Tulalip Hotel and Conference Center

Location: Tulalip

Project team: Performance Contracting, wall and ceiling contractor; Ruhl-Parr & Associates, architect; Mortenson, general contractor; Building Specialties, L&W Supply and The Supply Guy, suppliers; G-P Gypsum, Grace Construction Products, Hilti Corp., Scafco Steel Stud Manufacturing Co. and Sto Corp., manufacturers

The Tulalip Tribe’s 12-story hotel and conference center has 370 rooms and is the second building of a much larger planned destination point for the tribe.

The four-star hotel was designed with many high-end finishes and materials, such as a linear metal-arched ceiling in the porte cochere leading to the grand entry where three totem poles and an indoor pool welcome guests. The pool has a waterfall that cascades out of a rock wall.

The hotel includes a 30,000-square-foot meeting and convention space with a 15,000-square-foot ballroom, two boardrooms and several break-out rooms. It also has a 4,000-square-foot spa with 16 treatment rooms, two restaurants and a lounge, and a grand staircase designed for weddings.

The restaurant and lounge areas have domed ceilings and radiused walls and soffits. Making them was difficult and required precise framing by Performance Contracting crews. The spa has similar tightly radiused walls and soffits, as well as simulated rock walls.

Other radiused elements can be found in the hotel’s suites and grand staircase, where crews applied Denshield as an underlayment for the finish plaster.

Due to the project’s aggressive schedule, construction began while designs were still being worked on. To fill a gap in employment, tribal members were used in the work force.

Judge’s comment: “This was a challenging project that called for the enlisting and training of tribal people as part of the labor force, demanding wall and ceiling work schedule and creative approaches to performing many of the designs. The key architectural features and large lobby wall and ceiling surfaces are exposed to severe natural light, requiring the highest quality finishing work.”