Located in downtown Blacksburg, VA, part of the building’s base is carved out of its southwest side, leaving a covered plaza that connects the street directly to the hotel’s lobby. A single, 16-foot-tall column stands in the 256 square feet plaza, with diameter of 4 feet. While the structural member itself is made of standard reinforced concrete, the tile cladding is mounted to a convex steel armature. The column not only is structural, but also represents the part of building’s weight, that is cantilevered over the entrance plaza. 

The challenge of the project is how to accommodate 18 guest rooms, 1 suite, lobby, restaurant, bar, laundry room, gym, offices, storage, and mechanical equipment room in a 4-story single loaded corridor building on this 32 feet by 120 feet narrow site. The design process started by examining a hotel through a series of scales, from one single guest room to the scale of the community in accordance with the local code.