AXIS is excited to announce the groundbreaking of our newest hospitality project now underway in Seattle: the Candlewood Suites hotel on Jefferson Street. AXIS is serving as the Architect of Record and Design Architect on the project on behalf of clients Perfect Wealth Investment LLC. Construction expertise is being provided by Synergy Construction Inc.

Located directly across from the Swedish Hospital Cherry Hill Campus, the seven-story hotel is designed to provide comfortable, extended-stay accommodations in one of Seattle’s most active medical and residential districts. The project will include 37 guestrooms, with some featuring private patios, as well as a rooftop deck with a BBQ station, and a fitness room for guests.  Designed by AXIS’ Seattle studio, the hotel will offer convenient access to nearby medical facilities and transit, and will deliver a welcoming and practical long-stay lodging option for visitors to the Cherry Hill neighborhood.

The article appeared in the Winter 2026 edition of the Praxis newsletter.

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Late last year, one of AXIS’ most recent upscale boutique soft-branded hotel conversion and renovation projects, the Martis Valley Lodge, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, quietly celebrated its completion and grand opening. A boutique mountain retreat located in Truckee, California, the project saw AXIS serve as AOR on the transformation of a former Hampton Inn into a new 109-room contemporary lodge-style hospitality destination authentically inspired by the natural beauty of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Contributing to the activation of lead design firm and interior designers Atwater Inc. Studio’s creative direction for the property, the project repositioned the property from a conventional select service hotel into a distinctive boutique lodge. Heavily inspired by the changing seasons of the Sierra Nevada and the sports-focused sensibilities that define the Lake Tahoe region, guest spaces and public areas are designed to reflect the rhythms of mountain life. From winter skiing to summer hiking and lake activities, spaces are pragmatically designed to serve as a basecamp for year-round exploration.

See a fulsome project description and additional project photography in our online project portfolio.

This article appeared in the Winter 2026 edition of The Praxis newsletter.

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A rendering of the new-build multi-family residential housing project Alexan Shoreline, designed by Seattle architects AXIS Architecture + Design.

Designed by AXIS’ Seattle studio on behalf of Trammell Crow Residential, Alexan Shoreline East is a new-build multi-family residential development that blends contemporary style with sustainability. Rising elegantly to eight stories, this multi-family marvel offers a diverse array of 299 apartments – from cozy studios to spacious three-bedroom homes. Tentatively, a portion of the development’s units are earmarked as affordable housing.

Concrete being poured at the new-build multi-family residential housing project Alexan Shoreline, an apartment designed by Seattle multi-family residential architects AXIS Architecture + Design.

On a recent site walk, members of AXIS’ Seattle office watched the project’s concrete pour in action, including for its bioretention planters ingeniously designed by AXIS to aid in stormwater management and to add significant landscaping texture to the common outdoor amenities. In those outdoor spaces, the amenities come alive with two inviting courtyards and a rooftop deck complete with a sheltered kitchen. Adjacently, a generous clubroom offers spaces to gather, play, and cook in an indoor kitchen. The ground level caters to various needs – from fitness enthusiasts to pet lovers – featuring a gym, study rooms, a communal workspace, an outdoor pet zone, and a dedicated dog wash. To add a personal touch, select units feature private patios or balconies. Keeping with AXIS’ commitment to sustainability, Alexan Shoreline East aims for LEED Platinum certification, including provisions for 30 EV chargers.

Visit AXIS’ multi-family residential design portfolio on our website for more project imagery of the Alexan Shoreline East.

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Yesterday, Urbanize LA published an article noting the start of construction at our Fairfield by Marriott Inglewood hotel project.

Adding to AXIS’ already significant select service hotel design portfolio, the hotel will hold 150 guestrooms and a welcoming ground-floor bar and lounge that will seamlessly extend into an inviting exterior amenity space along Century Boulevard. With a commitment to sustainability, the hotel is on track to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Read Urbanize’s article here: https://la.urbanize.city/post/construction-underway-fairfield-hotel-3640-century-blvd-inglewood

Visit AXIS’ online project portfolio for additional project imagery, and for an abstract of AXIS’ vision for our design of the destination: https://axisarchitecture.com/our-projects/fairfield-inglewood-select-service-hotel/

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AXIS Architecture + Design, the noted and award-winning West Coast hospitality design, hotel renovation, multi-family residential design, and affordable housing architectural design firm, is pleased to celebrate the grand opening of their latest new-build hospitality design project: the AC Hotel Pasadena.  Serving as Architect of Record on the project in coordination with design architects WATG, the AC Hotel Pasadena represents AXIS’ sixth completed AC Hotel project, and marks the latest addition to AXIS’ extensive ground-up hotel design portfolio.

