In recent years, New Haven Connecticut has seen a surge in new hotel buildings. The boom continues, as a Westport- based Developer and Architect Becker + Becker purchased the famous Pirelli building. The developer will follow a recent trend of building conversions and convert the 50 year old historic building into an upscale boutique hotel in a highly visible location near Union Station, Interstate 95 and adjacent to the parking lot of IKEA’s only store in Connecticut. The hotel will be named Hotel Marcel, after Marcel Breuer, the designer of the original Pirelli building.

Becker + Becker seeks projects that are social and environmental game-changers, by restoring historic buildings and transforming urban sites to revitalize communities.  Sustainability is at the top of the list.  Hotel Marcel is designed to achieve LEED Platinum Certification and be 60% more energy efficient than code requirements.  The hotel lighting, heating, cooling and electric car charging stations will be 100% powered by the solar rooftop and parking canopies. Bruce Becker, president of Becker + Becker, noted “selecting the right coating to protect the solar canopy structures and extend their life advances the sustainability mission of the project.” Hotel Marcel is slated to be the first Passive House certified Hotel in the United States.  All lighting is to be low-voltage power-Ethernet (POE) LED technology.  Energy Use Intensity Rating is projected to be 34 kBtu/ft^2 which is 80% less energy that median EUI for hotels in the United States.

With Leed Platinum and Passive House Certification goals in mind, solar power was selected for the hotels power generation.  Solar Power parking canopies were a perfect choice to not only help in generating power, but also offer protection from the elements to vehicles, electric car charging stations and hotel guests. Obviously, steel was chosen to support the solar panels, but multiple coatings options were on the table.  Three solutions of high performance coatings were offered, due to the Temperate Marine environment. Several factors were in play, but due to initial cost, life-cycle cost, prior hot dip galvanizing experience, and the sustainability of hot dip galvanized coatings, a duplex coating was the preferred choice to protect the canopy structures.  The solar parking canopies will be highly visible to hotel guests, IKEA furniture store patrons and 140,000 vehicles passing the Hotel Marcel daily on Interstate 95 (according to CT Dept. of Transportation data).  The choice of Duplex Coating will provide outstanding corrosion protection for years to come and be aesthetically pleasing to all of visitors and motorist passing by. 

The construction schedule was tight and required close interaction between the fabricator, installer and galvanizer in order to meet deadlines.  The team members met on several occasions to detail venting, drainage and turn times.  Due to tight steel deliveries, extended fabrication times and galvanizer backlogs, turn times needed to be expedited.  Luckily, the galvanizer had 3 locations in the general area and were able to split the work between two plants in order to expedite the galvanizing loads to meet delivery requirements.  Thanks to tremendous teamwork and communication, all deliveries were made on time.  The solar power parking canopy arrays are now completed, and will provide safe protected parking for hotel patrons and clean renewable power to the hotel and electric car charging stations.

The solar panels are supported by duplex coated steel structures, which provide a more sophisticated corrosion protection known as the synergistic effect.  The paint over galvanizing acts as an additional barrier corrosion protection, slowing down the zinc consumption.  Once the outer barrier (paint) is consumed, the underlying zinc coating is still available to provide cathodic and barrier protection.  The result of a synergistic effect is corrosion protection for 1.5 to 2.3 times the sum of the expected life of each system alone.  In other words, these solar parking canopy structures will provide a low maintenance, corrosion free protection for decades or even centuries to come. 

The Solar parking canopies played an important role in Becker + Becker plans to convert this historic New Haven, Connecticut building that once housed the Corporate Offices of Pirelli Tires, into an upscale boutique hotel targeted to be the first Passive House Certified Hotel in the United States.