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Fairmont Hotel, San Jose To Begin It’s Mod Makeover

TCA’s Hospitality Studio supports Fairmont-Accor and the San Jose-based owners’ ambitious plans.

The existing hotel was designed in a Post-Modern style, featuring curved plan shapes and arched openings. The Rockwell designers borrowed from this vocabulary, using the curve-shape as a leitmotif to characterize the renovated interior spaces. Photo Credit: https://www.sanjose.org/listings/fairmont-san-jose

Fairmont Hotel, in downtown San Jose was a hot ticket back in the late eighties when customers began arriving to dance and socialize. Some of those same customers still make the scene on Friday and Saturday nights, however the local owners, Eagle Canyon Properties, aim to attract a new demographic – the Silicon Valley elite. So they’re investing in a high-style makeover, based upon interior designs by the New York- based Rockwell Group. TCA’s Hospitality Studio is orchestrating the renovations to the main lobby, check-in area, entries, fitness area, pool bar and guest rooms to this 800-room downtown hotel. With TCA’s attentive service, the owner’s ambitions will soon be realized when construction begins in August, this year. This project is TCA’s first collaboration with the Rockwell Group; however, the interior design group has been tapped for possible makeovers of several of Fairmont’s classically inspired properties to lend a contemporary feel and attract a younger clientele; suggesting other similar opportunities for the Hospitality Studio.

The design approach to the San Jose property is in keeping with current trends, including changing the gracious, but staid, lobby into a stylish multi- function lounge with a variety of seating areas and a free-standing bar. Rockwell’s aesthetic approach draws formal inspiration from the classically-inspired architecture of the existing building. Their designers have defined the upgraded lobby with new wood- clad arch forms to divide the space into several more intimate zones.

TCA is supporting the design with coordination to ensure code compliance (accessibility law requires equal facilitation to all areas) and managing challenging details such as finding a discreet location for plumbing vents at the “floating” bar. Following the lobby, TCA will support the owners with their construction for a major upgrade to the guest rooms. Model rooms will be built out for approval in the fall, and the first phase of room upgrades calls for renovations to 200 of the 600 rooms in the Hotel’s North Tower. The Fairmont is TCA’s third hospitality project in downtown San Jose, a sign of that market’s booming demand.

“Today when luxury hotels are being redefined, the Fairmont San Jose is ripe for change to grow with the times.” Rockwell Group

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