The ArraBelle at Vail Square - Vail, CO
Considered to be "the primary Opus" of Robert Fitzgerald's career so far, The ArraBelle began its life as the Lionshead Core Area Redevelopment. Fitz inherited a minimal master plan from one of his collaborating firms and went off into a six-year journey bent on re-inventing Lionshead's image, re-connecting Lionshead with Vail Village, and re-positioning Lionshead as one of the world's great ski portals to one of the world's best ski resorts.
Fitzgerald almost immediately decided to forego a prime opportunity (were he to be egocentric), for the idea that Lionshead was mis-designed and mis-represented almost from its beginning. He felt that this portion of the linear I-70-derived ski resort should not have chosen California Modern, cheaply done, as its base theme in the 1970's and 80's. Instead, Fitz believed, Lionshead should be seen as the same place, the same town as Vail Village - the fact that visitors have constantly questioned its connection since its inception was reason enough to use stylistic reunification as a theme. So the "One Town-One Vail" story was born in Donavan Pavilion one afternoon at a joint hearing of the Planning Commission, Design Review Board and Town Council. While many of the local constituency from the town applauded the notion, the initial response was somewhat negative that day from some Design Review Board members who went so far as to declare that they would never approve of a Bavarian-inspired core area on the west end of town and that "Modernist" or "Contemporary" was what Vail should be all about.
Fitz and his team persisted however and the town gradually was won over to the notion that Lionshead would become Vail again (but would not be Vail Village on steroids). He reassured the town that the team would travel to Bavaria itself to discover a denser, more urban, more mixed use, more vigorous, taller and more retail-oriented prototype for use as Lionshead's model. The ultimate examples, they were assured, would be far more appropriate than any that contemporary design strategies could produce. The team visited Kittzbule, Prague, Salzburg, Regansburge, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Munich and Innsbruck. What they returned with was not a copy of any one place but rather a rich palette of layered density and beauty which was used to derive the finest of color, material, massing, detail, ornament and art for use in the ski portal on the creek. The result was the widely successful ArraBelle at Vail Square.
Since the opening of this mixed-use prize, Lionshead has indeed reinvented itself. From the mundane dullness of bland neo-modernist form, Lionshead is now the shopping, dining, skiing place to be in Vail. The doubters now claim the idea as their own - that Vail should be Vail and should hold true to the Founder's vision of a place replete with calm European charm; much like the Europe the 10th Mountain veterans left behind at the end of the Second World War.
The ArraBelle at Vail Square has replaced the old Sunbird Lodge and the Gondola Building directly adjacent to the Gondola and Eagle Bahn Express chairlift. It includes a 36-room Rock Resort luxury hotel, 67 condominiums, restaurant and retail space, as well as a public plaza that serves as a community gathering place in the summer and an outdoor ice rink in the winter. The hospitality portion of the program is a magnificent hotel that sets the standard in luxury alpine resorts. The hotel, as Fitz had envisioned it, reflects the romantic heritage and ambiance of the European Alps, inspired, as mentioned above, by European hotels that the team stayed in at Innsbruck, Prague and Salzburg. The ArraBelle features 36 lavish guest rooms averaging 500 square feet each, approximately 50 additional condominium lock-off units, an obviously unparalleled, state-of-the-art Rock Resorts Spa and fitness center, and a variety of first class amenities ranging from rooftop pools to fine restaurants to ski and boot valets. Along with the skier bridge, which Fitzgerald also designed, the ArraBelle continues to amaze those coming to this "side of town" and expecting the old, dysfunctional Lionshead. Having injected 35,000 square feet of bright new retail space at its two-level base (considered a novel interpretation of the Lionshead guidelines at the time) the energy around this building is described as "intense". After all, few architects can claim a glockenspiel within their portfolio, Fitzgerald and NAKA Designs, LLC have one here as well.
Photos
Considered to be "the primary Opus" of Robert Fitzgerald's career so far, The ArraBelle began its life as the Lionshead Core Area Redevelopment. Fitz inherited a minimal master plan from one of his collaborating firms and went off into a six-year journey bent on re-inventing Lionshead's image, re-connecting Lionshead with Vail Village, and re-positioning Lionshead as one of the world's great ski portals to one of the world's best ski resorts.
Fitzgerald almost immediately decided to forego a prime opportunity (were he to be egocentric), for the idea that Lionshead was mis-designed and mis-represented almost from its beginning. He felt that this portion of the linear I-70-derived ski resort should not have chosen California Modern, cheaply done, as its base theme in the 1970's and 80's. Instead, Fitz believed, Lionshead should be seen as the same place, the same town as Vail Village - the fact that visitors have constantly questioned its connection since its inception was reason enough to use stylistic reunification as a theme. So the "One Town-One Vail" story was born in Donavan Pavilion one afternoon at a joint hearing of the Planning Commission, Design Review Board and Town Council. While many of the local constituency from the town applauded the notion, the initial response was somewhat negative that day from some Design Review Board members who went so far as to declare that they would never approve of a Bavarian-inspired core area on the west end of town and that "Modernist" or "Contemporary" was what Vail should be all about.
Fitz and his team persisted however and the town gradually was won over to the notion that Lionshead would become Vail again (but would not be Vail Village on steroids). He reassured the town that the team would travel to Bavaria itself to discover a denser, more urban, more mixed use, more vigorous, taller and more retail-oriented prototype for use as Lionshead's model. The ultimate examples, they were assured, would be far more appropriate than any that contemporary design strategies could produce. The team visited Kittzbule, Prague, Salzburg, Regansburge, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Munich and Innsbruck. What they returned with was not a copy of any one place but rather a rich palette of layered density and beauty which was used to derive the finest of color, material, massing, detail, ornament and art for use in the ski portal on the creek. The result was the widely successful ArraBelle at Vail Square.
Since the opening of this mixed-use prize, Lionshead has indeed reinvented itself. From the mundane dullness of bland neo-modernist form, Lionshead is now the shopping, dining, skiing place to be in Vail. The doubters now claim the idea as their own - that Vail should be Vail and should hold true to the Founder's vision of a place replete with calm European charm; much like the Europe the 10th Mountain veterans left behind at the end of the Second World War.
The ArraBelle at Vail Square has replaced the old Sunbird Lodge and the Gondola Building directly adjacent to the Gondola and Eagle Bahn Express chairlift. It includes a 36-room Rock Resort luxury hotel, 67 condominiums, restaurant and retail space, as well as a public plaza that serves as a community gathering place in the summer and an outdoor ice rink in the winter. The hospitality portion of the program is a magnificent hotel that sets the standard in luxury alpine resorts. The hotel, as Fitz had envisioned it, reflects the romantic heritage and ambiance of the European Alps, inspired, as mentioned above, by European hotels that the team stayed in at Innsbruck, Prague and Salzburg. The ArraBelle features 36 lavish guest rooms averaging 500 square feet each, approximately 50 additional condominium lock-off units, an obviously unparalleled, state-of-the-art Rock Resorts Spa and fitness center, and a variety of first class amenities ranging from rooftop pools to fine restaurants to ski and boot valets. Along with the skier bridge, which Fitzgerald also designed, the ArraBelle continues to amaze those coming to this "side of town" and expecting the old, dysfunctional Lionshead. Having injected 35,000 square feet of bright new retail space at its two-level base (considered a novel interpretation of the Lionshead guidelines at the time) the energy around this building is described as "intense". After all, few architects can claim a glockenspiel within their portfolio, Fitzgerald and NAKA Designs, LLC have one here as well.
