Our NYC based designer Ellen Hanson has a mention in the New York Times today. Look for the Home section, under the article "What Green Means in the Hamptons" (Page D7 in paper format), where photographs of her kitchen and dining area design are featured. We love the handcrafted table, made of pieces of lumber from the original house and sitting on steel legs made by a local blacksmith.
Just as our architects Surber Barber Choate & Hertlein have designed the building to meet Gold LEED criteria, Ellen Hanson is using a green lens in her selection of the hotel's interior finishes and furnishings. Because there are no LEED-equivalent standards for interior furnishings, she has self-imposed such design criteria as specifying materials sourced from within a 500 mile radius and using local suppliers whenever possible.
Ellen is also the creator of the "Green Scene" on 1stdibs.com.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Athens Grow Green Coalition
We recently learned that Athens has its own organization for promoting sustainable development called the Athens Grow Green Coalition (AGGC). We have taken interest in the group, because we share their mission to promote responsible community development.
Last week we had the opportunity to meet two representatives of the board, and we have been thinking about ways to get involved. We have been tossing around different ideas, from providing financial support to assisting with a lecture series on sustainable development. Stay tuned for future updates, but we wanted to get the word out about the group's initiatives, one of which is an annual report called "Growing Sustainability."
Last week we had the opportunity to meet two representatives of the board, and we have been thinking about ways to get involved. We have been tossing around different ideas, from providing financial support to assisting with a lecture series on sustainable development. Stay tuned for future updates, but we wanted to get the word out about the group's initiatives, one of which is an annual report called "Growing Sustainability."
Monday, July 21, 2008
Corey Smith Concert
Friends of UGA's Music Business Program, UGA Alumni, and friends of Hotel Indigo – Athens gathered on Saturday night to see Corey Smith perform at Chastain Park. Over one hundred people showed up at Rick and Jane Fine's home for a cocktail party before heading over to the concert on a Fur Bus. Our crowd took over a whole section and danced the night away to tunes of "The Good Life", "Every Dawg" and "Twenty-One." Check out Corey's website and have a listen: www.coreysmith.org/music.cfm
Also take a look at our slide show of pictures from the evening (link here)—they do a way better job of describing the fun we had. If you had as good a time as we did, please post your comments and/or send photos to rialtopp@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone who came out to support Athens' musicians.
Also take a look at our slide show of pictures from the evening (link here)—they do a way better job of describing the fun we had. If you had as good a time as we did, please post your comments and/or send photos to rialtopp@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone who came out to support Athens' musicians.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Searching for sustainable building materials
We have been exploring sustainable building materials this week, and we are overwhelmed by the number of green options out there. In flooring alone we have seen everything from recycled hardwood to “green” vinyl. Our fear of “green washing” kicks in and we feel compelled to do our homework.
We are learning that product life cycle information is hard to find, and that we have to trust our suppliers to provide truthful statistics. It seems that almost every manufacturing company is advertising a green advantage of some kind. But we are resolved to find products that go above and beyond meeting LEED standards, products that are exceptions to general claims of sustainability.
Here is an interesting twist on sustainability… This week Shaw introduced us to a “prison wood” line of Anderson flooring. It meets the usual criteria we look for in sustainable products (such as recycled content and responsible manufacturing), but there is also a story about the people behind its creation. The wood is hand crafted by inmates at a correctional institution in South Carolina, near Anderson’s headquarters. It is a voluntary job that pays above minimum wage; it helps inmates build skills and a work ethic; and it prepares them for re-entry into society. In return, Shaw/Anderson is able to deliver a beautiful, high quality product. It’s sustainable on all dimensions—a generative workforce using recycled product to create a distressed wood that designers love.
We are learning that product life cycle information is hard to find, and that we have to trust our suppliers to provide truthful statistics. It seems that almost every manufacturing company is advertising a green advantage of some kind. But we are resolved to find products that go above and beyond meeting LEED standards, products that are exceptions to general claims of sustainability.
