Strategy To cost-efficiently convert a former Clarion Hotel into an oasis of calm that brings a new level of refined sophistication to Washington D.C.’s boutique hotel scene.     Story “Relax, renew, revitalize” is the mantra at the Hotel Madera. Throughout its public spaces, we employed a painterly use of light, rich colors and natural elements to create the poetry of a Zen landscape—complete with bamboo groves, sand-textured walls, “distant mountains” of iridescent fusion glass panels and paths of rich Tibetan wool carpets blanketing flame-honed granite floors. Spacious guest rooms glow with the serene sleekness of an emperor’s bento box—with grass cloth wallpaper, Japanese-inspired patterned carpeting, lustrous quilted bedspreads and oversized wooden headboards inset with indigo blue mohair padding. Tranquil. Transcendental. Total bliss.