Scharff Weisberg Lighting helped the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel celebrate its one-year anniversary as a Doubletree-branded property by illuminating the mosaic tile on the north facade of the landmark Modernist building. Following a $35 million renovation in 2005, the hotel joined the Doubletree corporate family, was officially renamed, and was designated a historical landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Committee of New York.
The signature seafoam-colored “wave” mosaic and modern details of the Morris Lapidus-designed Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel have become part of New York City’s architectural landscape. “We were very pleased with the exterior lighting Scharff Weisberg did for our grand opening last year,” notes Ronald Drake, vice president sales & marketing for the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. “So we returned to them for our first anniversary, and our landmark building looks all the better for it.”
To showcase the facade’s mosaic tile Scharff Weisberg deployed Altman Spectra PARs with VNSP lenses and Color Kinetics PDS60 outdoor power supplies. A time-clocked control scheme turns the lights on and off daily. A ColorDial controller, by Color Kinetics, allows hotel staff to run a number of pre-programmed looks that continuously loop during the daily on cycle. Scharff Weisberg partnered with KNC Electric on the installation, which has now become a permanent part of the hotel’s exterior illumination.