The Hyatt Regency was constructed as part of a larger project that also included a 50,000 sq ft plaza, residential, and office buildings. The 16-story, 270,000 sq ft hotel features 300 guest rooms and 16,000 sq ft of meeting space. A prefabricated solution was proposed early in the design process as a way of addressing a tight construction site with minimal laydown and storage space and the owner’s hard opening date, while still meeting important energy performance and sustainability goals.

The facade of the hotel is a mix of terracotta-faced precast and glass. The typical guestrooms along the east and west elevations are clad with a modular system that incorporate terracotta panel detailing with a double-height window expression. At the intersections where the glass spine and panels meet on the north facade, architectural precast panels were embedded with a custom color blend and pattern of terracotta tiles that add vibrancy and interest.

One of the biggest challenges was to ensure the floor-to-floor heights worked with the tile dimensions to avoid having to cut the tile and leave an exposed edge. To resolve this, the team created a custom mullion that covers the edges. Punched window detailing was coordinated to ensure the tile joints aligned.

The Hyatt Regency Tysons Corner Center project benefited from balancing the multiple benefits of working with Wells: economy, accelerated schedule, and thermal efficiency, with the aesthetics of handset terracotta.