March 2008:
Project Update:
Celebrity Solstice
In another industry-first Wilson Butler Architects takes the term “going green” to new heights.
Wilson Butler Architects’ latest design for Celebrity Cruise’s Solstice ship has recently been unveiled and it comes complete with live, growing grass! This new design has transformed the top deck of the ship into “The Lawn Club”. Set in an innovative country club surrounding, the half-acre Lawn Club offers guests outdoor activities never before offered at sea: a game of bocce ball or croquet, putting practice, or a spreading out a blanket for a quite picnic. "We want our guests to experience the unexpected, like the thrill of sinking a putt on a freshly manicured lawn in the middle of the ocean," said Dan Hanrahan, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises. "The experiences on and around the lawn exemplify what we aim to achieve: to recognize, celebrate and indulge our guests in style."
Wilson Butler Architects worked with Celebrity to design the entire club area with the Lawn Club as the central facet of the experience on the top deck. An important element in the design of The Patio on the lawn was that it offer guests individualized seating areas, some around open fire pits, that are more private and relaxed. The patio’s main feature is The Hot Glass Show, which is presented in association with The Corning Museum of Glass. The Hot Glass Show is a fully functioning glass blowing studio where guests can learn about the history and techniques of glassblowing through live presentations, lectures and workshops presented by three resident expert glassblowing artists. "We're confident our guests will be thrilled with The Lawn Club and the many new entertainment and sports options it offers," Hanrahan said.
After a day of enjoying the lush grass beneath there feet while they are miles out to sea, guests can relax in style at the Sunset Bar which is located at the highest point aft. The Sunset Bar presents spectacular views in a peaceful environment as the perfect wind down to an extraordinary day at sea.
September 2007:
Award:
Towson University's New Center for the Arts a "Triple Crown" Design Award winner!
Wilson Butler Architects' Center for the Arts at Maryland's Towson University wins State of Maryland's American Institute of Architects' 2007 Merit Award for Design Excellence, the third prestigious design commendation awarded to the project since its opening in 2006.
From the jurors: "We examined this project for sometime because there were so many elements of it that we liked on their own, and eventually we were able to piece those all together. This building provides a thorough line from a lower area to an upper area on the campus along which one can gain access to a variety of performing and visual arts activities. It, therefore, creates a kind of urban street that you find in hill towns which provide an endless array of discoveries... We recognized how the complexity of the program, the depth of thinking about each of the parts and the way the existing buildings were blended into this overall composition."
June 2007:
Award:
New Center for the Arts Award-Winning Inside and Out!
Wilson Butler Architects' Center for the Arts at Maryland's Towson University
wins IIDA 2007 Gold Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Wilson Butler Architects' newly opened Center for the Arts at Maryland's Towson University received this spring's Gold Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). The 300,000 sf Center for the Arts, which also won an AIA Mid-Atlantic Honor Award in 2006, combines performance venues, rehearsal and fine arts studios, faculty offices into a seamless whole that unites and encourages creative community.
June 2007:
Project Opening:
Wilson Butler Architects Launch Newest Design at Sea
Liberty of the Seas' Maiden Voyage Marks Boston Architects' 10th Year Anniversary
Royal Caribbean International's newest Freedom Class ship, Liberty of the Seas, launched May 19th, marks the 10th year that Wilson Butler Architects' shipboard theater designs have hit the high seas. Liberty of the Seas features a Wilson Butler designed 1350-seat theatre, a "15 minutes of fame"-themed On Air Lounge and a colorful reprise of Studio B, the first floating ice rink in the world (first unveiled by Wilson Butler and Royal Caribbean on Voyager of the Seas.) Together, the three entertainment spaces underscore the cruise line's commitment to present passengers with the adventurous, the extraordinary and the unexpected. Kelly Gonzalez, Royal Caribbean's director of fleet design and new building, summed up Wilson Butler's new Platinum Theater quite simply: "It is BEAUTIFUL."
May 2007:
Celebration:
Wilson Butler Celebrates 10 Years!
This June Wilson Butler Architects celebrates the firm's 10th year of bringing leading-edge design to arts and entertainment clients around the country. The firm is celebrating with a fete at one of the firm's featured Boston projects, The Calderwood Pavilion, where the evening's entertainment will reflect the firm's commitment to the arts with original performances by the contemporary Snappy Dance Company and the swing sounds of Bellevue Cadillac. The firm's current projects include: Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, VA; The Boston Arts Academy, Boston, MA; The Kirby Arts Center at The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ; Genesis Class Ships, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines; and Solstice Class Ships, Celebrity Cruises.
May 2007:
Celebration:
Pop-Up Helpful Hints
Back in 1997 Scott Wilson created a rough mock-up of this build-it-yourself ‘pop-up’ card with the idea of using it to announce our brand-new firm. It was intended to commemorate both our performing arts and cruise line design origins. Alas, real world projects kept getting in the way, so it gathered dust on Scott’s shelf above his desk. 10 years later, we’re proud to finally execute his original concept. It’s still just as timely since we are having more fun than ever working on land and at sea with our now well established client relationships. We continue to work with our original clients like Royal Caribbean and The Bushnell Center for the performing arts, while we build new client relationships that we know will last just as long. Although, while we value longevity, we hope it doesn’t take you 10 years to assemble this. However, if it does feel like it is taking you 10 years please click here for some helpful hints.
