Web Exclusive: Q&A with Bruce Redman Becker

Bruce Redman Becker, the owner and architect of Hotel Marcel New Haven, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, the first Passive House-certified hotel in the U.S., has been appointed by President Joe Biden to join the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
The commission is composed of seven presidentially appointed experts in the fields of art, architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.
Hotel Business caught up with him to ask him about the appointment.
What are your thoughts on being appointed to the commission?
It’s a profound honor to serve on the commission that helps shape the buildings and landscape in our nation’s capital. The design of the city embodies our democratic ideals and our unique American culture—and as our values and aspirations evolve, the commission helps the city keep pace to best reflect these ideals. I’ll be working with distinguished colleagues on the CFA to guide public and private projects that have tremendous symbolic value. I’m as interested in the broader cultural impact of the built environment, as I am in the details of great aesthetic and sustainable design.
Why do you think you were selected?
As an architect, developer and owner, I enjoy preserving important works of architecture in a way that also protects the climate by designing them to have zero emissions. Hotel Marcel is a prime example of this and captured the interest of the U.S. Commission of Fine Art.
Hotel Marcel was created through the adaptive reuse of the iconic Brutalist Pirelli Tire building, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1969. Adjacent to one of the busiest Amtrak stations in America, at the gateway to New Haven—this remarkable mid-century modern landmark had been abandoned for 20 years. We purchased the Pirelli Building to create a model for sustainable hospitality—to demonstrate that a beautiful hotel can provide “Hospitality for the Planet” while also providing greater comfort for overnight and meeting guests.
Hotel Marcel also is the first of what I hope will be many hotels with meeting facilities that give meeting planners the option to have zero-carbon-footprint meetings, without purchasing “offsets”—since these are increasingly viewed with skepticism. Hotel Marcel offers an easily replicable toolkit of decarbonization ideas that, if adopted by other hotel owners, brands and operators, can have a rapid and transformative impact on the hospitality industry to reduce its carbon footprint.
What do you hope to bring to the council? What do you hope to achieve by the end of your term?
Hotel Marcel was recently cited as an example of the Department of Energy “National Definition of a Zero Emissions Building.” As a commissioner, I hope to help guide the preservation and development of Washington, DC to have a sustainable future and serve as an example for the nation. I also look forward to helping preserve and adapt DC’s rich architectural legacy—which happens to include a remarkable collection of mid-century modern buildings, two of which were also designed by Marcel Breuer.
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