The Windsor Suites, a Modus Hotel, unveiled a renovation that will pay homage to Benjamin Franklin and the city’s history. Windsor Suites is located in downtown Philadelphia, near arts and cultural destinations such as The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Comcast Center and Rittenhouse Square.
Seattle-based Dawson Design Associates (DDA) spearheaded the renovation and creative concepts.
There will be a tiered lobby that radiates around a 40-foot-tall spiraling light sculpture. The hotel will also have custom-made three-story chandelier and floor lamp. There will similarly be nooks wrapped in wood paneled ceilings and floating glass walls. Additional interactive communal spaces will be located on both the reception and mezzanine levels, both with new décor and accents.
Wrapping itself above the lobby will be the new “catwalk” mezzanine. There will also be two new meeting rooms and pre-function spaces along with a new boardroom with built-in window bench seating and a private entrance.
New furniture will be available throughout the public spaces, accented with pieces that harken to Philadelphia’s colonial past. White glass panels inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s printing press will flank the elevator walls and lit by a custom light fixture of an artistic rendition of electricity circumventing the globe. There will be sculptures inspired by kinetics recessed into architectural niches framing a curved wall. Masonic symbolism will be seen in the entryway area carpets.
The property has two-room residential suites complete with kitchen and living room. Many feature private balconies overlooking the cityscape of Logan Square and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The hotel also has a rooftop pool and social space that is currently in design development for a major renovation to be completed in 2017.
The hotel hallways have new lighting fixtures, antique mirrors and decorative wall coverings. More than a dozen works of art, some of which are custom creations, will adorn public spaces, guestrooms and meeting rooms, including works themed around the progression of the printing press, the light bulb and its reference to the creation of electricity and a wall that pays homage to Franklin’s inventions.