January 2007:
Exhibit:
USITT International Exhibit, Prague
The Center for the Arts at Towson University will be part of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s architecture exhibit “Performance Spaces for a New Generation: training facilities for the performing arts in the United States”, at USITT’s International Exhibit in Prague, Summer 2007.
September 2007:
Office News
“Herrmann illuminates the Mortensen...”
Bruce Herrmann (center), AIA, long term colleague of Scott Wilson, AIA and Scott Butler, AIA, and senior Wilson Butler Architects' staff member since 1998, joins Scott and Scott as the firm's third Director... more
October 2006:
Award:
American Institute of Architects/Potomac, MD Chapter
The Center for the Arts at Towson University won an Honor Award for Architectural Excellence from The American Institute of Architects/Potomac, MD Chapter, 2006. Quote from the jury: “Complicated and functionally demanding addition to an existing building; circulation and flow of spaces are compelling. We especially commend the central atrium.”
August
30,
2005:
Grand
Opening and Ribbon-Cutting:
New
Center for the Arts at Towson University, Towson, MD
Wilson Butler Architects and their JV partner Design Collective Inc. of Baltimore joined the festivities at TU Tuesday, August 30th to celebrate the opening of the 300,850 sf/$40.2 million Center for the Arts. Maryland's Governor Ehrlich, University administrators, faculty and students gathered to note the exciting campus milestone.
August
2005:
Award:
SMPS
National Marketing Communications Awards
Our new corporate identity and marketing package won Third Place in the Corporate Identity category at the National Society for Marketing Professional Services' Marketing Communications Awards. (Corporate identity and marketing materials designed by Dwyer Design.)
June
2005:
Award:
SMPS
Boston Marketing Communications Awards
Our direct mail piece celebrating the opening of the Calderwood Pavilion won an Honorable Mention in the Target Market category at the Boston Society for Marketing Professional Services' Marketing Communications Awards. (Direct mail piece designed by Dwyer Design.)
September
28, 2004:
Grand
Opening and Ribbon-Cutting:
"Theatres
of the New":
Wilson Butler Architects design Boston's first theatres in 75 years
Design Team celebrates Grand Opening and Ribbon-Cutting with project partners, The Boston Center for the Arts and The Huntington Theatre Company
The cheers were loud from the crowd that braved the winds and rain of Hurricane Jeanne to attend the opening celebrations... more
September
2004:
Grand Opening:
Royal Caribbean launches new ship, and new theatre, with Jewel of the Seas
With the launch of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' Jewel of the Seas this September, Wilson Butler Architects celebrated the opening of their 16th shipboard theatre... more
June
2004:
Press Conference:
Virginia Center for the Performing Arts, Richmond,
VA
Saturday, June 12 was a day of celebration, and demolition, for the City of Richmond, VA, as it unveiled... more
May
2004:
Firm's seventh year anniversary brings name change, bad jokes:
Wilson Butler Architects roasts departing Director
John Lodge, AIA, of Wilson Butler Lodge Inc.
After an award-winning seven-year run, one of the three founding partners of Wilson Butler Lodge Architects... more
January
2004:
Press Conference:
The Theatre Pavilion, Huntington Theatre Company
and Boston Center for the Arts
Mayor Thomas Menino announced a unique packaging of public and private funding... more
November
2003:
Project Opening:
Mariner of the Seas Launch, RCI
Scott Wilson, Scott Butler and Barbara Sherman sailed the high seas off the Florida coast while celebrating the inaugural cruise... more
November
2003:
Groundbreaking:
The Theatre Pavilion, Huntington Theatre Company
and Boston Center for the Arts
In November, Turner Construction and WBLI began construction of new theatres... more
September
2003:
Office News:
WBLI softball team completes its winning season
and makes the league playoffs for the second straight year.
WBLI fields a co-ed softball team within the Boston/Cambridge Architectural League, B Division... more
August
2003:
Conference Presentation:
2003 Summer Institute of the Concert Hall Research
Group
In mid-August, Scott Wilson participated in the 2003 Summer Institute of the Concert Hall Research Group in Saratoga Springs, NY... more
August
2003:
Office News:
Scott Wilson, AIA, teaches Harvard Graduate School
of Design course in theatre design.
For the seventh consecutive year, Scott Wilson co-taught a two-day course... more
August
2003:
Project Opening:
Serenade of the Seas Launch, RCI
Wilson Butler Lodge's newest theater for Royal Caribbean International, The Tropical Theater... more
July
2003:
Groundbreaking:
Midway Studios, Fort Point, Boston, MA
Boston's Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced the September groundbreaking at the site of three century-old warehouse buildings... more
May
2003:
Project Opening:
Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD
On May 13, Scott Wilson was in Bethesda MD to celebrate the ceremonial opening of The Imagination Stage... more
April
2003:
Groundbreaking:
Towson University, Towson, MD
Joining with Towson University faculty and administration, WBLI celebrated the start of construction for the new Center for the Arts... more
