Hotel Exterior Renovation – Concept (2018)
Palm Springs, CA

Just a few blocks from Richard Neutra’s iconic Kaufmann House, the Tangerine Hotel is a mid-century courtyard motel set between two north-south thoroughfares through the city. The property has had several owners over its life, and its current form is an aggregation of additions and enclosures that have altered its original mid-century character.

For the new owner, Studio Padron proposed an exterior renovation focused on defining a new identity and material palette for the property, and reconnecting the courtyard to the street within the architectural vocabulary of Palms Springs modernism. Existing masses were edited to achieve greater formal clarity, increase openness and create an entry sequence that is more inviting to the public.

A new concrete screen was developed as a feature wall on each façade, drawing on the rich legacy of screen construction in Palm Springs. Each screen is an array of totems with precast curved panels, designed to allow the desert sun to animate its surface.