Picture an open space a block long and half a block wide, an average of three stories high.
Then double the area if the doors are left open to the adjoining exhibit space.
That is the common area that the architects designed for the Lancaster Convention Center and Marriott Hotel.
Even though actual functions will only take place on less than a third of the days in the Convention Center, the heating and air conditioning requirements will remain the approximately same—365 days, 24 hours—since the area is integrated with the Marriott lobby.
Furthermore, this is not an interior atrium space surrounded by hotel rooms but rather an area enclosed by exterior walls with massive windows.
There is no way to isolate the lobby of the hotel from the break-out area of the convention center. Furthermore, there is not even any reasonably conceivable way of correcting the situation.
This approach may have made sense for Grand Central Station in New York and 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, at a time when energy costs were cheap and a monumental ambiance was sought, but we don’t recall encountering it elsewhere.
Just wait ‘til they get their A/C bill!
