W's Fifth Element

Our foul mouthed hero at Philaphilia posted an...interesting...rendering of W's Element Hotel proposed for 15th and Chestnut. It's a simple massing of the site, but it appears to have combined elements of the previously proposed Waldorf Astoria with a previous massing of the proposed W. Being developed by Brook Lenfest, securing funds shouldn't be an issue if the market permits. In other words, this could happen.

And it should.

It's a crazy looking building, but let's face it, a cool one. Let's not stop with standard materials, and as GroJLart suggested, blue glass. It's been dubbed the Element, and is well on its way to looking oddly futuristic. Let's hope the design evolves in an even crazier direction, so I can start calling it the Fifth Element.

Of course, this would be even better.

Is this the W Hotel?

With all the construction buzz around town - the FMC tower and the Grove completing Cira Centre's original plan and carrying the skyline across the Schuylkill River, Dranoff's SLS International Hotel, talk of high rise or two at the Girard Trust Block - Inquirer Architecture Critic Inga Saffron might be faced with more subject matter than she's seen since 2005, and it's wonderful.


W Element Hotel? Maybe.

Still, little has been said of the still-vacant lot at 15th and Chestnut, once the proposed location for a Waldorf-Astoria and now a W Hotel. Rumors of talks and tax incentives have found their way online, but little has been officially released.

A cute and very preliminary rendering showed up on SkyscraperCity a few days ago showing a glass tower roughly the same height as City Hall. Dubbed the W Element Hotel, the rendering is very simple, but worth a look.