Adaptive Reuse Turns Iconic Breuer Building Into Net-Zero Hotel

In 2018, Business Insider reported that Connecticut residents named the Pirelli Tire Building in New Haven as the state’s ugliest building. While to some the building is hideous, to others it is a stunning extant example of brutalism. Brutalist designs are often quick to be placed on the chopping block for demolition. But, despite sitting empty for decades, the Pirelli Tire Building has managed to avoid such a fate (for the most part).

The building was constructed to be the headquarters of the Armstrong Rubber Company and was completed in 1970. Designed by Bauhaus alum Marcel Breuer, the building was one of New Haven’s many forays into mid-century and modernist architecture. The building, as it was designed, featured a four-story block of concrete-framed windows suspended above a long two-story stretch of concrete-framed windows. Repetitive geometric patterns are a hallmark of much of Breuer’s architectural work. The asymmetry of the building worked well to counteract the redundancy of the building’s façade. The suspension of the four-story portion of the building was practical, meant to separate the office space from noisy development labs.

 Located at the junction of Interstates 91 and 95, it is perhaps the city’s most visible work of that era. Visitors would have to venture into New Haven’s downtown and wander around Yale University’s campus to find the city’s other mid-century works. However, the Pirelli Tire Building can be seen and appreciated simply by getting stuck in rush hour traffic on I-95.

For years, the site laid dormant. It was listed on Connecticut’s State Register of Historic Places in 2000. In 2003, the property was purchased by IKEA, with the intention to build a store. Upon IKEA’s purchase of the site, there were concerns that the Pirelli Tire Building would be torn down. Architect Duo Dickinson, writing for the Hartford Courant, stated that IKEA denied that they ever intended to tear down the building. However, they did modify it. IKEA elected to chop off most of the elongated part of the building that contained the development labs to make space for surface-level parking.

The resulting structure was no longer asymmetrical and no longer what Breuer intended.  Artist Tom Burr, who held an exhibition in the building in 2017, probably described it most accurately: “it’s amputated.” Nevertheless, it is still an outstanding piece of brutalist architecture. Furthermore, its exterior has aged incredibly well, which is rare for concrete buildings. Despite being just a stone’s throw away from the brackish waters of New Haven Harbor, the building’s façade has largely managed to avoid the unsightly stains that frequently plague brutalist architecture.

Burr’s exhibition has been the building’s only occupant in the decades since it was abandoned, aside from IKEA’s use of the building as a billboard. In the book, Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guide: East Coast USA, author Sam Lubell describes the Pirelli Tire Building as “one of the world’s strangest case studies of historic preservation.” Ever since the building was abandoned, it has been a puzzle of what to do with it. It is too iconic to tear down but sharing a parking lot with an IKEA and the state of its interior made it difficult to attract a tenant. When Lubell’s book was published in 2018, this was absolutely true. However, in the four years since, the case study of the Pirelli Tire Building has evolved. Once a study in passive preservation and abandonment, the Pirelli Tire Building is poised to become a study in preservation by adaptive reuse.

Adaptive reuse is a concept in architecture and urban design in which a building is reused for a purpose other than what it was originally designed for. Adaptive reuse is often used to bring life back to disused industrial buildings like factories, but it can be used for all types of buildings. Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, California, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Massachusetts are notable examples of adaptive reuse. While adaptive reuse is often used for commercial properties, it is used to convert buildings into residential spaces as well. All across New England, former mills are being turned into luxury apartments. Adaptive reuse in the context of turning disused industrial areas into residential neighborhoods is frequently associated with gentrification. Justifiably so, as what developer would ever charge affordable rent for a loft with exposed brick? Nevertheless, adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for preserving buildings that otherwise might not be saved, just like the Pirelli Tire Building.

In 2018, IKEA began developing plans for a hotel in the building, which were eventually approved by the City Planning Commission. Then in 2020, the Pirelli Tire Building was purchased from IKEA by Connecticut-based architecture firm Becker & Becker for $1.2 million. Bruce Becker, the head of the firm, attended the Yale School of Architecture, receiving a Master of Architecture degree in 1985. Becker & Becker are masters of adaptive reuse and renovation, and exactly what the Pirelli Tire Building needed.

Becker had a vision for the hotel that would call the Pirelli Building its home, something IKEA and the City of New Haven had previously lacked. The vision that Becker had for the building was spectacular: to create the first net-zero hotel in the United States. He aimed, specifically, to be both LEED Platinum and Passive House certified. LEED is a common green building certification in the US and LEED Platinum is its highest certification. Passive house is a concept first, rather than a certification. A building can be a passive house building without being formally certified. Passive house design is centered around the goal of creating an intensely energy-efficient building. Passive House certification comes from one of two institutions in the US, either Passive House Institute or Passive House Institute US. It is presently unclear which body Becker & Becker is seeking Passive House certification from.

In addition to the requirements needed to achieve these certifications, Becker & Becker would have to adhere to federal preservation laws as the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. For example, the firm hoped to replace the windows original to the building with triple-glazed windows for better efficiency. Becker told The Architect’s Newspaper that they had to send samples to the National Park Service and that he “…believes this is the first time that the National Parks Service has approved triple-glazed windows for a historic site.” Becker and his team took on a unique challenge, a diligent attempt to preserve the building while modernizing how it operates to an extent that makes it cutting-edge. The hotel will be powered by solar panels, both on its roof and constructed as canopies in the parking lot.

Construction on the hotel began in the summer of 2020. By early 2021, the hotel had a name: Hotel Marcel, named for its architect. Later that year, it was reported by CNN Travel that the hotel would be part of the Hilton Tapestry Collection, Hilton’s boutique hotel label. In addition to the hotel’s 165 guest rooms, there will be meeting and event spaces. The hotel is currently available for booking from May 2nd, 2022, onward.

It is not often that a building that is more than half a century old makes history. Bruce Becker saved an incredible building from what very well could have been demolition by neglect. He did not just save it, though. He and his team have made the building something entirely new. Hotel Marcel is not just an adaptive reuse of the Pirelli Tire Building, it is a rebirth. As devastating as it is that we no longer have the full original building to admire, IKEA’s decision to truncate the building has allowed for Hotel Marcel to have its own identity. Hotel Marcel is just as much a work of Marcel Breuer as it is of Bruce Becker. A building once quite close to death has been given a new life.