Meet Project Frog's Home Base
No, it's not a lily pad. The innovative company threw a housewarming party this week at its 501 2nd HQ with landlord The Swig Company. Project Frog CEO Ann Hand (left), named one of Fortune's 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2013, is on a mission to overcome the inefficiencies of traditional construction in arenas like education, healthcare, and retail by providing component buildings that assemble easily onsite. As a result, architects and builders get a fast and cost-effective way to create greener and smarter spaces. Swig was also celebrating the building's recent LEED Platinum designation, a rare stamp that only 1% of S.F. buildings have (Swig's Deborah Boyer, right, is especially proud of that achievement).
There's no vacancy in the SoMa building, which is packed with similar techie and startup types. (We hear seeing a suit is like spotting a unicorn and one 501 2nd employee even sports PJs to work.) Project Frog's 13k SF space walks (hops?) the Project Frog talk, with an energy efficient LED lighting system they designed themselves and a “Tinker Lab” where staff can design and fabricate building components using a new 3D printer. The Comfy system—one of the new technologies that Swig is deploying across its portfolio—allows occupants to interact with the heating and cooling system through a cloud-based web interface, letting users become the sensors. (No more "I can't believe I forgot my sweater today" comments around the office.)
