Virgin Hotels and Lam Group today broke ground on a new property, Virgin Hotels New York City. The property is slated to open in 2018 with 463 chambers, a rooftop pool and bar, and several dining outlets, and will serve as the brand’s flagship hotel.
“The design of the tower was conceived from the inside out, taking cues from the hotel room guest floor, said Brian McFarland, principal of VOA and the lead architectural designer on the hotel. Efficiently cellular in nature, the tower originally dictated a simple building form. Deconstruction of this otherwise simple tower was achieved through selective massing being removed and reapplied to create a more interesting form and offer more corner rooms and greater views.”
To commemorate the groundbreaking, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, and Raul Leal, CEO of Virgin Hotels, will bury a Virgin time capsule containing mementos from the company in New York. Contents include a Virgin Cola can, Virgin Atlantic onboard salt and pepper shakers, Virgin Hotel key cars, Virgin America headphones and more.
