Yotel Meeker

How to Create a Place Next to an Expressway

Text by Matthias Hollwich

Yotel Williamsburg is designed as a new gateway to Williamsburg at the Metropolitan Avenue exit of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE). Part hotel and part residences, the building shares the same resourceful outlook as the cult micro-hotel chain for which it is designed.

The hotel portion is clad in black slate in a pattern that is inspired by the local vernacular architecture: asphalt shingles. This defensive facade blocks out the noise and grime of the highway, while glassy cubes of condos emerge from its crown. Up above, residents enjoy amazing views of North Brooklyn and Manhattan.