Envisioning a Safe Space for Large Events to Return
05/26/2020
Greenhouse Discover
The events industry is resilient. Its leaders are resolute; its professionals creative and committed. While the path through the COVID-19 pandemic is expansive and uncharted, events will return, and attendees will rejoice. Here’s how Duggal Visual Solutions is preparing its Brooklyn venue, the Duggal Greenhouse, for the future of safe, socially distant events in the post-pandemic world.
Oversized Venue
Creating a safe space starts with having space to spare. Converted from a shipyard facility into a sustainable events center, the Greenhouse encompasses 35,000 square feet. With 70-foot ceilings, two rollup garage doors, six built-in ducts for additional HVAC and industry-leading airflow via Big Ass Fans™, The Greenhouse offers a unique environment to engage attendees.
The facility is designed to provide a blank canvas for every client to design their unique production. Prior to social distancing guidelines, the Greenhouse had the capacity to host up to 3,000 people.
Outdoor Patio
Enclosed spaces have always brought concerns of pathogens. While the Greenhouse is in no way, shape or form “stuffy,” we anticipate greater usage of our waterfront patio. Guests have always enjoyed the riverside views of Manhattan as well as easy access to fresh air. Guests may arrive and depart via private charter boat, offering a safe and direct transportation method for all event attendees.
Public Health Protocol
During New York City’s COVID-19 outbreak, the Greenhouse converted to a personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturing facility, where a team of 200 workers produced more than 1 million face shields. Twenty-nine thousand square feet on the ground floor allowed for more than six feet of social distancing between each workstation, while the rapidly evolving crisis required us to quickly implement staff temperature checks, deep cleaning schedules and other safety measures that have since become the new normal.
Social Distancing Signage, Graphics and Displays
A trusted advisor and partner in helping the world’s leading brands communicate visually with their audiences and customers, Duggal Visual Solutions is also uniquely positioned to help establish the look and feel of events going forward. Consultants and content creators from the Duggal InnoLab have been working with top brands, cultural institutions and venues to coordinate social distancing signage, contactless displays, custom partition shields, kiosk technology, antimicrobial materials and other visual solutions combining traditional and digital mediums.
Coordination and Care
As requirements for reopening, the most basic fulfillment of mandates may be relatively simple to accommodate through proper occupancy, social distancing signage, markers and health reminders. But this is not enough to welcome guests and staff back to a public environment where they truly feel safe and secure.
Events bring people together—and now they must also keep them safely apart. We are viewing social distancing through a human resources lens to ensure accountability across the board.
