Project Description
The Grove, a lushly landscaped, two-acre park lies at the heart of the Connell Center. It is the centerpiece of a multi-phase effort to transform this corporate park into a pedestrian friendly campus featuring multiple recreational experiences and environments.
The northern portion of the Park contains ‘The Ribbon’ — a sinuous, accessible walking path meandering through the steeper portion of the site. The Ribbon links the adjacent 200 Connell Drive building entry with Connell Plaza at The Grove. Along The Ribbon are several multi-level seating nodes which include broad sitting steps, movable furniture and outdoor workstations. Solar charging stations and charging bollards are located throughout the park, and wireless internet service allows employees to be productive in these exterior work spaces. Food trucks, parked at the edge of The Ribbon, offer employees and visitors a variety of dining options and a terrace above the main plaza allows for “al fresco” dining as well as opportunities to engage in social interactions, informal meetings and welcome respites from the office environment. Planted to create a more serene wooded landscape, the Ribbon and its nodes provide an alternative spatial experience from the open plaza and lawn below. These nodes provide a more informal space in which the park’s users may experience nature in a different, more interactive way in the midst of the park landscape.
