East Cambridge is home to more than 150 biotech and software companies. In an effort to attract some of these tenants, Beacon Capital Partners tasked ESI Design with revitalizing the entry experiences at 1, 2 and 10 Canal Park, in order to create a more unified, compelling sense of place.

The primary area of ESI’s redesign was the ground floor lobby at 2 Canal Park. Using innovative technology in unusual ways, ESI created spaces that are surprising and playful.

In the main entry, horizontal LED screens are interspersed among wood veneer wall panels, but function as a single immersive media canvas. Trompe l’oeil wood grain on the screens unexpectedly gives way to animations and videos, ranging from sunsets to rainstorms to underwater scenes to sailboats on the nearby Charles River. In the corridor from the secondary entry, where the media is more informative, LEDs positioned behind wood veneer display local news, weather, and events, and then magically disappear. A map theme connects the two spaces, with a 3-D relief map of Cambridge extending along the ceiling from the main entry, flowing down the wall to a graphic on the security desk, and then continuing toward the secondary entry as illuminated wall graphics.

ESI also designed new exterior signage on the buildings and throughout Canal Park that unifies the campus and implemented more graphic, effective wayfinding in the underground parking garage.