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client: Storyn Studio
employer: DLRGroup
role: Project Architect | BIM Development
year: 2020
renderings: mrlw
In 2020, during/after the Sheraton Grand project – I moved on to the project team for a new Moxy brand hotel in St Petersburg Florida.
The task was to fast-track interiors development on this hotel.
What was unknown to me was that the task at hand was to only include the model room package to start the conversation with Marriott branding. So, I was under the mistaken impression that I only had a couple short weeks to design out the guest room package for the entire hotel. So back into sleep deprivation grinding I went.
The firm had done a few Moxy hotels, and it was becoming a hot commodity in development, but there was no Revit content. I’m fairly certain that this was the reason that I was put on the project as the list of ‘new’ brand project types was steadily increasing.
The initial interiors drawings were an AutoCAD overlay into a problematic Revit model in the schematic design phase. To further the entanglement, I wasn’t able to get access to the BIM360 project for a week – so I couldn’t actually work in the model.
I dove into the specifications in a fast-tracked effort to build out the parts & finishes. Nights and weekends were burned off and the entire specification was built out, including conversations with vendors over some elements that were less than clear in the brand specification.
Typically the Moxy brand uses queen-sized beds in all room types, but in this case – the client wanted a king-sized mattress in the single rooms. As far as the specifics of brand goes, and furniture spacing – this presents a nuanced difficulty – especially when the rooms aren’t expanded to accommodate the size difference. Hospitality is a game of inches, and when brand designs things – they dial it back to the absolute minimums.
When I got access to the working file – I had 90% of the model populated in a day. I had room type sheets set up with interior elevations started. It was only then, that I had learned that the target goal was a model room package – so I pivoted to complete that. The way that I developed it – very room with quantities and types scheduled by room location – the exercise was simple.
The process was complicated slightly with coordination. My task was to develop a model room set. 2-3 rooms, with bathrooms fully detailed out to construction document level in a matter of days, (electrical too) but the AOR had deadlines of their own, and revisions were necessary for the bathrooms. So, I built all that out as well and turned evreything off in the AOR model for the deliverables.
The interiors group in a remote office was amazed at how clean the system was, and how easy it was to utilize. Everything ties back to a spec that already exists. I’ve come to learn that the firm lost the interiors portion of this project in July, a few months after my lay-off, but somehow – all of my Revit families made their way into the final documentation for the project to the current interior design firm. If you see these families floating around in the hospitality world – I say you’re welcome for the free $8,000 worth of work.
I made all these things for my projects, on my time. I wasn’t compensated for the effort, and now – I have 2-3 brands floating around out there, running free.
I included this project in my work samples because I’m not 100% comfortable with my efforts being uncredited. Breaking down an entire package spec and modeling all components to tag and function, including finishes – takes considerable effort.
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