Arizona Biltmore makes creative use of Acclaim's Spectrum Four technology to effectively compete against more contemporary hotels
In 2024, Arizona Biltmore celebrated its 95th year in business. Over the years, the award-winning destination resort has attracted a wide array of VIPs, including nearly every U.S. president who has served since the 1920s, and celebrities of the highest stature, including Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe.
Among other distinctions, Arizona Biltmore has been recognized as Conde Nast Traveler’s Hotel of the Week and was ranked as one of the 10 Best Destination Resorts by USA Today. Building architect, Albert Chase McArthur, was a draftsman for Frank Lloyd Wright and many Wright-inspired architecture elements add to the resort’s allure including 33,000 pounds of copper in the roof, iconic brick patterns, and the second-largest gold leaf ceiling in the world, only behind the Taj Mahal.
Despite its ongoing attraction to society’s elite, changing economic conditions forced the resort to change hands multiple times. And with each new owner came a new vision for how the aging resort could effectively compete with growing competition in the Phoenix area, including several massive contemporary hotels.
As part of a recent $150 million renovation, the hotel’s owners hired Scottsdale-based team of PHX Architecture and Creative Designs in Lighting (CDL), specializing in large luxury residential and commercial projects, to reimagine the historic resort and identify lighting upgrades that would add color and life throughout the public spaces and grounds.
Plenty of criteria and challenges
CDL Principal Walter Spitz assembled the visionary design team to identify lighting solutions that would appropriately illuminate the architecture and meet the expectations of the resort management team.
“Obviously the lumen output and beam pattern of the light fixtures mattered,” said Greenawalt. “But aesthetics, shielding, and quality was just as important. Each fixture had to be analyzed for mounting considerations, sight lines, and the general appropriateness of the fixture design. The controllability of fixtures was also important for the dimming of dynamic colors. And, of course, the budget was an ultimate consideration. Everything mattered, and there could be no weak link in the proverbial lighting chain.”
A significant challenge in the pool area and gardens was the lack of consistency with the existing lighting. CDL found a mixture of styles, sizes, and technologies throughout. In updating the fixtures, CDL needed to create a master-planned lighting design and a new “palette” of signature fixtures.
“The hotel wanted a full-color solution,” added Greenawalt. “In addition, due to the massive size of the area—more than 50,000 square feet of outdoor space wedged between nine separate buildings—our team wanted a wireless solution that would work with repeaters.A colorful, flexible solution for the pools and gardens
After thoroughly investigating and consulting with Arizona Lighting Sales, CDL specified Dyna Accent Mini with Aria from Acclaim Lighting for the palm groves of the pool decks and event lawns and the 60-foot twisting water slide. Dyna Accent Mini is a compact, high-power LED floodlight that fits in the tightest spaces. It features an internal 100-240 + 277VAC power supply and an onboard DMX+RDM driver. Each unit carries Acclaim’s Aria wireless DMX technology inside.
The small, lightweight fixtures were mounted on palm tree rings throughout the resort grounds, providing full RGBW color. The tree rings were sized for 16.25” to 21.75” tree diameters and were used to brighten the renovated event lawn, the new Saguaro Pool, the renovated Paradise Pool, and the entry drive.
Dyna Accent Mini can be individually addressed and is adjustable to allow fixtures to be aimed, with an option for white light for emergency lighting. The primary lighting preset for the “Biltmore Blue” was the only automated lighting preset for dusk-to-dawn operation. Thirty presets were programmed for static colors of the rainbow (plus pink) with several color combinations, such as red, white, and blue, cool color pallets, and warm color pallets.
Ground stake mounted Acclaim fixtures were also specified to uplight the various Frank Lloyd Wright-designed “sprite” sculptures which populated the raised planters in the Paradise Courtyard. These were controlled wirelessly from the Paradise Pool system using repeaters and programmed to be a warm apricot color for most presets.
Uplighting ambiance for spa tranquility
Entering the new lobby of the Tierra Luna Spa, guests are treated to a tranquil space that features a wall of dimensional art that is uplighted from a trough below. The trough is covered with a grate that provides playful shadow effects from the Acclaim Linear One light bars installed within. The fixtures were specified with the 10X10 degree option for precise beam patterns to graze the wall.
Creating ballroom glitz
As the main project was nearing completion, the resort embarked on an additional scope to update their three event ballrooms to compete with their contemporaries. A recent energy retrofit project had already replaced the compact fluorescent downlights and the fluorescent tubes in the coves to LED cans and LED tape light, but there were some flickering issues with the legacy dimming system. The resort again reached out to CDL to investigate and provide a color changing solution for the Frank Lloyd Wright and the MacArthur Ballrooms.
Before the design team made its final recommendation for the ballrooms, CDL mocked up seven different product options, including high performance fixtures and general illumination tape lights. After reviewing the lighting effects in the mock-ups, CDL selected the AL Cove DMX, also from Acclaim Lighting, because of its aesthetic appeal, cost-effectiveness, and individual programming ability through DMX with the RGBW option. AL Cove DMX is a high-power, interior linear cove fixture with standard and eco-output modes. Available in 1’ and 4’ sections, it offers RGB, QW, and dynamic white configurations.
The updated grounds and ballrooms have received rave reviews from guests thanks to consistent, modern-looking, and reimagined lighting that appeals to the younger demographic while remaining true to the legacy of the historic design. The lighting helped the hotel to consistently sell out the guestrooms and fill out continuous bookings of the convention spaces and brought the resort back to effectively compete with the newer resorts in the Phoenix market. This property-wide restoration, in turn, helped the owners sell the magnificent resort for $750M, the Valley’s largest hospitality deal of the year.
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For more information, visit Arizone BIltmore Resort.
Designer: PHX Architecture and Creative Designs in Lighting (CDL)
