Boston Business Journal, January 27, 2003
Lobbying for style: All it takes is a grand entrance
Companies, as well as contractors, are taking lobbies more seriously
People may not get a second chance to make a good first impression. But buildings, you might say, are another story.
New construction and redesign are giving the lobbies, entry ways and reception areas of many older spaces new appeal. These areas make the first visual impression on clients and other visitors, and companies take them seriously.
"The basic sequence is that visitors come in, they are greeted by someone, they see some kind of display ... that helps (them) understand the success and purpose of the company," said Marc Margulies, principal at Margulies & Associates Inc. architecture firm in Boston. "We often see conference centers, some kind of food facility ... multimedia presentation capabilities" such as the ability to plug in laptops, watch videos or participate in teleconferencing.
More light, brighter colors
Many companies are choosing specialty glass, dramatic lighting and modern, welcoming appearances, in part to supplement or balance security systems.
Lately at nearly every firm, "there's a tendency toward lighter wood, more light, bolder use of color, maybe a classic, clean minimalist approach," said Robert Brown, a partner at CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares Inc. architecture firm in Boston. He added that "retro" looks suggesting the '50s, '60s or '70s also are popular.
Law offices and bank lobbies, not traditionally associated with daring design, "really have transformed themselves within the last five years or so — which is refreshing," Brown said. "It's a lot more engaging."
For law firm Foley Hoag LLP's lobby in South Boston, CBT "created a pool of water, so that there's this connection to the harbor," Brown said. "The stair actually comes up and through a metal screen wall." These elements, he said, represent "more of a high-tech look than you would think of for a law firm."
Brown also has worked on lobby design and redesign for such buildings as One Boston Place and 111 Huntington Ave., which houses Palmer & Dodge law offices.
Dropping its 'staid' image
Putnam Investments LLC faced a challenge when it moved its conference and training facility to new quarters in Norwood in 2002. The company "wanted to drop that (banking industry) image of a staid, conservative environment," said Elizabeth Lowrey Clapp, principal and director of interior architecture for Elkus/Manfredi Architects Ltd. in Boston, which designed the new space.
How to do that in a 19th-century mansion and polo grounds?
"This building had to function in so many ways," Clapp said.
The warm fireplace remained. But a flat-screen TV now hangs above it. The cherry wood desk sometimes has a receptionist behind it, but, for large gatherings, there's a bartender instead. Italian contemporary furniture sits below warm ceiling lights, designed to resemble a contemporary chandelier.
Several current trends, Brown said, "were picked up from dot-com boys and girls: much more video and TV ... giving a sense of connectivity to the world."
Ad shops lead the pack
Although all kinds of businesses have made design changes lately, advertising and communications agencies still generally lead the way when it comes to office space creativity.
Visitors to the Drydock Avenue offices of Partners & Simons Inc. "enter a gritty-looking warehouse from outside and take somewhat of a gritty elevator ride up," said Mark E. Young, the agency's communications counsel.
"You enter on the eighth floor ... and it's sort of alive" with people and activity.
Music of all kinds plays loudly. Photos of every employee and former employee hang on the huge walls, beside and adjacent to the company's creative work. A couple of synthetic torsos hang at the entryways, steel mesh artworks dangle from the ceiling and a multicolored curtain hangs behind it all, across from industrial-sized freight elevators.
Communication dominates the reception area at Cambridge public relations giant Weber Shandwick Worldwide (part of New York's Interpublic Group of Cos.). A wall of nine televisions, three across, broadcasts CNN. Floor-to-ceiling windows behind the reception desk look out onto the Charles River.
At the downtown advertising firm Arnold Worldwide, clients' ads play on two large-screen TVs suspended from the ceiling. Frosted-glass walls sport movable client logo projections, and a huge screen, also playing client ads simultaneously, covers the wall behind the reception desk.
