Tryp Hotel

The Tryp Hotel is a 58,000 sq ft, 5 story boutique hotel with 108 rooms set in the historic Washington Education Center. The client was interested in featuring local artists and commissioning hotel artwork that highlighted the history of the building as an educational center.

To highlight the history of this incredible building, we started with an RFP to find proposals for feature installations and lighting. We commissioned 4 artists to create “feature walls” including Ed Parrish’s piece pictured below. To celebrate the craft of metalworking, Parrish designed an abstracted aluminum sculpural element displayed on a steel panel covered wall. To create the piece, Parrish invited stakeholders in the project to view his aluminum pour on ice at the Carrie Furnace just outside Pittsburgh. The performative nature of the process created a memorable moment for all involved.

Another artist, Jakob Marsico, was commissioned to design and build a dynamic lighting feature pictured below. Marsico used UL Listed parts to meet code and created a software connecting the lights to a video of the ocean, allowing the lights to turn on and off in subtle wave-like patterns.

To highlight the school’s history, artist Aaron Henderson created a captioned, silent video with interviews from alums and staff of the former school. Displayed in the lobby on top of a wall covering he designed using yearbook photos from the school in the 1960s and 70s, the piece is a great introduction to the space.

Artist atiya jones not only created a mural in the exterior window well of the first floor restaurant, but also designed custom, screenprinted chalkboards for every guest room.

Prints, photographs, and other 2D artworks from living, local artists were procured to fill every room and public space. Through a jointly designed map and brochure, guests of the hotel are able to view the hotel artwork, learn about the artists involved, and even purchase selected works from the front desk.

Photos by Lexi Rebar.

Contact us for additional images and information.

LOCATION
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

INDUSTRY
Hospitality

SERVICES
Curation, Procurement, Installation, Design

TIME FRAME
30 months

ARTWORK
31 living, regional artists featured.

351 works purchased.

New commissions: 4 feature walls, 1 lighting feature, 1 history wall, 2 murals, 108 artist-designed chalkboards, and  artwork for 108 rooms.