Dowling Houy LLC was engaged by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) to provide overall project management and move management services for BVP when it decided to leave its Wellesley Hills location and move closer to the heart of the intellectual and technology community in Kendall Square, Cambridge.
As the oldest continuously operating venture capital firm in the United States, founded in 1862, BVP has a place of history in this country. BVP wanted their space to reflect their respect for the past while acknowledging the fast pace realities of the present, and to carry it into the future. To this end, BVP and Dowling Houy selected Dyer Brown Architects to design the space and implement their vision of a modern office that still reflected the company’s history and values.
Coming from offices in an old Victorian home, BVP was no stranger to occupying a unique space and adapting to older architecture. Their decision to lease 5,000sf in a brick and beam building on Broadway Street in Cambridge allowed the design team to transform this 19th century industrial architecture into a 21st century high tech office space, all while maintaining the charm of the exposed brick walls and wood beams, original wood flooring and open ceiling.
Dowling Houy put together a team with Dyer Brown and WB Engineering providing Architectural & Engineering services; Garland Construction to build out the space and Peabody Office sourcing the furniture.
Working closely with BVP, the team worked on a plan that provided a space with glass office & conference fronts and side walls to allow visual connections between offices and throughout the space. The use of glass allows for an abundance of natural light and brings airiness into the inner-spaces, providing the feel for a much bigger foot print, and gives the space an incredible connection to the outside.
Dyer Brown conceived the central collaboration space as a place to exchange ideas and foster interaction, acting as the hub of the space. Idea Paint was applied across the entire central partition, taking a seemingly static wall and transforming it to a dynamic area where staff and clients can gather and work through ideas and solutions.
In the end BVP was created a space that gives it the look of today while at the same time blending effortlessly with the brick and beams of the past.