Hotel Marcel Sparks Interest in Sustainable Hospitality

The Hotel Marcel in New Haven has been featured in several articles that have appeared on the Accelerator site and in Passive House Accelerator magazine. It’s no surprise why. In addition to being a Passive House retrofit of the Pirelli Building, a brutalist landmark that is one of the most iconic structures along Connecticut’s I-95 corridor, it will also soon be the first hotel to be Passive House certified in the United States

With the opening of the Hotel Marcel in New Haven imminent, there is increasing chatter about the hotel itself, as well as the efforts that the hospitality industry is making to cater to travelers who want to “travel greener.” While many travelers have long recognized that unnecessary airline travel doesn’t comport with the 1.5-degree lifestyle, a growing number of people are realizing that the built environment is also a major contributor to carbon emissions, and they are beginning to seek out hospitality options that embody a greener ethos. In the case of hotels, this means building to high-performance standards like Passive House, cutting waste, using sustainable materials, employing onsite renewable energy sources, or at least adopting a policy that leads to net-zero.

A recent article in the New York Times explores this premise by describing what climate action means for the industry and specifically what it means for the Hotel Marcel, room2 Chiswick in London, and the West Coast’s SPC Hotels. Read about it here.

You can also check out Lloyd Alter's interview with the architect and owner of the Hotel Marcel, Bruce Redman Becker, here.

Rendering courtesy of Becker + Becker