Landscape Architect Articles

The Charmant Hotel08-13-21 | Feature

The Charmant Hotel

Mike Dahl
by

In La Crosse, Wisconsin, a team of landscape architects at raSmith worked closely with the architect, the owner/developer and the National Park Service to convert a historic building into the Charmant Hotel. The design process focused on respecting the property's past while providing an upscale, contemporary look and function. The building extended almost all the way out to the lot lines, so the landscape architects were limited with what they had to work with. Their main task centered on the streetscape, which was retrofitted with many different paving materials including some that are over 300 years old, imported from Belgium. A rooftop garden and rooftop spaces were also part of raSmith's design. In the warmer months, the public walkway becomes an outdoor dining area, so to redirect pedestrian traffic, the planters are chained together.

The sidewalks consist of Belgian granite cobble pavers that measure roughly 5"x5"x5". For the crosswalk, the landscape architect specified cobblestone granite pavers that are very common in the Midwest. These were ordered from a local supplier. The valet area is paved with 5"x5"x10" cobblestone granite pavers. The granite curbing between the two was also reclaimed. Annuals are always installed in the planters to create a seasonal colorscape. It starts with spring bulbs. In the summer, dramatic annual flowers such as these marigolds are planted, and in the autumn the facilities management staff brings in mums or kale. The trees in planters lining the sidewalk are White Cedar (Arborvitae).

In the summer, dramatic annual flowers such as these marigolds are planted, and in the autumn the facilities management staff brings in mums or kale. The trees in planters lining the sidewalk are White Cedar (Arborvitae).

Underneath the main entry canopy are gas-fired clay pavers that were found on site and reused. They are flush to the valet area for ADA purposes and to eliminate tripping hazards.

On the roof, this artificial hedge is used as a buffer to keep the public away from the edge of the building. The area next to the hedge is planted with perennial ground cover: coralbell, geranium, catmint, salvia, veronica and wooly thyme. Low plantings were used because of the wind and because the Landscape Architects were restricted to 6" of soil so tall plantings would not be well supported. All rooftop garden areas include drip irrigation. To help manage stormwater, gravel channels were installed that direct the water to the roof drains.

The Landscape Architects had a hand in designing the outdoor entertainment space, but the architects and interior designers specified all the amenities, which include a bar, pizza oven, fire pits, and outdoor seating and tables.

The northside of the building was covered with ivy, which had to be removed because the National Park Service determined it was not a historical element. To bring this side of the building back to its original historic look, it was coated with stucco. The trees along the building are multi-stem Serviceberry, Amelanchier grandiflora, a shade tolerant native tree that flowers in the spring, produces an edible fruit in June (sometimes referred to as Juneberry) and has bright red-orange leaves in the fall.

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With the idea of transforming a property of historical significance, but little utility, into a property with a more modern, robust application, developer Weber Holdings purchased a site along the Mississippi River in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin, that lay claim to being the region's first trading post settlement, established in 1842, and later, in 1898, a well-known candy factory, which had been out of business for decades. The owner's vision for the building on the land was to turn it into a boutique hotel while staying true to its heritage.

The Team

To help with that undertaking, they enlisted the firm, The Kubala Washatko Architects, and the National Park Service. For landscape architect services, though the need was not immense, TKWA called on raSmith, a company they had a long-standing relationship with. One earlier collaboration between the two companies produced what was the greenest building at the time.

Tom Mortensen, site planner/Landscape Architect, PLA, ASLA recalls the day he was notified of the Charmant Hotel project.

"The architects told me, 'We have this project in LaCrosse that is really interesting but there is no site because the building goes right up to the lot line. But we need your help.'" This struck him as a bit peculiar.
Mortenson has been with raSmith since 2004, when the civil engineering firm decided to bring the landscape architecture discipline in house.

"When I started, I was the lone wolf," he says. "I was the one creative guy with markers surrounded by 200 engineers."

He previously had his own design firm for ten years. raSmith, founded in 1978, currently has five Landscape Architects among its 215 employees and deals with many types of engineering projects including civil, transportation, survey, structural and municipal so the Landscape Architects get to be involved in a wide variety of projects.
The Process
A quality that has always impressed Mortensen about The Kubala Washatko Architects is their dedication to a design philosophy termed pattern language.

He explains that in initial consultations with the client the architects ask questions such as "how do you want to feel in the building, what does this building mean to you, what is important to you and then they come up with a pattern and they use that language as the basis of design. Every time a change came about during the design process, we would always go back to the pattern language so we were not drifting away from what the original intent was."
In addition, the team worked with the National Park Service to ensure the historic preservation aspect of the building and to receive historical credits for it.

Since altering the streetscape was such a big part of the project, the permitting process was of paramount importance. After a site analysis was conducted, the team visited the city offices to talk about what they were allowed to do in the right-of-way, "since pretty much everything we were going to do was going to be in the right-of-way," affirms Mortensen.

Fortunately for them, the city of LaCrosse already had a precedent set of using brick pavers in their historic downtown.
"So, it wasn't new to them to implement this kind of design machine within a streetscape," Mortensen states. "They were very open to it, so that was a good coordination effort with the Department of Public Works - City of Lacrosse Engineering staff. Getting it approved was a good collaborative process."

Significantly, all the areas in the public realm: crosswalks, valet parking and sidewalks had to remain in the public realm and not become an occupied space for the private user. Securing the permitting and entitlements and getting all the rigorous historic National Park Service elements in place took around 10 months.

The Results

Three-hundred-year-old granite street pavers and curbs imported from Belgium were used to provide a historic element and aesthetic to the streetscape and outdoor spaces. The sidewalks and the valet area are comprised of granite cobbles that complement the existing brick on the building fa????ade. Clay pavers reclaimed from the site are used as an "entry rug" below the canopy at the main entrance.

An outdoor entertainment area with a bar, pizza oven, fire pits and outdoor seating and tables, and private patios for the top-level rooms were included. Perennial plantings and groundcovers, and street-level planters with seasonal
annuals add color and texture to the outdoor spaces.

In spite of the limited site he had to work with, Mortensen asserts that this is one of his favorite projects of all time.
"And the reason for that is I love working on historical buildings and landscaping and bringing to life some of that history, but also working with The Kubala Washatko Architects. It's just a great synergy when you have a collaborative design process and you work with really good design professionals."

This included designers from other disciplines and even the facility management individuals.

"We weren't designing in a vacuum," declares Mortensen.

He also gives high marks to the client, developer Weber Holdings, for their cooperative effort.

"It wasn't about value engineering," Mortensen acknowledges. "The owner had these stones imported from Belgium. How often is that going to happen in a design career? Usually that's the first thing that would be cut."

The project received multiple accolades including a Board of Curators Historical Restoration Award by the Wisconsin Historical Society in 2016.

And it all began somewhat modestly for Mortensen: brought on board by an odd phone call from the architect who told him, "I know you're a site designer but there is no site."

"That was a funny way to introduce the project," he recalls with a laugh.

Team List
Owner: Weber Holdings - Nick Weber, Owner
Architect: The Kubala Washatko Architects (TKWA) - Vince Micha
Landscape Architects: Tom Mortensen, PLA, ASLA, senior project manager/landscape architect, Luke Haas, PLA, landscape architect
Structural Engineer: Steve Roloff, P.E., LEED?,?(R) AP
General Contractor: CD Smith, Cory Henschel,
Project Manager, LEED AP BD+C
Director of Facilities/The Charmant Hotel:
Julian Bene