Populus Hotels is distinguishing itself from other hotel groups in the U.S. with its collection of carbon positive hotels in Denver and Seattle. Carbon positive means the two hotels, through various efforts, are going beyond carbon neutrality by removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than is emitted. Kudos to Urban Villages, a leading developer and environmental steward, for creating the brand. It has done so in collaboration with Aparium Hotel Group, an operator of independent, luxury lifestyle hotels.
Each property is a great story of green design, innovation and respect for the local and global environment.
“Urban Villages’ mission is to bring nature back into our cities through timeless design that will last for generations. It is this vision that has guided the Populus project to be a new model for environmentally forward hospitality,” Urban Villages says.
Like an Aspen Tree
An instantly recognizable symbol of Colorado, the Aspen tree inspired the 265-room Populus Denver hotel’s biophilic architecture and distinctive window shape, which draws from characteristic patterns found on the tree’s trunks.
“At Populus, we believe protecting the planet is a collective responsibility and journey,” Urban Villages says. [Populus Denver] started at the beginning with the biophilic architecture and use of locally sourced, recycled, or sustainably certified building materials during the construction process.”
Opened last fall, Populus Denver also stands out for the following reasons:
- A tree is planted for every night’s stay.
- Populus is designed by the world-renowned architecture and urban design firm, Studio Gang, founded and led by Jeanne Gang—a MacArthur Fellow and WSJ. Magazine’s 2022 Architecture Innovator of the Year.
- Designed to be as functional as it is striking, the texture and rhythm of Populus’ façade perform efficiently in Denver’s varied climate, with “lids” over each window extending slightly outward to shade the interior of the building. On the interiors, the Aspen-eye windows change in size and shape to reflect the public or private nature of various spaces.
- The onsite roof garden is a four-season garden filled with lush, perennial trees, shrubs, and plant species that support biodiversity while the canopy of trees surrounding the hotel provides a cooling effect in the harsh sun.
- Aligned with the hotel’s biophilic architecture, the interiors are inspired by the feelings evoked by sitting among an Aspen grove, starting with the ground floor lobby and Pasque restaurant, filled with warm browns and woods reminiscent of a forest floor; moving up through the trunk and branches of the main floors where the guestrooms and suites reside; and leading up to the Stellar Jay rooftop restaurant and hospitality suites, which represent a celebration of color and natural light, mimicking the lush canopy of a tree.
- All interiors, from the materials to the furniture and art, are designed to evoke the essence of the natural world while minimizing the building’s carbon footprint through innovative, consciously sourced materials. For example, the wood slats in the lobby ceiling are sourced from reclaimed wood snow fencing in Wyoming, the guestroom carpeting is made from recycled materials that biodegrade in landfills, and many guestroom headboards are created from fallen beetle-kill pine.
- The interiors are complemented by a thought-provoking art collection, curated by Colorado-based artist and environmental activist Katherine Homes. Highlights include a commissioned painting by Cheyenne and Arapaho artist Brent Learned; local bird songs in the elevators from conservationist and natural sound recording artist, Jacob Job, who recorded in nearby Rocky Mountain National Park; and Pressed Native Wildflowers in each of the guestrooms, consciously handpicked by Flowers of the Press to bring the essence of Colorado summer into the hotel year-round.
- Pasque, located on the “forest floor”, focuses on seasonally driven cuisine with breakfast, lunch and dinner menus that highlight the region’s finest plant-based ingredients and proteins from land and sea. The restaurant’s design was inspired by the elegance of the local Pasque wildflower.
- Stellar Jay, perched on the rooftop, is a lively, open-air restaurant that serves bold, live-fire cuisine against a backdrop of Denver’s downtown skyline and the Rocky Mountains. Named with a nod to the charismatic Steller’s Jay bird, the restaurant features shared plates of wild game, fresh seafood, and seasonal produce. The playful, vibrant atmosphere of Stellar Jay, complemented by bright cocktails and the green roof of native plants, is designed to reconnect diners with nature and each other, giving people a coveted gathering place to drink and dine.
- The hotel’s embodied carbon footprint has been reduced through a combination of sustainable design and construction techniques—including the use of low-carbon concrete, an insulated façade system and GFRC rainscreen, and intentionally not having onsite parking—then offset by the acquisition of 7,000 tons of certified carbon credits (7,000 mTC02e) as a part of its evolving, nature-based sustainability strategy.
- In addition, Populus is further offsetting its carbon footprint through a hands-on tree planting and reforestation effort in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies. The first of these efforts included planting over 70,000 trees (172+ acres) in Gunnison County, Colo. in summer 2022.
- Populus Denver remains committed to offsetting its operational carbon footprint throughout its lifetime and its approach encompasses much more than carbon offsets, including collaborating with local farms to promote regenerative practices, using 100 percent renewable electricity, turning all food waste into compost to be returned to local farmers, and embodying an overall reverence for nature that connects guests to the natural world.
- Populus also prioritizes zero-waste dining in its restaurants, using an onsite biodigester to divert 100 percent of food waste away from landfills and into compost for local farms—taking the food from table to farm and establishing a circular solution for food waste. As a Zero Foodprint member, Populus is committing one percent of its restaurant sales to regenerative farming.
The Populus Seattle
The 120-room Populus Seattle, opened in historic Pioneer Square this past week, is an adaptive reuse property that reflects the building’s 1907 history and has been modernized to give it a vibrant second life. “Populus Seattle underscores Populus Hotel’s unwavering commitment to honor and give back to our environment; this time, as a historic adaptive reuse property with an immersive urban-meets-rainforest feel that uniquely reflects its Seattle location,” says Jon Buerge, President of Urban Villages.
