Terre Haute Convention Center

The entry, a two-story glass volume, is on axis with the intersection of Wabash and 8th Street. This provides a dramatic welcoming gesture to the city, and introduces into Terre Haute a crisp and elegant facade befitting a prominent civic gathering space. This glass volume is shaded with a generous overhead cornice and with horizontal sun-shade devices at its southern exposure. This is a sustainable design feature allowing for an abundance of natural daylighting, reducing the electric lighting demand, and providing a means of blocking the harshest sun angles thereby moderating the mechanical cooling requirements.

The length of primary street façade consists of large glazed openings looking into the Convention Center’s active pre-function spaces. This transparency allows the energy and activity inside the Convention Center to support and contribute to the downtown Terre Haute streetscape. Both this pre-function space, and the building’s primary circulation artery are essentially indoor extensions of the downtown pedestrian pathways. These openings are framed by a regular spacing of stone columns, breaking the building’s scale down into an appropriate module for the local urban context.

The remainder of the building is trimmed with banded limestone and concrete for a durable, low-maintenance, and regionally sensitive exterior. The building is organized around a central circulation street that provides access to the pre-function spaces and the main ballroom. Up to 900 guests can be seated and served full course meals prepared in the facility’s state of the art kitchen. Separate back-of-house circulation provides food and server access to the main room without passing through the public spaces. Access is provided to permit the introduction of large items into the ballroom allowing trade shows to take advantage of the facility. The main room can be subdivided in to as many as six large meeting rooms for hosting smaller events. Acoustics was a key design criterion necessitating the use of high performance operable partitions so that multiple events can be hosted concurrently without acoustic interference. This feature provides the operator maximum booking flexibility. Breakout rooms are provided on the opposite side of the main circulation corridor. A two-story atrium provides visual access to more breakout areas located on the second floor. Full food service can be provided on the upper level as events may require.

Flexibility was a key design requirement allowing the facility to host meetings with up to 2000 participants or as few as 10 or 12 guests. Infrastructure is provided to allow the main room to host trade shows. State of the art IT infrastructure permits digital wireless internet access to all rooms and potential event configurations. A DAS systems make sure guests will have cell phone access at all times no matter how large an event is being hosted.

Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites – Indianapolis

The church, built in 1869, was renovated and now serves as a lobby, dining area, and event space. The 7-story hotel includes a 123-key Hampton Inn and 108-key Homewood Suites by Hilton. Also included in the design is 11,500 square feet of meeting space, prototypical dining with a full-service bar restaurant, and a 3-level precast parking garage.

VisionLoft

VisionLoft responds to the growing tech culture and the need for event space in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. The building was built in 1908 as a livery with dirt floors, stables, and a shop-front. The property had undergone at least two conversions and had an uncertain past. The owners turned to CSO’s designers to guide them through a renovation to achieve a creative meeting hub in the city.

Exploratory demolition revealed brick walls and a wood ceiling consistent with the building’s age. Existing carpet was removed to expose a poured concrete floor most likely from the 1980’s. Two skylights and a fireplace were also repaired and are featured elements in the space.

The design team selected airy fixtures and furniture pieces to keep light moving through the space and introduced quirky tiles to keep the space modern and lighthearted. The industrial shell is juxtaposed against a moss wall and custom-made planter wall to give the back door privacy but allow light to filter in from both ends of the building. The space features all wireless technology, an interactive touch video wall, dual screen projectors, and more.

CSO’s collaboration with the owners resulted in a truly unique space in downtown Indianapolis for interactive meetings, ideation sessions, weddings, and more. The owners worked with Purposeful Design to design and fabricate the custom planter wall. Purposeful Design is a local not-for-profit whose mission is to help rebuild lives of individuals broken by addiction or homelessness, equip them with valuable work skills, and provide the gift of work training.

Bulldog Park

Bulldog Park includes a National Hockey League-sized ice rink, an outdoor amphitheater, and a two-story building. The area between the building and ice skating rink is designed to serve various seasonal purposes and includes a splash pad feature for summer use. The ice rink is the only outdoor NHL-sized ice rink in Northwest Indiana.

The ice rink is designed for use at temperatures up to 45 degrees. This enables the City to offer ice-skating without having to wait for the temperature to drop to freeze the ice naturally.

The city anticipates hosting various events at the venue including a farmer’s market, car shows, and performances. They also expect that the public will use the various spaces for private events such as wedding receptions.

The two-story building provides a new home for the city’s Special Events and Parks Department offices and Senior Center.

Fairfield Inn & Suites

CSO was commissioned by White Lodging Services to design a new, five-story hotel adjacent to the University of Notre Dame campus.  Located within walking distance of the football stadium, the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites is a 119-key, custom designed hotel.  The exterior building design incorporates brick and stone masonry to compliment nearby retail and commercial development.  The interior design of the hotel, featuring the Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s blue and gold, celebrates the University’s long-standing traditions.  The hotel amenities include a fitness center, indoor pool, two meeting/event rooms, business center, and dining area. In addition, the hotel has spacious, contemporary rooms and suites equipped with work desks and ergonomic chairs.  Construction for the new hotel was completed two months early.

Carr Workplaces – Convergence

At the outset of the project, the Purdue Research Foundation partnered with Carr Workplaces to create a building unlike any other on Purdue University’s campus. This building was planned to serve as a catalyst for idea exchanges and idea incubation. The vision included entrepreneurs, established Fortune 500 companies, university faculty and students all converging in a single location. “Convergence” evolved as the concept.

The space includes 68 private offices, drop-in workspaces, meeting rooms, and event space on the first two floors of the center. The project included the design of the building’s public spaces along with the space for Carr Workplaces.

Upon entering the building, visitors are entrenched within the convergence ecosystem. Collaboration spaces including: community tables, informal lounge settings and private conference rooms surround the dynamic 2-story atrium. The artfully woven lighting above the atrium is symbolic of the idea exchange concept and serves as a subtle branded component. The balance of exposed structural steel elements and refined details speaks to the synergy between “Boilermakers” and corporate partnerships.

The Carr space continues the subtle color story of the atrium, and reimagines it as bold patterns and strategic color blocking. A neutral foundation of the iconic Purdue “black and gold” translates to steel and wood, and enables bright blues, oranges and greens to take center stage.

The artwork contributes seamlessly to the dynamic color integration, and reveals another layer of the complex design. Carefully curated art reminds users of the rich Purdue University heritage, and their contributions to Agriculture, Aeronautics, Engineering and Space Exploration.

A diverse assortment of work settings allows users to tailor the space to meet their needs. The incorporation of neighborhood plazas places the opportunity to collaborate at the user’s doorstep. Both formal and informal settings support this exchange and further the opportunity to choose. Strategic circulation paths facilitate impromptu exchanges, and are designed to encourage wellness.

Convergence is where private industry is strategically located at Purdue University’s front door. It is an incubator for innovation. As Purdue states, it is “where ideas will be turned into discoveries and global challenges translated into innovations and impact.”