The Proximity Hotel is an extremely interesting and unique building located in nearby Greensboro. Costing nearly thirty million dollars to construct in 2007, it is one of three luxury hotels in North America that has been awarded LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is the highest rating a high performance green building can be given.
The mission the Proximity Hotel sets out to accomplish is to provide their customers with the highest level of accommodations at a reasonable value while maintaining above and beyond energy efficiency levels. Knowing that only two other hotels have been given the same LEED rating, the Proximity Hotel strives to be the most “Green” hotel out of all of them by using many advanced building techniques and systems.
The Proximity is dedicated to sustainability and to do this they originally built the hotel for the long run knowing that they would not sell the hotel after five or six years. On its roof the Proximity has numerous powerful solar panels, which are capable of heating the water for the entire building, and the hotel subsequently saves a lot of money from not having to pay the electricity bill. So much power is produced from the panels that the hotel actually sells some of it back to the city of Greensboro and receives tax credits for the energy which is an added plus. In addition, every minute the hotel pumps fresh air into its rooms to keep their clients healthy and energized to satisfy them more. Another way the hotel is different from others is the inside look of all the rooms and hallways. Normally after construction, the concrete used in buildings is covered up with paint or something else. Wanting to keep the hotel authentic looking though, the owners decided to leave the concrete pillars visible and the ceiling undecorated to create a more authentic and very pleasant feel to the building. I thought this idea was very interesting and out of the box, just like the overall hotel is.
I was not the only who found the layout of the hotel to be very interesting. Our tour guide said that besides the excellent service, clean rooms and hospitality that customers love, they love the different looks and artwork each room offers. Most customers are considered middle to upper class, and even President Obama has stayed at one of the executive suites at the hotel. In the future the hotel plans to continue to be very sustainable and efficient and to constantly improve on ways to be more efficient than before.
Follow
