Broken Arrow Oklahoma Hotel Tower Design
How we took an unforeseen design challenge and made it art.
In late October we finished the largest hotel project we’ve worked on with Stoney Creek Hotels. The hotel, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, put us to work for about seven months. Our previous post on this project shows all of the intricate details that J.T. Unique had to fabricate to create such a unique space.
This project presented us with many fun challenges. One of those being right in the center of the lobby.
The Challenge
Due to the design of the building, which featured a three story tower in the center of the lobby, the interior of the tower left a large “bleak” cavernous void. JT Unique was then challenged to create and design a wall trim and beam package that would appeal to the guests visually and help fill the three story tower with warm wood treatments and décor.
This provided a very dramatic feature right above the lobby’s grand staircase. Since the lobby is split level, looking up from the bottom of the staircase in the lower lobby this tower actually goes up four stories. You definitely can’t miss it!
View from the bottom of the first-floor lobby stairs, looking up to the beginning of the tower.
The Solution
We put up a scaffold all the way to the top of the tower so we could get accurate dimensions of the space we were working with. Once we had these measurements we put them into our 3D program in order to replicate the space digitally and create the design.
We wanted to shrink the tower down and make it a focal point while bringing in design elements from the rest of the lobby. To do this, we started at the top one and a half stories with corrugated metal siding, then we added a variety of large rustic beams, floor beams to cut through the center, and barn board walls down each side of the wall.
After this design was completed it was handed off to the team at the shop.
Design work in the tower matching other features within the lobby.
The Implementation
Using the digital 3D plans, J.T. Unique prefabricated all of the beam work and barn board siding “panels”.
After all of the prefabrication work was complete the pieces were shipped down to Broken Arrow, where the J. Thompson Builders crew was ready to install.
They used the scaffold again to add the corrugated metal around the first story and a half and trimmed out all the skylight windows in metal. At this point the rest of the package arrived in pre-fabricated panels and pre-finished beams, all panels and beams were pre-cut to size right at the J.T. Unique shop, and the crew installed them all in about 2 days!
The last item installed was a large cyclone artwork fixture that hung down the center to span the length of the tower.
Large cyclone artwork fixture hung in the lobby tower.
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