Headquarters design mixes offices, retail

09:49 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 5, 2004

BY ANDREA L. STAPE
Journal Staff Writer

Journal file photo / Mary Murphy The design of GTECH's planned corporate headquarters was unveiled yesterday by Spagnolo Gisness & Associates architects. Derek Bradford, right, an advisory member of the Capital Center Commission's design review committee, looks over a model with Al Spagnolo, one of the firm's principals.

PROVIDENCE -- Just imagine meandering up a wide promenade toward the State House. Restaurants and shops spill people onto the sidewalk. There's a full view of Waterplace Park, and a terraced office building rises above it all.

Sound urban, yet serene?

That's exactly the picture the architects of GTECH Holdings Corp.'s new Providence headquarters painted for the Capital Center Commission's design review committee yesterday morning.

It's a sweeping vision for the first corporate headquarters in downtown Providence in 14 years, and it includes terraces for corporate parties, more than 200 feet of retail frontage and, at Francis Street and Memorial Boulevard, the facade set back to create GTECH Square.

But for GTECH to move forward with this extensive plan requires the waiving of several of the city's building regulations, primarily concerning height and setback.

The architectural firm Spagnolo Gisness & Associates has designed an 11-story office building -- higher than the 8-to-10-story building GTECH initially discussed for the spot. Spagnolo is also interested in making the sidewalks around the building up to three times wider than typical sidewalks -- in order to cater to more pedestrian traffic.

Architectural rendering / Spagnolo Gisness & Associates The view up Francis Street.

"We're suggesting that we expand the public realm," said Al Spagnolo, one of the firm's principals. "[By] enhancing Francis Street and expanding the sidewalk . . . it would create more public space around the edges."

The design review committee members ended up so impressed by the proposal and the initial designs for the building that they agreed to give GTECH a vote of confidence and recommend that the entire commission do the same. The support of the commission could help GTECH and Spagnolo win the city zoning board's approval of the waivers, said Wilfrid L. Gates Jr., chairman of the design review committee. The commission oversees and approves development in the 77-acre Capital Center District around the State House.

It's highly unusual for the committee to take a vote on a building this early in the design process, according to Gates.

"I believe we've never taken a vote this early in the process," said Gates. But since changes to the building regulations would be necessary to include that much public space in the design, the committee wanted to make sure its support for the proposal was on the record, Gates explained.

USING MODELS, color sketches and architectural renderings, Spagnolo spent more than an hour yesterday presenting his firm's initial thoughts on the look and feel of the building. GTECH's $88.5-million corporate headquarters would go up across from the Providence Place mall.

GTECH is moving downtown from West Greenwich to fulfill its part of the 20-year lottery deal it signed with the state last year. To stop GTECH from moving about 1,000 employees to Massachusetts, Rhode Island offered the company a contract to run the state lottery for the next two decades -- an offer worth about $770 million. In return, GTECH agreed to stay in Rhode Island and move its corporate headquarters to Providence.

Yesterday's presentation gave the public the first glimpse of what GTECH plans to do with the site -- a location that members of the design committee call a gateway to the city.

"This has the richness of detail and richness of urban experience that appears to be very promising," said Derek Bradford, a member of the design review committee.

In addition to giving pedestrians more room to wander up the hill to the State House and easy access to Waterplace Park, the project will include 32,000 square feet of retail space on the first level, according to Spagnolo. Although he wanted to give the building a more urban feel by making it taller, the firm has built terraces into the side of the building facing the State House to keep views of the capitol building as clear as possible.

Architectural rendering / Spagnolo Gisness & Associates The view from Waterplace Park.

GTECH would occupy the first four floors of the office building, including the two terraces on the sixth floor -- one of which would overlook the park and the other the State House. Other office tenants could rent the remaining three floors of office space, and the top floor would be a penthouse.

"We obviously want to build a headquarters here in Rhode Island that reflects who we are -- that reflects a global information-technology company with a great history in this state," said Donald Sweitzer, GTECH's senior vice president of public affairs. "We're also sensitive to our location, sensitive to the fact that we are in the shadow of the State House, that we are in the center of this marvelous city."