Populus Seattle stands out for the following reasons:
- The Miller Hull Partnership rehabilitated the structure to be modernized as a lifestyle hotel, without compromising its historical relevance or its reflection of Pioneer Square—Seattle’s first neighborhood. Because Populus Seattle is an adaptive reuse building, its baseline carbon footprint is also substantially lower than if the building were built new, which simplifies the carbon positive process.
- Wherever possible, The Miller Hull Partnership preserved and repurposed existing materials, including Douglas Fir beams, exposed historic brick, and car decking—all of which speak to the building’s character and layered design story. In some instances, they worked to bring the building back to its original state; for example, by relocating elevators added in the 1970s to open up a skylight—which now runs from the lobby up through the roof, filtering in natural light and letting the outdoors in.
- Not only is Populus Seattle inspired by nature, but it also brings a diverse variety of trees and vegetation to the heart of the city through biophilia. Its lush entryway and rooftop—both designed by Seattle-based landscape architecture firm, Site Workshop, are informed by the natural ecology of Washington. Guests are immediately immersed in nature upon stepping through the doors and into the opening vestibule, which is home to G(host) Forest, a hanging landscape art piece by Isvald Klingels composed of fallen trees, snags, logs, branches, and living plants. The old-growth trees include native Western redcedar and Yew trees, some of which are up to 500 years old and 16 feet high and pay homage to Pioneer Square’s past as a logging destination. On the rooftop, native prairie plants pay homage to the coast’s original glacial trail, while supporting biodiversity by bringing butterflies, hummingbirds, and bumblebees back into the city. Additional highlights by Seattle-based landscape designer, Camden Gardens, include a variety of tropical plants, which thrive indoors long-term, flanking the lobby’s dramatic grand staircase; an abundance of hanging greenery in the Salt Harvest Solarium; and a multi-story moss wall that runs from the lobby up through the skylight and will naturally grow moss overtime, similar to the exteriors of historic buildings found throughout Pioneer Square.
- Populus Seattle is home to Salt Harvest, a deeply Pacific Northwest dining experience shaped by fire and seasonality, and Firn, Pioneer Square’s first rooftop bar with skyline views, a cocktail menu inspired by the natural world, and thoughtfully crafted Pacific Northwest bites. Both concepts reflect the hotel’s reverence for nature through local seasonal ingredients and biophilic design, including a lush, glass-wrapped Solarium at Salt Harvest that evokes the feeling of a Pacific Northwest rainforest.
- The hotel’s sustainability strategy includes preserving and revitalizing a historic structure, reducing its embodied carbon footprint by 36 percent, the equivalent of 2.2 million miles driven or 492 tons of coal burned. Rather than constructing a new building or an onsite parking garage, the hotel encourages a pedestrian-friendly lifestyle and avoids additional carbon-intensive development, along with design choices like adding new insulated windows, which increase natural light while lowering energy use.
- As the country’s second carbon positive hotel, Populus Seattle follows a rigorous Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impact of every material, system, and process from construction to decommissioning. The team identified opportunities to reduce embodied and operational carbon through low impact means and methods, renewable energy, and waste reduction strategies. After every possible reduction was implemented, the property offset the remaining embodied carbon footprint—including the building’s core, shell, furniture, fixtures, and equipment, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing—through the acquisition of high integrity carbon credits as a part of its evolving, nature-based, emissions drawdown strategy. For this latest initiative, Populus Seattle worked with King County’s Forest Carbon Program to acquire high integrity, Verra certified forest carbon credits from King County-based projects whose core impacts include supporting land conservation, new parks, and greenspaces.
- Continuing a program launched at Populus Denver, Populus Seattle opens with its One Night, One Tree program, which plants a tree for every night’s stay, creating a tangible and positive impact on local forests. Additional efforts include partnering with local farms for regenerative practices, using 100 percent renewable electricity, composting all food waste, and embodying an overall reverence for nature that connects guests to the natural world.
Planning or operating a carbon positive hotel? I would love to learn more about the project. I can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
Green Lodging News Adds Anacove Case Study to Website
Green Lodging News has added an Anacove Case Study to the Vendor Case Studies section of its website. The case study details how HDG Legacy, a developer and management company, has benefited from Anacove’s unique AI- and Cloud-powered Smart Thermostats, Leak Detection and Asset Management systems.
“We started using Anacove Smart Thermostats in July 2024 at the Holiday Inn Express Crystal River, and based on historical data and usage, electricity costs on our utility bills are 35.94 percent lower per occupied room,” says Navroz F. Saju, Founder and Principal at HDG Legacy. “The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Silver Springs-Ocala’s electricity costs were 33 percent less than what we’d budgeted for per room, with the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Inverness-Lecanto coming in at 43 percent lower than budgeted in electricity usage.”
In addition to rolling out Anacove’s Smart Thermostats incrementally across his hotels, Saju is also deploying the company’s AI-powered, cloud-maintained Toilet Leak Detectors and Asset Tracking Systems. The AI-enabled water management systems go beyond basic leak detection. While sensors installed in water tanks or behind walls detect even the tiniest leaks, it’s the AI that identifies anomalies, pinpoints problem areas, and alerts maintenance teams before the issue escalates—saving water, money, repair costs, and mitigating guest inconvenience.
Anacove’s Asset Management System equips hotel assets such as luggage carts, rollaway beds, cribs, housekeeping trollies and other movable items with location tags, which, thanks to the cloud-maintained AI system, helps to track down missing items, triangulating their exact positions, streamlining retrieval, reducing loss, and improving overall resource management.
The performance of all four Anacove technology services (thermostats, toilet leaks, staff and asset trackers) are monitored and analyzed by the company’s AI cloud system, effectively a brain hovering over key operational areas of the hotel that make intelligent decisions.
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