Party Like A Rock Star

An antidote to the plain vanilla hotel experience. Hard Rock San Diego hopes to attract more than just the super-rich.

By Monica Rogers, Contributing Editor -- Hotels, 4/1/2008

Light sconces cluster like giant pinecones between magenta banners at Nobu, designed by Rockwell Group, New York.

Giant olive trees were craned in for the rooftop “Woodstock” urban retreat with its opium bed-flanked fire pits, pool, cabanas and bar.

Studio guestrooms feature 100% custom furnishings, such as halo-illuminated beds, “green room”-inspired refreshment centers and bathrooms with rain showers.

The lobby has a massive LED-lamp media wall, where Hard Rock can do live feeds to concerts.

Catering to crowds who want to live like rock stars (or just party like them) Hard Rock Hotel's first ever condo-hotel is in San Diego—and developer Tarsadia sold out the 420-room project.

Making good on Hard Rock's democratic “love all; serve all” credo while simultaneously setting precedents in energized design, Hard Rock San Diego reaches out to a broad demographic with the condo distinction, guestroom stylings, unusual business and event space, and top-notch, third-party tie-ins.

Located next to the city's Gaslamp Quarter, across the street from the convention center and very near the Petco Park baseball stadium, local designer Graham Downes Architecture created public spaces meant to be consumed by a shifting mix of business professionals, Bermuda shorts-clad sports fans and stimulus-seeking party animals.

Shaping the exterior to fit its historic district status, which calls for smaller scale and building heights below 125 ft. (38 m), local exterior architect Carrier Johnson gave the structure a clustered, multi-building look.

Inside, Downes made the minimalist lobby a humming, runway-like extension of the street, heightening the sense of speed and motion with long, low ceilings, glossy floors and slate wall tiles slit with narrow light insets.

A massive LED-lamp media wall, where Hard Rock can do live feeds to concerts, pulses and glows behind four check-in pods. “The idea was to speed the pulse rate, heighten the sense of arrival and communicate that no matter when somebody arrives, that was the right moment,” Downes says.

In fact, Downes infused all public spaces in the hotel with an electrifying sense of connectivity. “Just as a musical instrument is plugged in, all of these arterial spaces are plugged in. So no matter where you are in the hotel, you have the sense that you are connected. The party is where you are.”

Bars and restaurants include Maryjane's Coffee Shop, a 24-hour modern riff on the classic diner; Nobu, contemporary Japanese from New York's Nobu Matsuhisa; Pinkberry, the high-design frozen yogurt chain; and Sweetwater Saloon, a svelte bar designed by Michael Czysz of Portland-based Architropolis for nightlife impresarios Rande and Scott Gerber.

At Maryjane's, Hatch Design paid tribute to the best 1950s-style diner elements with cantilevered counter seating, a Sputnik-inspired custom chandelier over the bar and white terrazzo floors. To merge “mid-century modern” with the new milieu there are purple splashes in the terrazzo, bar stools that are hot white and booths that are unabashedly purple.

While public spaces embrace all visitors, condo owners and visiting rock stars get extra-special attention via a VIP check-in that happens in a luxe Green Room located behind the LED display.

Upstairs, 224 studio guestrooms feature custom furnishings, from bright red cantilevered chairs, to halo-illuminated beds, “green room”-inspired refreshment centers, and bathrooms with ceiling-mounted rain showers.

In the 159 Hard Rock Suites, the party theme continues with a mini-urban loft design. Each is divided into three areas: the arrival lounge/living/party area; central tiled and windowed shower/bath area; and the bedroom at the back. Floor-to-ceiling drapes can be drawn to sequester each area.

For the 17 Rock Star Suites, the feel is clubby, but fast. Purple plush, deep velvet and snakeskin materials say “rock star,” as does the blend of shiny glittery accents, both feminine and masculine. These suites were fashioned around four different themes, each given a personality representing a different musical genre. Materials chosen had to be of high quality to take all the expected party abuse, but also had to have a residential feel. Case goods in the suites are finished in an automotive, high-gloss, lacquered paint.

With meeting spaces, “We kept much of the structure exposed to express the rawness and nakedness of the space,” Downes says. Richness was added in the form of textured materials—etched-looking carpet, snakeskin wall coverings and a continuation of the burled wood and metal details used on the columns in the lobby.

Topping things off, Architropolis designed the 8,700-sq. ft. (808 sq. m) rooftop “Woodstock” urban garden retreat with pool, Moonstone Lounge (another Gerber bar), massive poolside cabanas and opium-bed-flanked fire pits.

Positioned as an “antidote to the plain vanilla hotel experience,” according to General Manager Pat Patel, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego hopes to attract a much larger audience than the super-rich. The broad range in room rates—from US$275 for a studio to US$5,000 for the most luxurious suite—should make that possible.

Each Rock Star Suite was given a personality representing a different music genre.	At Maryjane's Coffee Shop, design pays tribute to the '50s-style diner with cantilevered counter seating, a Sputnik-inspired custom chandelier over the bar and white terrazzo floors.
The Watchtower boardroom has high ceilings, etched-looking carpet, snakeskin wall coverings and burled wood and metal details.	The rock star suites are outfitted with the latest technology and whimsical furniture such as bright red cantilevered chairs.

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