The 1,000-room Marriott Marquis Houston has opened with design of Dallas-based Looney and Associates, which drew inspiration from the region’s landscape.
The lobby entrance, considered the “Great Room,” displays the hotel’s design ethos: “The Modern Texan.” The ceiling is comprised of an inlay of textured, three-dimensional metallic and sparkling ribbons that mimic moving bodies of water. The Great Room’s light stone flooring, sourced from Turkey, also has weaving dark lines representative of the city’s freeway system. The same local elements of texture and design inspiration are woven throughout the space with curvilinear lounge seating and patterned area rugs.
Each elevator has a unique image of an astronaut floating in space, reminder of Houston’s history as the hometown of NASA.
The art selected for the guestrooms continue the ode to NASA, with each room featuring prints of a glowing night sky or a close up of planetary rings. The rooms were designed to maximize natural light, open space and expansive sightlines. The work areas have custom-designed desks and ergonomic chairs. Each room has a bathroom with an organic palette of whites, creams and browns, echoing the ethos of Thann, the spa line from Thailand used in every bathroom.
The Marriott Marquis Houston’s Parkview Terrace has the world’s only Texas-shaped rooftop lazy river. Perched 110 feet in the air and surrounded by Houston’s downtown skyline, water flows along the outline of the lone-star state from the Panhandle to north Texas around Dallas, to east Texas along the Louisiana border, to Houston and the Mexico border. Approaching El Paso, the river appears to disappear off the edge of the building with views looking down on Discovery Green Park below.
Surrounded by chaise lounges with umbrellas and additional lounges submerged underwater, the infinity pool flows off the rooftop and floods into views of the park below. Six cabanas made by Kettal and 15 smaller coverings fill out the Parkview Terrace. The larger cabanas have refrigerators, televisions and storage. Two fire pits are located at the entrance to the terrace surrounded by rocking chairs with seating for 10 to 12 people, offering views.
The art collection at the Marriott Marquis reveals Texan heritage and innovation. Sculpture pieces, such as Rings of Chimera created by Elish Warlop, pay homage to both Houston’s circular street signs as well as NASA’s space program. “Rotate,” a mixed-media and glass panel piece by Joseph Guay, captures Houston’s natural environment. Meanwhile, the layered textures and patterns demonstrated in Aurora, a mixed-media on panel by Jay Kelly, pay tribute to Houston’s local community.
The Marriott Marquis Houston is located in downtown Houston, connected via skybridge to the George R. Brown Convention Center.
