Successful Meetings - August 2008 - (Page 17)

it’s reconciling the owners’ wish list— what they’d like to put in the project—with the quality and quantity of available funding. Plus, the pressure coming from the building industry, which is still seeing inflation, and energy, are driving costs higher and higher. I also think that public sources of funding are going to feel more pressure later; pressure on the private sector’s immediate. SM: What about the centers you’ve worked on? GRINBERG: We did the ballroom expansion at the Kansas City Convention Center at a really good time, and I think the city got a really good value for its money. Our project’s been enormously successful; bookings are up, and there are great reactions from users and operators. The challenge for the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is currently under way, is how to do the project without disrupting existing tenancy. It’s like fixing a watch that’s still running! SM: How does sustainability fit in with convention center design? GRINBERG: Sustainability is not a problem, it’s an opportunity. We are thrilled owners are starting to pay attention to something we’ve been advocating for a long time. It permeates one’s thinking about design. The ballroom in Kansas City is LEED Silver certified, and we have in the pipeline several interesting projects. But anyway, spaces don’t necessarily have to small to be energy responsible. HNTB designed with Raphael Vinoly at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC), which is probably an extreme example of a high roof. The exhbition hall is very, very tall. We had a lot of discussions about what it was going to cost to heat and cool, but we developed a mechanical system that gets the air in the right place to the right people, so you deal with it. SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS AUGUST 2008 Speaking for HNTB, we believe in the interdisciplinary approach to design. Right from the get-go, an audiovisual specialist, an electrical engineer, and a food service designer are at the table with the architect. I think you get better designs when issues are caught almost simultaneously. We also have pioneered the use of focus groups. We start our projects with focus groups, and will end them with focus groups. We actually love it when we can get feedback from the same people that we interviewed during building programming. The users know better, is our belief. —Terri Hardin Over 32,000 square feet of meeting space. State-of-the-ar t facilities. A world-class spa, championship golf and Nor thwest Florida’s ﬁ rst AAA 4-Diamond restaurant. Go ahead and give them the world. But what they’ll love the most is getting away from it all. 4000 Sandestin Blvd. South Destin, Florida 32550 877.705.6641 850.267.9600 HiltonSandestinBeach.com http://HiltonSandestinBeach.com http://HiltonSandestinBeach.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - August 2008

Successful Meetings - August 2008 Contents Editor's Note Industry Trends Industry Events On the Record Technology Calendar Websites of the Month Personal Success Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Tools of the Trade Pre-Event Crude Awakening Oil’s Well Betting on Development The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of No Spa, No Dice New & Improved Bean Counting Places & Spaces Cleveland Palm Springs, Desert Resorts Midwest Meetings San Antonio Yucatan Peninsula Gurus

Successful Meetings - August 2008

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