Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Artaic worked with Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals to create two custom mosaic walls for their new headquarters in Boston’s Innovation District. The office features two glass towers connected by a walkway, with Artaic mosaic walls welcoming visitors in both lobbies. The buildings were designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates and Elkus Manfredi Architects.
The new office broke down barriers between the company’s research and commercial sides, bringing around 1,200 Vertex employees under one roof. The $800 million project, one of the largest private-sector projects in the US, pioneers the expansion of the biomedical industry outside Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA.
In creating the key accent pieces for the lobbies, the goal was to produce a final mosaic that could stand alone as a piece of artwork while still fitting in with the Vertex brand. The final piece is an abstract accent wall that references the research roots of the company.
The project won the 2015 Coverings Installation and Design Award for Commercial Tile Design.
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Installation Details
| Client | Vertex Pharmaceuticals |
|---|---|
| Location | Boston, MA |
| Tile Type | Vitreous Glass |
| Application | Lobby, office |
| Industry | Corporate, Healthcare |
| Size | 943 sqft. |
Concept to design
Artaic was tasked with creating matching statement pieces for the two lobbies – custom mosaic wall art that would appeal to both the commercial and research sides of the company.
The mosaic imagery was inspired by a rough sketch of the chemical formula central to the growth of the company and the initial medicines developed by Vertex. Artaic worked with company employees to turn the sketch into a mosaic using a broad palette of 3/8″ glass tile.
Large-scale mosaic production
The designs were finalized so that the mosaics would fit perfectly within their allotted spaces – with one of the mosaics wrapping around a curved lobby wall of one building and a smaller “sister” mosaic in the lobby of the adjoining building.
The mosaic was produced in 1 sqft sections adding up to a total of 958 sqft – about 7,200,000 glass tiles total. Each section was labeled with a unique section number that coordinated with an installation diagram and installed accordingly.
The final mosaic stands alone as a piece of artwork while still fitting in with the Vertex brand.
