Hospitality giant Hyatt’s plan to build the largest hotel in the Pacific Northwest is taking shape in downtown Seattle.

Construction work is advancing on the 45-storey, 500ft tall (152.4m) Hyatt Regency Seattle, which will be composed of two primary volumes: a semi-detached, eight-floor podium and a striking “ethereal” tower housing the hotel’s 1,260-rooms.

Designed by LMN Architects, the 1.4 million sq ft mixed-use building is inspired by a diverse mix of urban influences, particularly the city’s skyline.

“The tower’s monolithic composition will provide a bold, yet quiet, counterpoint to the highly articulated neighbouring towers; its exterior conceived to dissolve and merge into the silvery sky as it rises above surrounding buildings,” said the studio in a statement.

The hotel is positioned at the meeting point of Seattle’s downtown commercial, convention and high-rise residential neighbourhoods. The building will activate the city at street level through a series of highly transparent spaces including the lobby, porte-cochere, restaurants, bars, and shops.

The public will also be able to access the podium, which has now topped out. It will feature a 105,000sq ft meeting and ballroom space, a restaurant, the hotel lobby and a glass-enclosed fitness centre and club lounge on the rooftop. The ground level spaces are designed to spill out onto the wide, landscaped sidewalks as “a visual merger of inside and outside.”

LMN are collaborating on the project with interior design firm Zena Design Group and contractor Sellen Construction. The hotel is scheduled to open in mid-2018.

In their own words

LMN Architects on their design for the Hyatt Regency Seattle

The overall massing strategy will minimise shadows cast over adjacent blocks to the north where the lower height of the podium aligns with the residential and mixed-use neighbourhood.

A new mid-block connector will interface with an existing alley for pedestrian, garage, and back-of-house access within the interior of the block, leaving the street perimeter free for continuous public space with wide sidewalks, street furnishings, and generous plantings.

A vertical window wall rising above the mid-block connector will divide the podium into two smaller volumes. The northern portion will be devoted to ballrooms, and feature a pre-function hallway and event space that will open to views of Stewart Street via a deep-set window wall.

The southern portion will contain meeting rooms. Paintings and sculpture, located throughout the building’s public spaces, will animate the building’s refined aesthetic.