Discovery Channel

Silver Spring, MD

A new staff café within walking distance of a plethora of foodie options for employees of Discovery Communications’ world headquarters gives them a home of their own. DCI's goal in commissioning this project was to create an aesthetically pleasing cafeteria that reflects positively on the Discovery brand while satisfying their employees’ need for a place to grab a quick breakfast or lunch. Mission accomplished.

Related Work

Design

MIT, William Sloan School of Management

The Beyer Blinder Belle addition of a new penthouse floor, along with a complete gut-renovation of the Building E-52 conference center, will increase the number of events the building can host and the corresponding revenues gained. HOPKINS’ scope included renovation of a large production kitchen and a remote full-service bake shop, to which we added a third finishing kitchen on the penthouse level and catering pantries near all conference rooms.

Design

Corporate Executive Board (CEB)

The Corporate Executive Board is an association of the highest executives of Fortune 500 companies who meet in Washington, DC several times a year to discuss their issues and earn from each other. In the Foggy Bottom home for many years, Susan Cage was the caterer of choice who brought the kind of high-end gourmet meals that their illustrious members were accustomed to. When they decided to make the move to an I.M. Pei designed building in Roslyn, Virginia the CEB included a staff cafeteria, designed by HOPKINS with Gensler. Towards the end of the design process, CEB asked HOPKINS directly to lead the process of identifying a high-end operator which could manage both the in-house cafeteria and the member events.

Design

New York Academies of Science

The Academies sold its historic building to move into the World Trade Center 7, the first building to replace the fallen towers. The finishing kitchen was to support New York Academies events and be used by outside organizations as well, with the idea that the space could be rented as an income generator for the organization. The Academies asked HOPKINS to perform a City-wide RFP search for the ideal caterer. The two-month process involved multiple site visits, tastings and interviews and resulted in finding a fulltime operator, rather than a part time caterer. The chosen operator brought the advantage of being able to market the venue to outside groups as well.