The hotel is raised above street level on
pilotis, five massive sculptural piers, which hoist the building thirty feet over the park below. On the east side of the structure "[a] single, sloped concrete pier, along which a tantalizing set of fire stairs runs, supports the building by the hotel entrance." These features also speak to the principles of the
International Style. Joseph Minutillo notes that some of the references to Corbusier were intentional, while others may not have been. For example, "an elevated pedestrian zone slicing through the building [is] reminiscent of Le Corbusier’s multistreet-level designs for La Ville Radieuse."
Ground-level public plazas One of the client's objectives was to "create a living room for the neighborhood," essentially to create a space where local members of the community as well as hotel guests could gather, and co-mingle. To this end, the street level of the Standard is an expansive outdoor plaza where guests of the hotel as well as the general public can sit and enjoy food from the Standard's restaurant, The Standard Grill, or beer from The Standards Biergarten. The outdoor plaza is situated partly underneath the Highline, so the preexisting railroad tracks lie overhead. Because of the exposed elevated railroad tracks and the client's stress on keeping with the historical feel of the Meatpacking District, numerous stylistic and design features were implemented. The façade of the entire restaurant is composed of reclaimed brick, very similar to the style of brick found in most other areas in the neighborhood. The architects also decided to hang metal canopies and use steel frame windows; these two architectural forms are commonly seen at meatpacking plants and other warehouses in this area. These stylistic choices allow this newly constructed building to keep with the historical feel of the Meatpacking District. == Elevator incident ==