Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - September 2007 - Opening Night

Sept. 27: Opening Night for the Esquire Apartment. Walked the red carpet and received a warm welcome from publishers Kevin O'Malley and Stephen Jacoby. After entering the very crowded apartment, there was a moment to walk through the crowd and up the beautiful elliptical-helix stair to enter the terrace. Wow! First impression, it is packed and people are standing under the pergola, looking at the putting green, sitting on the bench and in the tree chair. And a group is crowding around the bar...brushing against the Rockport suede. The DJ is spinning some great tunes, and the crowd is enjoying the space! What a wonderful evening on the Rockport terrace!

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - September 2007

September 2007

 

 

Week 1: Pergola installation completed; logistics coordination for all deliveries

Week 2: Multiple deliveries and logistics

• Concrete      bench delivery from Get Real Surfaces from upstate New York
• Delivery      of chair from The Bent Tree; shipped from Aspen
• Putting      green firm, Rhino Sports flies in on red-eye from Arizona to do all-day      installation and then fly out the next day…thank you!
• Plants      installed by horticultural team of Laurel Hill Farms of Long Island
• PANIC      moment: Leather just left customs and we can’t find an upholstery firm, so      we call Rockport and Esquire and our team – everyone is on the phone      trying to find someone and finally, we are lucky – with Mason Anastasia, a      phenomenal small firm in Long Island that handles everything at the last      minute. We drive out to Long Island during Hamptons traffic on a Thursday      afternoon and they finish everything by Tuesday! Whew!

 

Week 3: Rockport team views space and give a ‘thumbs up’ to the installation

 

Weekend of September 21: Lower Terrace is photographed

September 27: Opening Night event for Esquire “Ultimate Bachelor Apartment” 2007

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - August 2007

August 2007

Panic! We learn that the pergola requires 18 foot clearance for the posts – and the elevator has only 11 foot clearance. And the construction ‘hoist’ elevator is coming down in 7 days. We call our supplier, Shade Tree Canopies in Ohio and beg for them to find a way to make this happen by the deadline…and we hold our breath. They do us a favor and stop the production line to work on our pergola over a weekend – and get everything on the truck arriving on the 6^th day. We get our materials up the hoist elevator and the next day, it comes down…whew!

 

In the meantime, we speak with client about the “shoe” that they discussed earlier. They may want to do B-roll footage of the installation with our team wearing a pair of Rockport shoes (or sandals)…my agent calls to verify details. The shoe and B-roll footage do not work out, but they send me a great pair of fashion boots for the fall/winter season. Thank you Rockport! 

Over the next few weeks, we juggle our regular clients and put in a few long days to ensure that all deadlines are met…and then we start gearing up for the post-Labor day installation process. 

Drama: the leather company mislabeled the suede by calling it ‘earth’, so it is held up in customs until Fish & Wildlife inspectors have a chance to make sure it is not dirt…uggh! Come to find out that ‘earth’ was the color of the suede so it finally cleared customs, no problem. We just lost the upholstery team that was going to sew everything as we had a 48 hour window to get it to them. And with Labor Day around the corner, everyone is on vacation…uggh!

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - July 2007

July 2007

 

The construction is far enough along for us to make a site visit…and that is when we realize, uh oh! The plastic polymer chair will not work – it is too big and unwieldy and there would be no way to hoist it up the elevator and given that it is on the 19^th floor, it would not be practical. Back to the drawing board!

 

Our new design takes a time to create over the 4^th of July week and we make a few changes that the client likes upon review. We decide to focus on the four areas of Rockport’s Torsion shoe consumer – sophisticated, athletic, practical with an active and edgy lifestyle…so that means there will be an unexpected twist in everything he does. To my design team, that meant that we would pull together ‘over the top’ elements which look sophisticated but they are all eco-friendly…

 

• Putting green made of recycled plastic soda bottles (if we can find a provider!)
• Pergola with ‘sunshade’ canvas to ensure heat gain/loss is preserved (I chose a material and color that matched some of the Rockport washable shoes)
• Low maintenance plants
• An eco-friendly concrete seating element to be designed by Robin Wilson
• A bar that will utilize the new washable leather/suede product from Rockport
• Low-voltage LED lighting as needed
• Petrified logs to be used as seating elements

 

We sent the storyboards to the client’s office. And held our breath.

