Rockwell Group Reimagines W Hollywood With Theatricality

Hollywood, the land of dreamers. A magnet for filmmakers, musicians, creatives, moguls, and tourists. The recently renovated W Hollywood hotel at the district’s heart attracts them all while expressing one of the first iterations of Marriott’s evolving luxury brand. Collabo­rating with W since 1998, David Rockwell and team’s latest endeavor encompasses 18,000 square feet of public space and more than 300 guest rooms. Pervasive are residential influences and the rich layering of materiality, texture, and light.

Magic begins at W Hollywood’s triple-height lobby. Frankly sexy, the cinematic lounge features lush deep-green conversation-pit seating that’s sinuously referential to nearby topography and, overhead, an artful assembly of bronze-mirror oval panels and acrylic rods. Spectacular 35-foot-tall concrete “curtains,” seemingly as fluid as fabric, bracket the fireplace. Meanwhile, a wall of bifold glass panels connects the lobby and bar to the garden patio.

Guest rooms, an intimate respite from revelry and scenesters, boast bespoke wraparound seating, wallcovering akin to Venetian plaster, and custom lighting. Ever attentive to the theatrical quality of light, Rockwell surrounded windows with a blue-glass box to pick up reflections of the Hollywood Hills.