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Join Bruce Redman Becker for a virtual talk that explores the challenges and lessons-learned in transforming the Marcel Breuer-designed Armstrong Rubber Company Building (aka Pirelli Building) into Hotel Marcel, a 165-room boutique hotel that serves as a model for sustainable hospitality. The transformation of this former office building and laboratory, designed by Breuer in 1967 and completed in 1970, addresses long-standing preservation and economic development priorities for this prominent New Haven, CT landmark that had been left vacant for two decades. Hotel Marcel will qualify as the first Passive House-certified hotel in the United States.

Bruce Redman Becker, FAIA, is president of Becker + Becker, an integrated sustainable architecture and development firm, based in Westport, Connecticut. Becker plans and implements sustainable development projects that have a social and environmental value, rebuilding and strengthening communities to help revitalize cities. The firm recently completed 777 Main in Hartford, a LEED Platinum, 285-unit TOD as well as the LEED Platinum 500-unit, 32-story, 360 State Street project in New Haven, incorporating the first fuel cell to power an apartment building. Becker + Becker was responsible for the adaptive re-use of the Wauregan Hotel in Norwich, CT, and the Octagon on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan. The firm is currently undertaking the adaptive re-use of the iconic Pirelli building in New Haven, originally designed by Marcel Breuer, into a boutique, net zero-energy, Passive House-certified hotel.

Becker is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a LEED Accredited Professional. He graduated from Amherst College, attended the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, and received MBA and Master of Architecture degrees from Yale. He was a founding director of the CT Renewable Energy and Efficiency Business Association and is currently leading the Electric Vehicle Club of Connecticut. Becker grew up in a modern house on Chichester Road in New Canaan, and now lives in Westport in a net-zero energy historic home.

Glass House Presents is an ongoing series of talks, performances, and other live events that extend the site’s historic role as a gathering place for artists, architects, and other creative minds. This event is co-hosted by New Canaan Library and supported in part by Connecticut Humanities and the New Canaan Community Foundation.