A development on behalf of Welcome Group Inc., AXIS was commissioned to design the first branded hotel to operate in Pasadena’s iconic Playhouse Village arts district.  Meeting the challenge, AXIS delivered a design that balances the neighborhood’s historical and artsy surroundings with AC Hotels’ modern and contemporary brand aesthetic.  A ground-up construction rising from a former parking lot, the six-story AC Hotel Pasadena delivers 194 rooms across 110,000 sf of hospitality, dining, and retail space, and introduces a new select service destination that ambitiously positions itself amongst Pasadena’s finest upscale hotels.

The exterior of the AC Hotel Pasadena, a new-build hotel designed by California hotel architects AXIS Architecture + Design.

Viewed from the street, AXIS’ contemporary and European-inspired design program is immediately appreciated.  Extending from the sidewalk to the roofline, the hotel is elegantly framed by balconies and outdoor entertaining spaces on each of the building’s vertices – a design feature that not only defines the extent of the hotel along the streetscape, but one that also starts to hint at the easy-living French Riviera inspiration behind AXIS’ design.  Along the roofline, gradually angled parapets create forced perspective and emphasized scale to the façade, while a fenestration program featuring massive multi-story windows along the top floor add to the effect.  Maximizing the hotel’s interface with the bustling sidewalk, AXIS’ site plan ingeniously tucks the driveway and entrance behind the building, both maximizing the lot’s functional space while at the same time creating a sheltered arrival experience for hotel guests.  Polishing the exterior design, dynamic Trespa paneling set above old-world brick cladding perfectly blends contemporary aesthetics with local Southern Californian ambiance.

The rooftop bar at the AC Hotel Pasadena, a new-build select service hotel designed by California hotel architect AXIS Architecture + Design.

More than simply creating the newest select service hotel in downtown Pasadena, AXIS’ design of the AC Hotel Pasadena also creates a new commercial and entertainment destination in the city.  Along the hotel’s streetfront, AXIS included over 5,000 sf of leasable retail space to the site plan, effectively creating opportunities for the addition of new commercial anchors along the block.  Serving the neighborhood’s burgeoning dining scene, the hotel includes two distinct bar experiences, including a lobby-level bar extending out to an al fresco patio with architectural landscaping, and a destination rooftop restaurant and terrace purposefully designed and oriented by AXIS to maximize guests’ views of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Within the interior spaces, AXIS worked closely with Denver-based hospitality interior design experts Wild Muse to execute The Welcome Group’s vision.  Featuring a design that is elegantly modern and in harmony with AC Hotels’ contemporary European aesthetic, AXIS’ design of the lobby creates an austere, open, and bright space.  On the ground floor, streetfront windows appear to recede into infinity framed within recessed alcoves in the ceiling, while at the destination rooftop bar, convertible glass walls accordion out of sight to create a food and beverage venue where interior and exterior spaces seamlessly meld.

“Given the challenges in the current market, we understand that it is a difficult and almost monumental achievement to take a project from inception all the way to completion,” notes AXIS Founding Principal Architect Cory Creath.  “Our accomplishing that is a testament to the determination of our clients at The Welcome Group, as well as the collective efforts of the team.”  The AXIS team was led by the firm’s Los Angeles office’s Founding Principal Architect Gene Fong, with Kevin Sund serving as the principal in charge.  AXIS Senior Associate Stephanie Park served as project manager, with Associate Jacob Lick serving as job captain.

AXIS thanks R.D. Olson for their construction and general contracting expertise on the project.  AXIS also thanks Saiful Bouquet for their engineering capabilities.

Visit AXIS Architecture + Design’s online hospitality portfolio for additional imagery of the AC Hotel Pasadena, and for an expanded description of AXIS’ design program for the property: https://axisarchitecture.com/our-projects/ac-hotels-pasadena-california/.

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Its topping-out is still on the horizon in Q1 2025, but in the meantime we’re very pleased to share the notable construction progress being made on our Element Chula Vista project.

A collaboration between our Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, our Element Chula Vista project is the latest addition to AXIS’ new-build hotel portfolio, and another example of our hotel design expertise in the Southern Californian market.

Set to open in Q4 2025, this eco-friendly destination exemplifies modern sustainability in hospitality.  With Element’s commitment to eco-conscious living, the hotel features 3,700 SF of green public spaces, 1,900 SF of meeting space, Studio Commons Suites, and outdoor amenities including a pool and spa.

