It’s the idea of total immersion into New York’s urban fabric that sets this POD hotel apart from your typical Manhattan hotel.  Thinness and transparency were the driving forces guiding the design.  By providing a single loaded corridor located along the site boundary, two things were achieved. First, the urban wall is able to continue on and secondly, but most importantly, the sense of ‘interiority’ has been eliminated. 

Rising 20 stories, the sleeping pods are located facing North-East providing views to downtown Manhattan while the corridor on the interior faces South-West and provides views towards Hudson River.  Vertical ‘living rooms’ have been incorporated on different levels to provide communal gathering space all the while creating another level of openness to the city.  One cannot escape the fact that they are in New York as they walk down the corridor or even when they enter their room.  The only way to truly ‘close’ themselves off to the city is for them to shut their blinds.

The program elements start off at grade and in a stair like manner progress up and open to an accessible and partially landscaped communal space at the second and third level.  The programs are grouped according to their relation to one another and are grouped in a cube like manner. By placing the mass at the back corner, it allows the space to be open and available to guests of the hotel. The overall design of the hotel aims to promote maximum interaction with both the city, its inhabitants and the hotel guests.