A brutalist icon continues to make progress with its green makeover thanks to a new Passive House renovation by Becker + Becker.

The Pirelli Tire Building is perhaps one of New Haven, Connecticut’s most famous landmarks. The original nine-story structure was completed in 1970 and considered one of Marcel Breuer’s signature American buildings as well as one of the best examples of Brutalism in the country. 

Architect and developer Bruce Becker is working to convert the former office building, famously owned by IKEA until recently, into a boutique hotel with 165 rooms that also has a net-zero rating with water, heating, and electricity provided on-site, a feature the architect says is unique to some of the challenges of the typology. 

“The hospitality sector is probably one of the hardest ones to electrify, because the buildings tend to use energy more intensively,” Becker told Fast Company. “If they have on-site laundries, the convention is to use a lot of fossil fuels to run those. But it’s really just a matter of ordering different equipment.”

With the help of the Dutch East Design interiors firm, Becker, who has previous experience converting historic buildings in New York and Connecticut into residential housing, was able to create a series of open and warm contraposing interiors spaces maintaining the geometric originality of the 50-year-old building.

“Many artifacts of the building were surprising and inspiring, so we worked hard to celebrate them,” Dutch East’s principals told Wallpaper* in February. “The building’s modular rigor established a rhythm for us to follow, but within that framework we introduced colors, textures, and furniture profiles that are as welcoming as the exterior is austere.”

The new Hotel Marcel aims for completion early next year. The Connecticut Post has more on Becker’s restoration process here.

Update Aug 18, 2021: An earlier version of this article stated that the renovation work had already been completed. We have corrected it, following feedback from Bruce Becker, the architect and developer behind the project, who informed us that the building would not be complete until Q1 2022.