News
Top 100: NELSON/BLACK COW
February 9, 2010
| The sleek interior for Biogen Idec?s new 350k SF corporate HQ being built at the Weston Corporate Center will be ready for 1200 staff on June 6 at 5:30pm. Give or take? Nope, exactly, according to the Nelson/Black Cow team behind it. Does after-hours ribbon-cutting count as overtime? |
 |
| John Kells, Angela Rotondo, and Michael Bourque are on that project. They say Biogen?s new suburban HQ will give the biotech firm space to expand research operations in its Cambridge lab space. The NBC team is also working on a Network Operations Center in Manesar, India for Airtel, a large wireless carrier. Since many Indians can't afford laptops, Michael says they're linking phone, TV, and Internet into new types of systems. ?They're doing things we haven?t dreamt of.? |
 |
| We snapped Brad Black, whose boutique corporate interior design firm (Black Cow) merged with powerhouse Nelson last year, with Jessica Mason and Stacy Chambers at their Leather District office. Brad tells us ?Nelson?s reach gave us an international platform to go after bigger clients, and we're getting them.? They're creating interiors for Wolf & Co., a firm of about 175 accountants at 99 High St. Other clients on their roster: Marsh McLennan, Liberty Mutual, Putnam Investments, and Verizon. In Tulsa, his hometown, they must have thought it impossible that he?d ever become a Yankee, but he's here to stay, catching tuna and striper on Stellwegen Bank. |
 |
| Both Biogen's building and interiors will seek LEED Gold. Located on a wooded site that remains mostly undisturbed, the offices feature large expanses of windows overlooking two abandoned quarries, a pond, and woodlands. The interior finishes play off the rock ledge, weathered woods, marshy grasses, and water features. The boardroom above showcases a perforated metal ceiling with linear pendant light fixtures, patterned art glass, and a walnut boat shaped table. The room has full A/V connectivity, a large plasma screen, and video conference capability. We're told that large plasma doesn't always have Wolf Blitzer on it. |
 |
| So, this is how it's done—swatches, paint chips, and furniture photos. Rachel Swartz, Resa Gray, and Shari Anderson are selecting finishes for the 12k SF Syntonix offices in Waltham. Syntonix, a Biogen affiliate, needs drawings by Feb 15 for an April 15 move-in. This team isn't worried. As Brad says, ?All of our projects are schedule intensive.? |
