Environmental graphics

Project introduction: In this emerging environment of knowledge-driven economic growth, it is imperative to inculcate a scientific temper in the community. The Gujarat Council of Science City, established by the Government of Gujarat, has developed the Aquatic Gallery to realize this vision. This 5th generation facility, part of the sprawling 200 acres Ahmedabad Science city, is India’s largest and first planned public inland aquarium, catering to the vision of edutainment. Attracting more than 1 million people annually, the Gallery is designed to bridge the gap between formal science education and the community at large.  Vinay Panjwani, India Concept note: The design of the Aquatic Gallery is inspired by the intricate a... More

This independent brewer-owned company is renowned for making inspired libations for all. Intending to create a sought-after destination to match their craft-brewing mastery, they enlisted our design team to create an engaging customer experience for their ultra-devoted fanbase, building excitement and anticipation on route to their new taproom. Caption Focusing on an immersive brand journey for the retail and front of house at the new 100,000 SQ FT brewery in Deerfield, we brought new life into a former mid-century publishing company building. An amalgamation of the existing space through adaptive reuse and a branded environment true to its identity, the company has taken root in its new home in Western MA. Caption Visitors are... More

Completed in 1915, 120 Broadway (known as the “Equitable Building”) is a 40-story building in Lower Manhattan that spans an entire city block and was the largest office building in the world at the time of its opening. As part of Silverstein Properties, Inc.’s capital improvement program, the revitalization re-activates the building’s soaring full-block lobby, enabling pedestrian access and connectivity between Broadway and Nassau Street. Retail is enhanced with expanded glass storefronts and lobby entrances, bringing the architecturally-significant space back into the public realm as originally intended. Paul Rivera At the building’s historic entries, BBB replaced the non-original dark Indian Green marbl... More

Winthrop House, comprised of two Neo-Georgian former freshman dormitory buildings from 1913, had undergone few upgrades since its construction. The renewal program re-envisioned Winthrop’s residential, academic, social, and co-curricular spaces and addresses technical challenges, including significant envelope upgrades, the installation of all-new mechanical systems, and detailed restoration work for the House’s signature public spaces. Amidst the sensitive context of Harvard’s River Houses, BBB also designed Robert M. Beren Hall, a distinctive 41-bed addition that includes shared amenities for undergraduates. Working with the House Renewal Project Management Office, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, the Faculty Deans, and s... More

Ongoing renovations at this New York City and National Historic Landmark in midtown Manhattan will enable the library to provide a greater range of public facing-programs, exhibitions, and amenities, augment research facilities, and improve logistics and services for its many constituents as the building continues into its second century. Spaces formerly serving back-of-house uses are restored for public use—including the Center for Research in the Humanities, dedicated to research and scholarly work. Other proposed enhancements include the Marshall Rose Plaza, a new public entrance and terrace, new exhibition, retail, and café functions, as well as adding vertical circulation and upgrading building systems, all in deference to... More

The Water Quality Association (WQA), a not-for-profit representing the residential, commercial and industrial water treatment industry, occupies a new headquarters that reinforces their dedication to science and quality. Water-inspired organic forms and a subdued color palette create a calming, trusted environment and encourage movement and flow through the space. More

SNFL is a new-generation library for all New Yorkers, with special facilities for young users, adult learning, and business. It offers the perfect contemporary complement to NYPL’s world-famous Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (SASB), located across Fifth Avenue from SNFL. SASB opened in 1911, designed by architects Carrère & Hastings in a glorious Beaux-Art style, and receives over 1.7 million visits a year as the mothership of NYPL’s reference collections. New features at SNFL reflect this harmony between the buildings: long tables that recall the impressive scale of those in SASB’s Rose Main Reading Room, ceiling artwork in the Long Room that echoes the neo-classical paintings set in SASB’s ceilings, and... More

The new building replaces a complex of modernist building volumes that used to occupy the entire site and could not be adapted to today’s sustainability standards. As the Antwerp city centre has few public green surfaces, the transformation of the site from a merely private, mineral and infrastructural area into a public garden is a crucial requirement of the competition brief. Surrounded by fragments of public green, the parcel is key to the formation of a larger, coherent park. Another – contradictory - demand was to maintain a more recent representational pavilion, which was positioned as an obstacle in between the fragments. © XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen By situating the full program in a compact volume across the p... More

Akamai Technologies, one of the world’s leading companies in the Content Delivery Network field, reinvented themselves with their new global headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Formerly occupying space in six different buildings, the fastest growing tech hub in the country, Akamai faced challenges with collaboration, innovation, and ideation; all behaviors critical to staying at the forefront of their industry. Consolidating their offices helped minimize disruption and missed opportunities while maximizing the employee and client experience.   The AkaMile The new 19-story, 480,000 square-foot design strategically organizes all collaborative spaces around a continuous path throughout the entire building. The path—a... More

In the initial conversations with Chan Han Goh, the director of Goh Ballet Academy, she identifies that ‘dance is not about luxury, it is about the work, and what is done in the studio,’ and that is why the architecture of the Goh Ballet Academy is stripped back and minimal, creating a focus on the technical aspects of dance. The former principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada had begun her training in her parent’s basement and wanted her studio to reflect the modest necessities for training in ballet.Chan Han Goh wanted the studios to be ‘light and airy,’ where they could account for all movements, such as lifting of the human body. To account for that, the five studio spaces have a floor to ceiling height of five meters, and are... More

VMWare’s existing headquarters at its Promontory campus in Palo Alto consists of five 80,000-square-foot two-story office buildings on a 29-acre site. The provider of cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services asked Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDT) to renovate each of the five buildings in a phased approach to allow for increased headcount, to promote collaboration and innovation among staff, and to transition from a reliance on private offices to 90 percent open offices and 10 percent private offices. In the three oldest buildings, private offices occupied the perimeter, with open offices stuck in the middle, cut off from views of the campus’s beautiful heritage oaks and redwoods.     &n... More

The histories of Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn and the city of Zaandam are inextricably linked. At the flagship branch of the supermarket near Zaans Medical Center, shoppers are immersed in the chain's rich entrepreneurial history.   Step into the world of Albert Heijn Design agency Silo selected highlights from the company's 125-year history to create a surprising, humorous and delicious graphical storyline. The hand-drawn illustrations show the quality products for which the supermarket is renowned – wine, coffee, biscuits, and fresh vegetables – but also the facade of one of its first locations. The drawings also include interesting facts about Albert Heijn.   Better take the stairs Using the stairs to... More