Here is an interesting twist on sustainability… This week Shaw introduced us to a “prison wood” line of Anderson flooring. It meets the usual criteria we look for in sustainable products (such as recycled content and responsible manufacturing), but there is also a story about the people behind its creation. The wood is hand crafted by inmates at a correctional institution in South Carolina, near Anderson’s headquarters. It is a voluntary job that pays above minimum wage; it helps inmates build skills and a work ethic; and it prepares them for re-entry into society. In return, Shaw/Anderson is able to deliver a beautiful, high quality product. It’s sustainable on all dimensions—a generative workforce using recycled product to create a distressed wood that designers love.
Friday, July 4, 2008
About our Site
The site of our project is five blocks from "The Arch" at the corner of College Avenue and Broad Street. Yesterday morning we took a walking tour of the site and wandered up to campus. The heartbeat of Athens is centered around the university, and our hotel is just far enough away to feel like an oasis from the student activity.
We spent some time yesterday thinking about how to bring the heartbeat of Athens into the daily activity of the hotel. We see this coming to life through showcasing local talent in the arts. We became very excited by all the possibilities as we toured the new Lamar Dodd School of Art, housing everything from painting to printmaking. There is real potential for us to help promote student talent, not just in wall art, but in the public art realm—stay tuned for updates as we create a design competition for an outdoor sculpture on our property.
To see pictures from our July 3rd trip to Athens, link to our slideshow entitled "Site Photos & Athens Tour."
We spent some time yesterday thinking about how to bring the heartbeat of Athens into the daily activity of the hotel. We see this coming to life through showcasing local talent in the arts. We became very excited by all the possibilities as we toured the new Lamar Dodd School of Art, housing everything from painting to printmaking. There is real potential for us to help promote student talent, not just in wall art, but in the public art realm—stay tuned for updates as we create a design competition for an outdoor sculpture on our property.
To see pictures from our July 3rd trip to Athens, link to our slideshow entitled "Site Photos & Athens Tour."
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Journey Begins...
Welcome to our first blog entry about the Hotel Indigo - Athens. Consider this a living diary of our journey to build a sustainable boutique hotel.
What makes this project so exciting is the people that are involved. Just yesterday, we visited with bankers, musicians, curators, and an investor, and every one of them is enthusiastic about what a community-based hotel means for Athens.
Creating community is one of our key tenets for sustainable hotel development. As an example of how this can play out, we are working with UGA’s Music Business Program to carve out a space on our property as a dedicated performance venue. This venue would serve as a live lab for business students and musicians to manage concerts and exhibit new talent. Proceeds would go back into the program and help grow UGA’s reputation in the music business.
The passion of the people involved is inspiring. We just learned that one of our key investors is an avid botanist and loves the Arts-and-Crafts aesthetic of Greene & Greene and Frank Lloyd Wright. Our visit to his lakeside home in Buckhead (Madison, not Atlanta) yesterday reminded us that environments are expressions of the people who live in them. We were impressed by every detail of our experience, from the architectural features to the Meyer lemon squeezed into our drinking water. To share our tour with us, check out our slideshow entitled “House on Lake Oconee.”
Please visit our blog often and post comments that will help us to better develop our thoughts.
What makes this project so exciting is the people that are involved. Just yesterday, we visited with bankers, musicians, curators, and an investor, and every one of them is enthusiastic about what a community-based hotel means for Athens.
Creating community is one of our key tenets for sustainable hotel development. As an example of how this can play out, we are working with UGA’s Music Business Program to carve out a space on our property as a dedicated performance venue. This venue would serve as a live lab for business students and musicians to manage concerts and exhibit new talent. Proceeds would go back into the program and help grow UGA’s reputation in the music business.
The passion of the people involved is inspiring. We just learned that one of our key investors is an avid botanist and loves the Arts-and-Crafts aesthetic of Greene & Greene and Frank Lloyd Wright. Our visit to his lakeside home in Buckhead (Madison, not Atlanta) yesterday reminded us that environments are expressions of the people who live in them. We were impressed by every detail of our experience, from the architectural features to the Meyer lemon squeezed into our drinking water. To share our tour with us, check out our slideshow entitled “House on Lake Oconee.”
Please visit our blog often and post comments that will help us to better develop our thoughts.
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