the guest experience has to reign at the top of list,” she says.
One of the challenges she faces on every project is value engineering. To ensure no
vital sustainability requirements got cast aside, the team members wrote down the key decisions they all agreed on for later reference. “That in and of itself probably preserves 90 to 95 percent of the sustainability components on any job,” Sowards says.
The overall success of the project stems from quality project management processes, Sowards says. Whether the group decided to change a soffit or toilet, it always considered the affect on the efficiency calculations. “Our job is to maintain that broad view and help everybody else see how that one change may not be a big deal, but the impact of that has a ripple effect,” Sowards says.
When people visit sustainably designed hotels like the Marriott Marquis, it helps them connect to “green” in a way they might not have in the past, Sowards says. “Impact isn’t just measured in gallons and number of dollars spent on regional materials, it’s also measured in how many people we touch and how good we are at making them ambassadors of what we’re trying to do worldwide.”