Visit our online project portfolio for additional details and project imagery: https://axisarchitecture.com/our-projects/element-hotel-chula-vista-california/

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Earlier this summer in our Praxis newsletter and on our blog, AXIS proudly announced the unofficial ground-breaking of our Victory Northgate affordable housing project. Since then, and in only a few short weeks, notable site preparation progress has already been made on the project. With thanks to general contracting project partners Sierra Construction Company, Inc., a live webcam is broadcasting from the construction site; view the construction progress here: https://app.oxblue.com/cameras/8c58fcff88c206cac6d7b446b288b7da?openlink=Sierra/VictoryNorthgate

A 100% affordable housing development designed by AXIS’ Seattle studio, and a project on behalf of GMD Development, Victory Northgate includes 184 non-market housing units over six stories, and includes street level retail and commercial spaces. Featuring a design that incorporates three unique but harmonious façade styles each with their own mix of organic-hued and resource-inspired paneling, AXIS’ design of the development immediately creates a textured community unto itself in the bourgeoning neighborhood.

Visit our online project portfolio for a more fulsome project description, additional project images, and links to Sierra’s live site webcam.

The post Victory Northgate Seattle Affordable Housing Project Construction Camera Goes Live appeared first on AXIS Architecture.

AXIS Principal Architect Kevin Sund signs “the last beam” at the topping-out of the Hilton Arcadia project, an adaptive reuse hotel project designed by Los Angeles architects AXIS Architecture + Design.

Los Angeles hotel architects Kevin Sund and Chunxiao Wang at the topping-out ceremony of the Hilton Arcadia adaptive reuse hotel project

Credit to our longstanding industry partners RD Olson for their construction and contracting expertise, and for hosting the topping-out celebration.

Watch our blog and social channels for final updates as our Hilton Arcadia hotel project nears completion.  In the meantime, visit our online project portfolio for additional project imagery and a more in-depth description of AXIS’ vision for the hotel.

The post AXIS’ Hilton Arcadia Project – An Adaptive Reuse and New-Build Hotel Development – Tops-Out appeared first on AXIS Architecture.

The Weingart Tower, Los Angeles largest-ever affordable housing development, designed by LA architect AXIS Architecture + Design.

One of the resident suites in the new Weingart Tower 1, LA’s largest-ever affordable housing development designed by AXIS Architecture + Design.

A new-build affordable housing development, Weingart Tower 1 features 278 residences within the 19-story building. Specifically designed to provide safe, secure, and dignified housing for unsheltered individuals, AXIS’ design for the tower includes 228 studio apartments and 50 one-bedroom apartments, with 40 units specifically reserved for veterans. Each of the apartments is fully furnished and includes full kitchen and bathroom facilities.

As part of Weingart Center’s mandate to provide life-changing support and services to transition unhoused individuals into permanent housing, AXIS’ design for Tower 1 includes amenities like a fitness room, computer lab, career center, library, bicycle storage, laundry facilities, and terraces with community gardens. In effect, AXIS’ goal for the design of Weingart Tower 1 was simple: “Create affordable homes within a community.”

One of the balconies in The Weingart Tower, the largest affordable housing development in Los Angeles, designed by AXIS Architecture + Design.

AXIS would like to thank both Chelsea Investment Corporation and the Weingart Center for the opportunity to collaborate on such an impactful project. Credit and congratulations to Emmerson Construction and Swinerton for their demonstrated expediency and expertise.

For more on AXIS Architecture + Design’s affordable housing community design practice, visit our online project portfolio.

The article appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of The Praxis newsletter.

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A significant addition to downtown Sacramento less than a block from the destination Golden 1 Center entertainment district, the AC Hotel Sacramento’s eight stories adds 179 guestrooms to the city’s burgeoning downtown dining and entertainment area. A new-build construction, AXIS’ vision for the property ambitiously redefines select service hotel design by way of an elegant European-inspired aesthetic that positions this property amongst the city’s upscale hotels.

On the hotel’s exterior, AXIS’ design includes building-defining quoins with wraparound façades composed of tessellated metal panels extending from the sidewalk to the roofline. To further emphasize the unique exterior corners of the building and to boldly define the hotel’s space on the streetscape, up-lighting illuminates the corner vertices, creating pixelated outward dimension through shadows and reflected light along the surfaces.

Within the lobby and public interior spaces, AXIS’ design for the AC Hotel Sacramento is elegantly modern, and is unmistakably imbued with a contemporary European aesthetic. Lighting is cleverly recessed in coves along wall crowns, reducing visual distractions across the high ceilings and washing the space with a welcoming diffused light. Activating AXIS’ open concept, walls themselves become functional by way of gorgeous built-in see-through cabinets, shelving, and partition walls milled with thick angular dark walnut. Adding texture to the FF&E, wooden grates and artful panels mirroring the external tessellated façades punctuate interior surfaces.

Credit to Baskervill for their interior design expertise, and Tricorp for their construction and general contracting expertise.

Visit our online project portfolio for additional project images.

This article appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of The Praxis newsletter.

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