The Jay by AvroKO: Reworking Brutalism at the Scale of the Interior
A broad band of timber slats curves around the stair at The Jay, catching warm light before the eye reaches the dark metal flight behind it. The composition introduces AvroKO’s approach to the San Francisco hotel: substantial forms are brought close to the body through texture, repetition and furniture. Opened in November 2023 within a John Portman building, the 360-room Autograph Collection property retains a forceful architectural frame while giving its interiors a more domestic rhythm. [1] [2]
A stair that holds the building together
The stair is both circulation and an extended encounter with art. AvroKO identifies Portman’s own home as an influence and retains a tall cast-bronze work by Arnaldo Pomodoro from the earlier hotel. Seen between the slats, the sculpture occupies the vertical space through which the stair turns. The close spacing of the timber makes the enclosure read differently from each angle: almost solid in one view, transparent in another. It supplies a changing foreground to the bronze as visitors move around the stair. [2]
At the entrance, low upholstered seats sit against a deeply modelled grey wall. A small red circular rug concentrates the grouping, while the surrounding floor remains clear. Above, the softly illuminated ceiling establishes another contained zone within the larger volume. The photographs suggest a recurring tactic: the architecture provides the weight, and a few carefully bounded places to sit give that weight a human scale. [5]
Light, pattern and places to gather
The Third Floor extends that idea into dining and social spaces. Black-and-white floor tiles provide a crisp field beneath pale timber chairs; rounded screens hold the stair and seating areas within view. Lighting fabricator VISO explains that its hexagonal restaurant pendants refer to the building’s patterned columns. Its reception installation uses 48 linen shades on brass frames. Those details connect ceiling and structure through repeated shapes, while translucent fabric and timber moderate the harder geometry. [2] [3]
Outside, the terrace makes another room without enclosing the sky. Planting gathers along its edges, and upholstered seats face a long fire feature beneath an open overhead frame. In the photograph, the city’s tall façades remain present beyond the furniture. The terrace’s scale comes from the distance between chairs and table, giving the urban backdrop a different role from the close, layered surfaces indoors. [5]
The same language at a quieter scale
The guestrooms translate these public gestures into smaller elements. The hotel describes Ruth Asawa’s work as an influence on their patterns and textures. Light upholstery, dark sculptural tables and a timber desk form a series of usable corners beside tall windows. In another interior, a pale console stands on thick cylindrical supports beneath two domed lamps. Its simple massing gives a functional object the presence of a small piece of architecture. [4] [5]
The most persuasive connection across these spaces is the treatment of enclosure. Screens preserve glimpses, furniture makes local centres, and light makes the edges of each setting distinct. AvroKO’s renovation allows the building’s strong forms to remain legible while creating the smaller distances and varied settings that make a large hotel comfortable to inhabit.
Sources and project references
[2] AvroKO — The Jay
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