More than just a trend
At marketing company Digitas LLC in the 39-year-old Prudential Building in the Back Bay, heavy sliding steel doors, two large green metal soldier statues from a 1940s service station, and changing blue, pink and purple theater lights greet visitors to the modern-industrial reception area for the company's eight floors.
Planners wanted to make sure the space's design "was not going to be trendy, something that, in a year's time, we'd be saying, 'Boy, did we make a mistake,' " said Alan Wallach, vice president and director of facilities for the company's Boston office. "We're not a marble-and-mahogany company," he said.
Digitas' designers set out to project creativity while making the space easy to use for clients who fly to Boston for meetings at the offices, sometimes for a day. The company installed a space in which "clients can drop their luggage off; it's very secure," Wallach said. There also are guest phones, and the space is configured with meeting areas "all located within our reception lobby area, so we don't have to bring our clients to our other floors," he said.
Putting it all together
As part of Akamai Technologies Inc.'s move from one Cambridge office to another nearby, "they moved their entire operations center from the old building to the new one," Margulies said. "It was essential to them that the network operations center still be visible from the reception area ... and that it be associated with their executive presentation center."
"Companies can — and do — spend millions on advertising or collateral material," said Jessica McWade, senior vice president and co-creative director at Benes Brand Imagining Inc. in Lexington, "and then have dirty lobbies or crabby receptionists. It's counterproductive, to say the least."
McWade has a long-standing interest and experience in reception area design, having helped create lobby and reception space for Textron Systems Inc. and Raytheon Co.
"A lot of (reception-area design and planning) is common sense," McWade said. "Softer lighting is (in most cases) better than overhead fluorescent lighting."
Even long-past dates on magazines in the waiting area or the cleanliness of the bathrooms can create an impression of the company, she added. And if a company's achievements aren't well known (Raytheon, she said, invented the microwave oven, for example), then put them on display.
"Environments are the least understood brand assets," McWade said. "Lobbies instantly project a mood. It can be anything from dynamic and engaging to bright and creative to dull and lethargic to dark and foreboding."
Lobbying for style: All it takes is a grand entrance
Companies, as well as contractors, are taking lobbies more seriously
People may not get a second chance to make a good first impression. But buildings, you might say, are another story.
New construction and redesign are giving the lobbies, entry ways and reception areas of many older spaces new appeal. These areas make the first visual impression on clients and other visitors, and companies take them seriously.
"The basic sequence is that visitors come in, they are greeted by someone, they see some kind of display ... that helps (them) understand the success and purpose of the company," said Marc Margulies, principal at Margulies & Associates Inc. architecture firm in Boston. "We often see conference centers, some kind of food facility ... multimedia presentation capabilities" such as the ability to plug in laptops, watch videos or participate in teleconferencing.
More light, brighter colors
Many companies are choosing specialty glass, dramatic lighting and modern, welcoming appearances, in part to supplement or balance security systems.
Lately at nearly every firm, "there's a tendency toward lighter wood, more light, bolder use of color, maybe a classic, clean minimalist approach," said Robert Brown, a partner at CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares Inc. architecture firm in Boston. He added that "retro" looks suggesting the '50s, '60s or '70s also are popular.
Law offices and bank lobbies, not traditionally associated with daring design, "really have transformed themselves within the last five years or so — which is refreshing," Brown said. "It's a lot more engaging."
For law firm Foley Hoag LLP's lobby in South Boston, CBT "created a pool of water, so that there's this connection to the harbor," Brown said. "The stair actually comes up and through a metal screen wall." These elements, he said, represent "more of a high-tech look than you would think of for a law firm."
Brown also has worked on lobby design and redesign for such buildings as One Boston Place and 111 Huntington Ave., which houses Palmer & Dodge law offices.
Dropping its 'staid' image
Putnam Investments LLC faced a challenge when it moved its conference and training facility to new quarters in Norwood in 2002. The company "wanted to drop that (banking industry) image of a staid, conservative environment," said Elizabeth Lowrey Clapp, principal and director of interior architecture for Elkus/Manfredi Architects Ltd. in Boston, which designed the new space.