 

She called the next day and indicated that her team loved the new concept. So we are off and running to sourcing materials and ensuring that we meet the mid-August deadlines.

 

 

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - June 2007

June 2007

 

The entire month is devoted to design concepts. Our team focuses together – with Jeremy from Whitt Studios handling the CAD drawings. A conference call with Rockport for further clarification and we are off. And we come up with one design that requires a prototype – a plastic polymer chair that will light up inside…but we are not sure if this will work. We make two other designs – and wait to see the space as the building is still under construction.

 
We realize that to design an eco-friendly terrace, we have to create a passive sun barrier – and decide to construct a pergola that has the ability to open or close canvas as needed to preserve heat gain and loss each day. And our putting green requires a bit of research to find a company that uses eco-friendly materials like recycled Sprite bottles. And finally, the plants will have to be low-maintenance. Meeting with client to show design #1 which they approve, pending review of the prototype.

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - May 2007

Robin Wilson of Robin Wilson Home offered to blog a little bit about the project she worked on for us with the Esquire North project so what follows will be some of her thoughts and photos regarding the project and a little diary of the construction phase - i hope you enjoy. Week of May 21, 2007  Received a phone call from Stephen Jacoby of Esquire magazine that was a great surprise and an honor! An amazing moment to hear him say, “…you have been selected to be a designer in the Esquire Ultimate Bachelor Apartment in our 5th year – a project that will debut in Harlem in a newly named area, Central Park North…and your corporate sponsor is Rockport.” A packet arrives in our office a short moment later with confidential data forwarded by Rockport, including creative ad concepts and a new shoe style and partnership that will be announced later in the year between Rockport and Adidas, using Torsion technology and other shoes with washable leathers. Upon reviewing the packet, I keep coming back to a creative concept showing a shoe sole with a green rubbery shock-absorber…hmmm. May 25: a conference call is scheduled to discuss the client goals, concept and they ask me what my first thought was upon seeing the creative…my response: eco-friendly products and a putting green! Everyone likes the idea – so we have the green light to start designing a concept for the Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace sponsored by Rockport.

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - September 2007 - Opening Night

Sept. 27: Opening Night for the Esquire Apartment. Walked the red carpet and received a warm welcome from publishers Kevin O'Malley and Stephen Jacoby. After entering the very crowded apartment, there was a moment to walk through the crowd and up the beautiful elliptical-helix stair to enter the terrace. Wow! First impression, it is packed and people are standing under the pergola, looking at the putting green, sitting on the bench and in the tree chair. And a group is crowding around the bar...brushing against the Rockport suede. The DJ is spinning some great tunes, and the crowd is enjoying the space! What a wonderful evening on the Rockport terrace!

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - September 2007

September 2007

 

 

Week 1: Pergola installation completed; logistics coordination for all deliveries

Week 2: Multiple deliveries and logistics

• Concrete      bench delivery from Get Real Surfaces from upstate New York
• Delivery      of chair from The Bent Tree; shipped from Aspen
• Putting      green firm, Rhino Sports flies in on red-eye from Arizona to do all-day      installation and then fly out the next day…thank you!
• Plants      installed by horticultural team of Laurel Hill Farms of Long Island
• PANIC      moment: Leather just left customs and we can’t find an upholstery firm, so      we call Rockport and Esquire and our team – everyone is on the phone      trying to find someone and finally, we are lucky – with Mason Anastasia, a      phenomenal small firm in Long Island that handles everything at the last      minute. We drive out to Long Island during Hamptons traffic on a Thursday      afternoon and they finish everything by Tuesday! Whew!

 

Week 3: Rockport team views space and give a ‘thumbs up’ to the installation

 

Weekend of September 21: Lower Terrace is photographed

September 27: Opening Night event for Esquire “Ultimate Bachelor Apartment” 2007

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - August 2007

August 2007

Panic! We learn that the pergola requires 18 foot clearance for the posts – and the elevator has only 11 foot clearance. And the construction ‘hoist’ elevator is coming down in 7 days. We call our supplier, Shade Tree Canopies in Ohio and beg for them to find a way to make this happen by the deadline…and we hold our breath. They do us a favor and stop the production line to work on our pergola over a weekend – and get everything on the truck arriving on the 6^th day. We get our materials up the hoist elevator and the next day, it comes down…whew!

