The reflective facade of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
A bridge over a river with tall buildings in the background showing Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids
The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel signage and ground level
The ground level facade of Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel next to the historic surroundings
The reskinned facade of Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
A city with a river and a bridge showing Amway Grand Plaza Hotel from a distance
A couple of people skateboarding by a river and the tall glass facade of Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
1 of 8

Amway Grand Plaza Hotel

Grand Rapids, Michigan

The owners of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel Tower worked with Gensler to upgrade the building’s aging curtain wall and replace it with a new, high-performing exterior facade in order to address ongoing performance and aethestics challenges. Through a recladding process, the new facade provides better performance and significantly improves the overall energy use, contributing to nearly 20% reduction, all while retaining its unique visual heritage.

To keep the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel Tower fully operational during the design and construction, the design team developed a custom solution — marking the first top-down curtain wall installation completed in the U.S. The facade replacement process allowed elements of the existing building skin to remain in place temporarily while the new high-performance envelope was constructed, guaranteeing uninterrupted presence of the AHC brand for guests.

Gensler also designed the hotel’s three-story restaurant, MDRD, located at the top of the tower, which opened ahead of the reskin project’s completion.

Expertise