Be Our Guest

Rockwell Group helps usher a bold new era for W Hotels

- SAM COCHRAN

1. THE FORMER BALLROOM AT THE W NEW YORK-UNION SQUARE, NEWLY UPDATED BY ROCKWELL GROUP.

When Hotels opened its first location in 1998, at the heart of Manhattan, they pioneered a new model: the personality of boutique lodgings with the services of a mega hospitality group. "It's an impres sion, an experience, a feeling," says George Fleck, senior vice president and global brand leader of W Hotels, reflecting on that ethos.

"We consider the emotion per square foot." Central to that winning formula, in other words, was its design, a task that first fell to AD100 Hall of Famer David Rockwell, who notes: "We had to create something that had eccentricity and the energy of New York City."

2. GLASS BRICKS AND A CUSTOM CARPET IN THE LOBBY.