 

In the meantime, we speak with client about the “shoe” that they discussed earlier. They may want to do B-roll footage of the installation with our team wearing a pair of Rockport shoes (or sandals)…my agent calls to verify details. The shoe and B-roll footage do not work out, but they send me a great pair of fashion boots for the fall/winter season. Thank you Rockport! 

Over the next few weeks, we juggle our regular clients and put in a few long days to ensure that all deadlines are met…and then we start gearing up for the post-Labor day installation process. 

Drama: the leather company mislabeled the suede by calling it ‘earth’, so it is held up in customs until Fish & Wildlife inspectors have a chance to make sure it is not dirt…uggh! Come to find out that ‘earth’ was the color of the suede so it finally cleared customs, no problem. We just lost the upholstery team that was going to sew everything as we had a 48 hour window to get it to them. And with Labor Day around the corner, everyone is on vacation…uggh!

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - July 2007

July 2007

 

The construction is far enough along for us to make a site visit…and that is when we realize, uh oh! The plastic polymer chair will not work – it is too big and unwieldy and there would be no way to hoist it up the elevator and given that it is on the 19^th floor, it would not be practical. Back to the drawing board!

 

Our new design takes a time to create over the 4^th of July week and we make a few changes that the client likes upon review. We decide to focus on the four areas of Rockport’s Torsion shoe consumer – sophisticated, athletic, practical with an active and edgy lifestyle…so that means there will be an unexpected twist in everything he does. To my design team, that meant that we would pull together ‘over the top’ elements which look sophisticated but they are all eco-friendly…

 

• Putting green made of recycled plastic soda bottles (if we can find a provider!)
• Pergola with ‘sunshade’ canvas to ensure heat gain/loss is preserved (I chose a material and color that matched some of the Rockport washable shoes)
• Low maintenance plants
• An eco-friendly concrete seating element to be designed by Robin Wilson
• A bar that will utilize the new washable leather/suede product from Rockport
• Low-voltage LED lighting as needed
• Petrified logs to be used as seating elements

 

We sent the storyboards to the client’s office. And held our breath.

 

She called the next day and indicated that her team loved the new concept. So we are off and running to sourcing materials and ensuring that we meet the mid-August deadlines.

 

 

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - June 2007

June 2007

 

The entire month is devoted to design concepts. Our team focuses together – with Jeremy from Whitt Studios handling the CAD drawings. A conference call with Rockport for further clarification and we are off. And we come up with one design that requires a prototype – a plastic polymer chair that will light up inside…but we are not sure if this will work. We make two other designs – and wait to see the space as the building is still under construction.

 
We realize that to design an eco-friendly terrace, we have to create a passive sun barrier – and decide to construct a pergola that has the ability to open or close canvas as needed to preserve heat gain and loss each day. And our putting green requires a bit of research to find a company that uses eco-friendly materials like recycled Sprite bottles. And finally, the plants will have to be low-maintenance. Meeting with client to show design #1 which they approve, pending review of the prototype.

Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace - May 2007

Robin Wilson of Robin Wilson Home offered to blog a little bit about the project she worked on for us with the Esquire North project so what follows will be some of her thoughts and photos regarding the project and a little diary of the construction phase - i hope you enjoy. Week of May 21, 2007  Received a phone call from Stephen Jacoby of Esquire magazine that was a great surprise and an honor! An amazing moment to hear him say, “…you have been selected to be a designer in the Esquire Ultimate Bachelor Apartment in our 5th year – a project that will debut in Harlem in a newly named area, Central Park North…and your corporate sponsor is Rockport.” A packet arrives in our office a short moment later with confidential data forwarded by Rockport, including creative ad concepts and a new shoe style and partnership that will be announced later in the year between Rockport and Adidas, using Torsion technology and other shoes with washable leathers. Upon reviewing the packet, I keep coming back to a creative concept showing a shoe sole with a green rubbery shock-absorber…hmmm. May 25: a conference call is scheduled to discuss the client goals, concept and they ask me what my first thought was upon seeing the creative…my response: eco-friendly products and a putting green! Everyone likes the idea – so we have the green light to start designing a concept for the Esquire Apartment 2007 - Lower Terrace sponsored by Rockport.