Inspiration
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.
Library Design at Fenway High School
We’re currently working with Fenway High School to renovate an existing school building for their program, including a sizable library. This created a challenge for us, as the existing building layout is long and narrow, with a central hallway – not ideal for a library space. Our solution was to utilize the wide hallway to create a unique cross-corridor library with a central reading room and circulation spine…
Sustainability on Campus
Arrowstreet invited Dennis Carlberg to speak to the firm about his efforts as the Director of Sustainability at Boston University. I was able to attend the discussion and I wanted to share the exciting things that are going on at this large university. As with any university or institutional campus, BU has a large environmental impact. BU understands it is important to reduce that footprint and in 2009 they created the Director of Sustainability position to do just that. Dennis Carlberg, the first to hold this position, jumped right into the role and has facilitated several programs over the last four years to create sustainable awareness and action on campus. Carlberg noted that one of the first things necessary to determine how to reduce the university’s footprint was to know exactly what their impact was. They assessed exactly how much energy, water, and waste that the university consumed and produced. Once that was determined then they could measure their success of the programs…
60+ Going Beyond the Hour
Started in 2007, Earth Hour is a yearly campaign to raise awareness of global warming and other environmental challenges and encourage people to participate on a global level to protect our planet. Individuals, organizations, and cities pledge to turn off the lights for the same hour on a set day each year. Earth Hour has grown from one city in 2007 to hundreds of thousands of people in 2013 in more than 150 countries and even outer space. The amount of electricity saved during that one hour of millions of homes and even major cities shutting of the lights is quite significant. However, saving the planet isn’t just about one hour that is why Earth Hour has grown to go “60+ Beyond the Hour”. One way that Earth Hour is encouraging people to go beyond the hour is through the “I Will If You Will” challenge. Individuals or organizations create a challenge which if met they are willing to do something in return to benefit the environment. From celebrities to cities challenges big and small have been made…
Brooklyn Boulders Preview
Arrowstreet is working on this super cool new climbing gym right here in Somerville. This video shows more of what’s to come.
Here is some more information on the gym, directly from our client, Brooklyn Boulders…
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…
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…
How Play and Humor Help Us Innovate
[Part 2 of a series of posts from ICSC’s RetailGreen conference.]
In a unique presentation at the ICSC RetailGreen conference, Professor Barry Kudrowitz of the University of Minnesota demonstrated “How Play and Humor Help Us Innovate.” My friend and fellow conference committee member Ed Doyle of Target discovered Mr. Kudrowitz at a company team-building retreat and was so impressed that he brought Mr. Kudrowitz to our conference. Now, this presentation was not directly about sustainability or retail development. Instead, it was about “innovation.” It was fantastic! Via a series of hands-on activities, Mr. Kudrowitz led the audience through mind-mapping exercises, word games, and even a game called “the bears and tigers”. The most interesting thing we learned was that more ideas equals better, more creative ideas…
Revere Bridge Lights Up the Holidays
On December 20th, the pedestrian bridge recently completed as part of the Waterfront Square Transit Oriented Development was lit for the first time. In early fall, our team, with the support of the City of Revere and help from Suffolk Construction and Color Kinetics, mocked up and selected color-changing LED lights at the base of the cable stay pylons. As illustrated in the photos, the lights are now installed and have been fired up with the holiday season in mind. With the recent dedication of the bridge to Congressman Markey’s family, this next step moves the project one step closer to a public opening. In the coming weeks, LED-lit railings and the glass-enclosed elevators will be completed, finalizing the connection between the MBTA’s Wonderland Station and the historic Revere Beach. We look forward to seeing the many color variations of the bridge over the course of the coming months and congratulate the Markey family, the City, MBTA, DCR, and Eurovest Development and on this new milestone.
Disrupt and Interrupt: Thoughts from Retail Green
[Part 1 of a series of posts from ICSC’s RetailGreen conference.]
In the first General Session of the ICSC RetailGreen conference in Phoenix last month, I moderated a panel discussion called “Disrupt and Interrupt”. Since it was the beginning of the conference, we wanted to speak broadly about sustainability issues that retail developers encounter when planning projects and business initiatives. The panel consisted of Audi Banny of Estée Lauder, George Caraghiaur of Simon Property Group, Jim Hanna of Starbucks, and Riggs Kubiak of Honest Buildings. Some of my questions were pre-planned, but we had fun taking live questions through an email account and a scrolling twitter-feed which we projected above the stage. It all worked quite well. Audience members kept me well-stocked with comments and questions.