How to do that in a 19th-century mansion and polo grounds?
"This building had to function in so many ways," Clapp said.
The warm fireplace remained. But a flat-screen TV now hangs above it. The cherry wood desk sometimes has a receptionist behind it, but, for large gatherings, there's a bartender instead. Italian contemporary furniture sits below warm ceiling lights, designed to resemble a contemporary chandelier.
Several current trends, Brown said, "were picked up from dot-com boys and girls: much more video and TV ... giving a sense of connectivity to the world."
Ad shops lead the pack
Although all kinds of businesses have made design changes lately, advertising and communications agencies still generally lead the way when it comes to office space creativity.
Visitors to the Drydock Avenue offices of Partners & Simons Inc. "enter a gritty-looking warehouse from outside and take somewhat of a gritty elevator ride up," said Mark E. Young, the agency's communications counsel.
"You enter on the eighth floor ... and it's sort of alive" with people and activity.
Music of all kinds plays loudly. Photos of every employee and former employee hang on the huge walls, beside and adjacent to the company's creative work. A couple of synthetic torsos hang at the entryways, steel mesh artworks dangle from the ceiling and a multicolored curtain hangs behind it all, across from industrial-sized freight elevators.
Communication dominates the reception area at Cambridge public relations giant Weber Shandwick Worldwide (part of New York's Interpublic Group of Cos.). A wall of nine televisions, three across, broadcasts CNN. Floor-to-ceiling windows behind the reception desk look out onto the Charles River.
At the downtown advertising firm Arnold Worldwide, clients' ads play on two large-screen TVs suspended from the ceiling. Frosted-glass walls sport movable client logo projections, and a huge screen, also playing client ads simultaneously, covers the wall behind the reception desk.
More than just a trend
At marketing company Digitas LLC in the 39-year-old Prudential Building in the Back Bay, heavy sliding steel doors, two large green metal soldier statues from a 1940s service station, and changing blue, pink and purple theater lights greet visitors to the modern-industrial reception area for the company's eight floors.
Planners wanted to make sure the space's design "was not going to be trendy, something that, in a year's time, we'd be saying, 'Boy, did we make a mistake,' " said Alan Wallach, vice president and director of facilities for the company's Boston office. "We're not a marble-and-mahogany company," he said.
Digitas' designers set out to project creativity while making the space easy to use for clients who fly to Boston for meetings at the offices, sometimes for a day. The company installed a space in which "clients can drop their luggage off; it's very secure," Wallach said. There also are guest phones, and the space is configured with meeting areas "all located within our reception lobby area, so we don't have to bring our clients to our other floors," he said.
Putting it all together
As part of Akamai Technologies Inc.'s move from one Cambridge office to another nearby, "they moved their entire operations center from the old building to the new one," Margulies said. "It was essential to them that the network operations center still be visible from the reception area ... and that it be associated with their executive presentation center."
"Companies can — and do — spend millions on advertising or collateral material," said Jessica McWade, senior vice president and co-creative director at Benes Brand Imagining Inc. in Lexington, "and then have dirty lobbies or crabby receptionists. It's counterproductive, to say the least."
McWade has a long-standing interest and experience in reception area design, having helped create lobby and reception space for Textron Systems Inc. and Raytheon Co.
"A lot of (reception-area design and planning) is common sense," McWade said. "Softer lighting is (in most cases) better than overhead fluorescent lighting."
Even long-past dates on magazines in the waiting area or the cleanliness of the bathrooms can create an impression of the company, she added. And if a company's achievements aren't well known (Raytheon, she said, invented the microwave oven, for example), then put them on display.
"Environments are the least understood brand assets," McWade said. "Lobbies instantly project a mood. It can be anything from dynamic and engaging to bright and creative to dull and lethargic to dark and foreboding."