Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel

The renovation of the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel reinvigorates an iconic corner of the city’s historical business and political center — Adams Street and Central Avenue — and enhances the overall pedestrian experience for locals and tourists alike. The hotel's improvements and street activation initiatives represent the first project realized from the 2013 Adams Street Activation Study, which highlighted ways to create a more pedestrian-friendly and inviting urban streetscape.

The Renaissance challenged Gensler's hospitality designers to leverage the study's key concepts to guide improvements that would refresh and enhance the user experience at street level and modernize the building itself. The hotel renovation project also presented an opportunity to incorporate sustainable strategies and materials, including locally-sourced metal fins. These exterior fins offer resilience in the urban desert environment and are designed to provide a new shading element for pedestrians and guests.