The new SOM-designed conference center provides housing and meal service as well as catering to conferees and will use minimum amounts of energy and water to do so.
The sale of the existing urban facility provided ample funds to purchase new land in a remote London suburb and to hire Kieran Timberlake to design a striking new embassy. Its expansive, light-filled cafeteria was designed to host important embassy events formerly held off-site at great expense. To add to the benefits, a new cafe offers a perfect venue for staff happy hours.
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.
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.