Events
The Greatest Party on Earth
Our client, Artists for Humanity, throws an amazing fundraiser every year in their headquarters facility, the EpiCenter, which Arrowstreet designed. In addition to being for a great cause, the spectacular event exhibits the work of a talent group of artists – from the paintings, to the break dancer,s to the decor, to the trapeze artists, to the food. These photos should give you a glimpse of what it’s like – hope to see you there next year.
Volleyball at Arrowstreet
Arrowstreet just rounded up competing in the architects’ volleyball league in Boston. A handful of AST’ers helped lead us to success this season, including Jason King (our heralded coach and inspirational pre-game speaker), Greg Triplett, Kate Bubriski, Victoria Wright, and myself, along with several spouses and friends. We put together a strong showing during the regular season with a 43-13 record, earning us a #3 seed in the playoffs. Sadly, our tournament hopes ended in the second round of the playoffs this year, but we have high hopes for next year: we anticipate the return of many strong, and now seasoned, players from this season’s squad. (Not to mention the strenuous off-season workouts Coach King surely has planned.) Thanks to all who played, it was fun!
Mirbeau Inn & Spa at The Pinehills Groundbreaking Ceremony
On April 4th, the Mirbeau Inn and Spa at The Pinehills in Plymouth, MA officially kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony. The event was hosted by Pinehills, LLC President John Judge and Managing Partner Tony Green. The well-attended gathering included Gary and Linda Dower, the principals of Mirbeau Hospitality Services, as well as several town and state officials including Rep. Vinny deMacedo, R-Plymouth, and Rep. Tom Calter, D-Kingston, all of whom praised the arrival of this resort property to the area. As a part of the design team, it was a pleasure to see how warmly the Dowers and the project have been embraced by the Pinehills community…
Unum Office Building Time-Lapse
Through the wonders of time-lapse photography, you can now watch the construction of our recently completed Unum Worcester headquarters building in under two minutes. It’s interesting to note that there is as much activity in the background and adjacent streets as there is on the building itself. Special thanks to Mike Conlan and Pat Strangie for all their work in CA – each of them probably has a (very) brief cameo in this video!
Side note: the Unum project and the CitySquare development are the topic of this month’s ULI Member Lunch with Donald Birch – if you’re a member of ULI, we look forward to seeing you there.
State of the Industry: Brick and Mortar vs. Internet Retail
[Part 4 of a series of posts from ICSC’s RetailGreen conference. Posted in response to The Wall Street Journal’s article “Malls Get Face-Lift to Pull In Shoppers“, which stated that “the era of new-mall development in the U.S. is drawing to a close.”]
Brad Hutensky, ICSC Chairman, gave an interesting talk about the state of the retail industry, and he debunked a common refrain of the last five years, that the internet is killing bricks and mortar stores. His evidence was compelling. First, in 2012, retailers have opened over 5,000 stores, not a small number. And for good reason, as customers still value the human experience and the instant gratification of a cash purchase. Moreover, twelve of the top 20 online sellers in sales revenue have physical stores, among them Apple and one of Arrowstreet’s clients, LL Bean…
301 Binney Lobby Opens
Recently Jim Batchelor, Peter Belford, Meghan Perlow, and I attended the grand opening celebration for BioMed Realty’s new lobby at 301 Binney Street. This Arrowstreet-designed building opened in 2008, and a little over a year ago BioMed asked us to help them revamp the lobby to encourage more tenant interaction. The most admired feature of the new space is without a doubt the video wall, which loops a 53-minute video featuring numerous aquatic scenes. We’re also proud of the undulating metal ceiling panels that break up the space in a visually interesting way. Stay tuned for professional photography in the next few weeks!
Green Thoughts from Walmart at ICSC RetailGreen
[Part 3 of a series of posts from ICSC’s RetailGreen conference.]
Last year, at ICSC’s RetailGreen conference, Don Moseley from Walmart gave an amazing 15 minute presentation on how codes differ from one municipality to another, and especially how they vary even more from the new International Green Construction Code (IgCC). Although it sounds wonky, Mr. Moseley used the specific example of how the prescribed number of plumbing fixtures can vary from code to code, with the delta being as much as 20 fixtures for the same size Walmart store. Same store footprint, same demands, totally different plumbing requirements. Importantly, when a retailer has thousands of locations across the world, it’s more difficult to plan, and it hits the bottom line in myriad ways.
This year, Mr. Moseley showed what Walmart has been doing on their roofs…
Celebrating the Year Together at The Andover Inn
I always look forward to celebrating the year with my fellow Arrowstreeters and at our annual end of the year Holiday Party that I help plan. Joined by family and friends, we had the pleasure this year of getting together in style at the Andover Inn (where Arrowstreet recently completed renovations). Delicious food along with charming company made the evening one of a kind. This year instead of having our usual “arts & crafts” area for the kids, we selected (with their parents’ help!) a game or activity that we knew they would enjoy. It was so much fun watching them find and unwrap their entertaining gifts. The children also had an ice cream sundae bar that several of us were envying all night. As always, it was a wonderful way for the Arrowstreet family to bring the year to a close.
The Arrowstreet Drawing Challenge
Starting February 1, Arrowstreet is hosting a Drawing Challenge. In this electronic age of non-stop emailing, texting, and media consumption, we’re challenging everybody who wants to participate to put down the phone and pick up a pencil.
We’re doing this in the office, and we’d like to invite any of our readers to join us!
Here are the basics…