Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel opens | Photo gallery

This month, the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel opened in Chicago's much ballyhooed Aqua Tower. Radisson Blus, in case you didn't know, have a rep for their design in Europe and are finally bringing some of that cachet to Chicago. Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects designed the building, of course, but for the hotel interior, Rad went with Glasgow-based designer Jim Hamilton of Graven Images. Hamilton nods to our industrial past in the use of weathered steel and polished gray concrete. Elsewhere, the new hotel sports a wall-to-wall screen of interconnected Egyptian brass medallions, a flying staircase weighing 20 tons and a 12,000 square foot ballroom with a dramatic LED-lit ceiling. Christian Lundwall designed the guest rooms, which come in Mansion House or Naturally Cool looks. The Blu Aqua is also pursuing a Silver LEED certification, so consider it a bit blue-green.