George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg have been partners in design (and in life) for decades, creating award-winning hospitality spaces that span the globe and never deliver the same experience twice.

When they were asked to design the interiors for two distinct hotels built inside the same 37-story building in Downtown Los Angeles, George and Glenn decided to craft the spaces for two contemporary “protagonists” — rooted in the lifestyles of Southern California artists. For The Moxy Downtown LA, they imagined a desert nomad, who would imbue the hotel with a vivacious, mismatched aesthetic and restless energy. For The AC Hotel Downtown LA, they built an elegant Southern California atelier for an artist in residence, constructing a precise, focused space for creatives to host business and social calls alike.

In this episode, host Hamish Kilburn — a longtime fan of Yabu Pushelberg — gains deep insights into how George and Glenn create the personalities who drive their hotel designs. He learns how they approached the new Moxy and AC hotels in Downtown L.A. as siblings of the same family,  standing completely on their own but sharing a cultural lineage and a grounded aesthetic that sets them apart from more sleek, nouveau buildings in the neighborhood. And George and Glenn share what’s changed in the hotel design world, what remains the same — and how both are revealed by the decisions they’ve made in shaping the Moxy and AC.

• 00:00 Describing the Moxy and AC as “twins, but not twins”
• 01:00 Introduction to George and Glenn of Yabu Pushelberg, and the distinct hotel brands they were tasked with designing for within the same building in downtown LA
• 03:54 How the Moxy and AC create their specific moods visually, and how these two moods can be enjoyed by the same person
• 06:17 Glenn’s “secret degrees” and Yabu Pushelberg’s creative process for design
• 11:17 The evolution of public areas in hospitality, from structure and prescription to a more fluid lifestyle
• 13:43 Why George wants to challenge the feeling that everybody wants to belong to a tribe when they’re enjoying life in public
• 15:20 How to create a lived-in “artist’s home” as opposed to a more expected, stereotypical “downtown studio”
• 17:00 Reflecting on the ultimate purpose of good hotel design and the journey that George and Glenn are on as lifelong designers

Featured Hotels: Moxy Downtown Los Angeles and the AC Hotel Downtown Los Angeles

Featured Designers: George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, Yabu Pushelberg

Explore more stories about hotel design at Travel by Design

Follow host Hamish Kilburn's hotel design reviews @HotelDesigns