TAT will ink Boston skyline with curved Raffles and unmatched views
– Michael Liu, vice president and principal, TAT
The architects behind a brand new tower in Boston, USA, which will house a hotel from AccorHotels's high-end Raffles Hotel & Resorts brand, have exclusively told CLADglobal that its curved edge facades and unparallelled vista vantages set it apart from neighbouring towers in the city.
Michael Liu, partner at Boston-based practice The Architectural Team (TAT), said: “The building is a 33-storey tower, however, it’s not a traditional rectilinear form. We’ve designed it to have curves on its edges.
“This will establish great views of different vistas in the city – each hotel room will have its unique view.”
The tower will be a mixed-use development, taking in the Raffles hotel and a residential element when it completes construction in 2021.
It will sit close to Boston’s largest building, the John Hancock Tower, and as such TAT have made efforts to make it stand apart from other straight-up-and-down towers in its shadow.
“With the Hancock Tower so close by we didn’t want to build something similar and end up being its ‘little brother’," TAT architect Al Donovan. "Thus we went for curvature.
“Equally, we didn’t want to build something that would spoil views of our building from the Hancock and the Hancock from ours.”
The hotel’s interiors are designed by Stonehill Taylor. On the interior elements, Liu said TAT’s thought processes when designing the exterior were always with interiors in mind.
“Not only does each hotel room and each condo have its own unique vista,” he said. “But each also has its own unique shape and floor space, due to the building’s curved form.”
The hotel will also boast another Boston rarity – a 17th floor entrance lobby. Hotel entry via an express elevator some way up a building is more commonplace in New York City, but it is a first in Boston.
AccorHotels Raffles Hotel & Resorts The Architectural Team Michael Liu Al Donovan Boston High Spine