AXIS Architecture + Design Completes the Hilton Arcadia Los Angeles, a Landmark Hospitality Project Combining Adaptive Reuse with New-build Hotel Development

AXIS Architecture + Design, the noted and award-winning West Coast hospitality design, hotel architecture, adaptive reuse, multi-family residential design, and affordable housing architectural design firm, is proud to celebrate the completion of the Hilton Arcadia Los Angeles. Located along Arcadia’s destination Huntington Drive, the 173-room full-service Hilton hotel represents one of AXIS’ most architecturally ambitious hospitality projects to date, combining the ground-up design of a new six-story hotel tower with the adaptive reuse and conversion of an existing three-story office building. Serving as both Design Architect and Architect of Record, AXIS guided the project from concept through construction. 

Developed by VG Properties and constructed by R.D. Olson Construction, the Hilton Arcadia further expands AXIS’ extensive portfolio of hospitality architecture projects throughout the Western United States while showcasing the firm’s growing expertise in adaptive reuse and hospitality-driven redevelopment. 

A rare hospitality project uniting adaptive reuse and new construction

The completed hotel brings together a newly constructed six-story tower and a converted three-story office building within a single operational Hilton-branded property, creating a unified guest experience that conceals the project’s dual origins. 

The new hotel tower delivers guestrooms, banquet facilities, pre-function event space, and guest amenities, while the former office building has been comprehensively reimagined as a hospitality environment offering additional guestrooms, dining venues, meeting facilities, and a rooftop lounge. Together, the two structures comprise more than 153,000 square feet of hospitality space, functioning not as separate buildings but as a single cohesive destination. Achieving this level of integration across the two building types required careful coordination of architectural planning, life-safety systems, circulation patterns, operational requirements, and brand standards. 

AXIS’ design draws architectural inspiration from one of Southern California’s most iconic landmarks

Central to AXIS’ vision for the Hilton Arcadia was the opportunity to create an architectural response to one of Southern California’s most recognizable neighboring landmarks: Santa Anita Park. 

Widely regarded as one of the nation’s most celebrated racetracks, Santa Anita Park is equally known for its distinctive Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture. Inspired by the racetrack’s iconic 1930s grandstand and pavilion structures, AXIS developed an architectural language that translates the elegance, movement, and sophistication of the era into a contemporary hospitality environment. 

The hotel’s exterior composition is defined by sweeping curves, strong vertical window rhythms, and carefully proportioned massing that evokes the architectural character of Santa Anita while maintaining a distinctly modern identity. Along Huntington Drive, the building establishes a confident presence that both complements and respects its historic neighbor, creating a visual dialogue between past and present.  Through careful attention to façade articulation, material selection, scale, proportion, and fenestration patterns, AXIS created a cohesive architectural identity that allows the hotel to be perceived as a single development despite its dual construction origins. 

Creating a seamless architectural experience across two building typologies

Beyond the visual challenge of unifying old and new construction, the Hilton Arcadia required AXIS to solve a series of complex architectural and operational challenges inherent to combining adaptive reuse and ground-up development within a single hospitality project. 

Unlike a conventional hotel development, the project required the design team to reconcile differing structural systems, floorplate configurations, building code requirements, and circulation patterns while maintaining the operational efficiencies expected of a modern full-service Hilton property. The success of the project lies not only in its architectural appearance, but also in the seamless manner in which guests move throughout the property without awareness of the different building types that underpin the development. 

This integration extends beyond planning and operations to the overall guest experience. Complementing AXIS’ architectural vision, interior design for the project was developed by Atwater Inc. Studio, whose hospitality-focused interiors extend the property’s contemporary interpretation of Southern California’s Art Deco heritage throughout the guest experience. 

Hilton Arcadia reinforces AXIS’ leadership in hospitality architectural design

Led by AXIS’ Los Angeles studio, the completion of the Hilton Arcadia further strengthens AXIS’ reputation as one of the West Coast’s leading hospitality architecture firms. Beyond its significance as a new full-service Hilton property, the project serves as a compelling example of the firm’s ability to navigate the complexities of hospitality design, adaptive reuse, and large-scale development while delivering memorable guest experiences rooted in local context and architectural character. 

As hospitality developers increasingly explore opportunities to reposition aging commercial assets, the Hilton Arcadia stands as a model for how existing office buildings can be thoughtfully transformed and expanded through hospitality-focused redevelopment, unlocking new value while contributing distinctive destinations to their surrounding communities. 

Visit AXIS’ blog for complete project imagery, and for additional details of AXIS’ design program for the Hilton Arcadia adaptive reuse and new-build hotel development: https://axisarchitecture.com/our-projects/hilton-hotel-arcadia-california/.

About AXIS Architecture + Design

Founded in 2001, AXIS Architecture + Design (www.axisarchitecture.com) is an award-winning full-service international architecture and design firm with studios in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and satellite offices in Las Vegas, Boston, and Hawaii.  Although an all-industry firm, AXIS Architecture + Design offers particular expertise in hospitality design, hotel architecture, hospitality facility renovations, multi-family residential architectural design, and affordable housing community design.