May 12, 2009
October 8, 2008
Community Outreach
Our architectural model is now on tour and has traveled from Atlanta to Madison to Athens.
First stop: Sustainability Expo at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center (www.madmorg.org), where one of our investors is an active board member and champion for green architecture. The exposition drew in crowds of locals interested in learning more about sustainable practices in Georgia—from geothermal and solar technologies to land conservation and sustainable forestry. Hotel Indigo Athens was proud to represent green building and educate the community about LEED standards. See pictures by linking here.
Next Stop: Mercury Art Works gallery in Athens. Chris Wyrick and Sandi Turner threw us a party we’ll never forget. We mixed and mingled with Athens locals and even had a surprise guest come down from New York (see pictures here). Ellen Hanson introduced her ideas for the interiors and invited local artists to collaborate. We are delighted to see some of these budding relationships begin to develop.
Final Stop: Construction Trailer on Site. The architectural model will be temporarily housed in Athens for on-site tours. Also coming soon on site: a full-scale model of one of our hotel rooms, fully furnished and detailed!
September 7, 2008
Athens Art Scene
Athens is a gold mine for the arts. Between the University of Georgia’s commitment to art education and the larger community’s promotion of local talent, there exists a richness of spirit and culture unique to this college town.
For the first time ever, UGA introduced a four-day Arts Festival featuring fine and decorative arts exhibits, as well as musical and theatrical performances. Honoring UGA’s new home for arts education, the festival kicked off with the Lamar Dodd School of Art building dedication, which our development team attended this past Thursday. We were very impressed by the building’s accomplishments in sustainability, from its green roof to its water conservation efforts (includes a stormwater infiltration system). But the building’s most unique sustainable feature is the art on the walls–continuously produced by both faculty and students, and displayed on a rotating basis. Our hotel seeks to create the same community-inspired environment through art exhibits that refresh seasonally.
We are excited to find so many people within the Athens community that share our philosophy about sustainable development as it relates to the arts. From the Athens Design Development group to the Mercury Art Works duo, we are discovering unforeseen opportunities that we cannot wait to realize. The home of Sandi Turner and Chris Wyrick is a good example of what we would like to create within the hotel–a place where the boundary between art gallery and living space blurs:
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.”