THAT MAGIC THAT HAPPENS WHEN OUR SPECIALTIES OVERLAP​

1. A “WORK” client learns from a “LEARN” client

We were working on a corporate meeting space, when I noticed that they used a floor mounted TV for the speakers to see their presentation. Since we work often in a university setting, and since I frequently present as part of a panel at Babson University, I knew that if the speakers’ screen is at the back of the room, it can appear that we are looking at the students instead of down at a floor based or podium mounted screen. I didn’t think – how do our other corporate clients solve this problem. I thought – how do other clients solve this problem?

2. A “LEARN” client learns from a “PLAY” client

Our breadth of experience can help in other ways. One of our institutional clients wanted a small commercial kitchen for big events. There are specialty kitchen design consultants, who would eventually be brought in. But early in the process, in order to allocate the space as a place holder until we could coordinate with the kitchen people, we used our experience designing restaurants and other corporate dining projects. Those preliminary plans were altered later to accommodate the client’s specific requirements, but the general plans were close enough to have been very useful: for early pricing, for use by the consultants, and for the client to make some early decisions.

3. A “LIVE” client learns from a “PLAY” client

One of our private home clients was looking for a basement play space that could work for racquetball, basketball, and general running around space. Because we have designed several fitness facilities, we were able to quickly assess the requirements for the multi-function space. In addition, we were able to drop the floor level not to regulation racquetball level (I was worried about water infiltration and wanted the basement floor to be above the lowest point on the site), but low enough to be an amazing playing space.

4. When the “AGE” client learned from a “LIVE” client

The other aspect of having a multi-specialty firm is that we have so many resources for every kind of custom requirement. We were working on an update for an assisted living project that had an existing collection of beautiful and traditional arts and crafts accessories that made the place feel “homey,” but the seating available for use by seniors (more firm, slightly higher, to ease getting up) just didn’t look right. We took the design committee to a design center showroom that sold semi-custom sofas for our “LIVE” clients, and we were able to find the right combination for the “AGE” project.

What/who will your project learn from?