Creating Community in Plainville

The Guild Garden

Project Type

Food + Beverage

Site Size

3,500 sq ft

Organization

Margrave Strategies

Timeline

~5 months

The Guild Garden is a welcome addition from the Plainville community and is part of Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney’s vision to revitalize the immediate area to create a vibrant town square. There was an intense 1.5 months to produce both engineering and design detailed drawings for permitting and approvals, followed by 3.5 months of a precise shop-to-site fabrication and installation strategy. Because of the timeline, the bulk of the project essentially became a design/build process with close coordination of dozens of individuals, led by decades of experience in container construction, detailing, and fabrication by Mini Warehousing.

Process

With permitting and inspectional needs in mind, and to minimize on-site crane work and costs, a specific container fabrication, finish strategy, and delivery sequence was strategized to both facilitate site finish needs and to provide as much internal framing, utility, and finish work prior to delivering to the site for the inspectional needs. This hybrid approach allowed the site’s need for excavation, utility work, and landscaping to take place concurrently with off-site fabrication of the container structures, while at the same time working within the local inspector’s process of approvals.

In addition to the fabrication, Mini Warehousing spearheaded the development of a very detailed set of 3D CAD models, incorporating structural and framing details, finish materials, electrical and plumbing details and locations, as well as all the appliance dimensions and details, all of which directly contributed to as streamlined and efficient building process as possible, especially under the strict time constraints.

The Mini Warehousing team is involved in every step of the process, from initial design to event execution. Since Cisco’s Fenway beer garden is a seasonal recurring event, we collaborate with the Cisco team on delivery, setup, and takedown.

When the beer garden opens up for the season, there are constant deliveries to the downtown Boston site, an area which is cramped even in the best of times. Because of the tight space, there’s a careful order of operations when it comes to deliveries. Our team collaborates with Cisco and other vendors to make sure the containers are delivered in the correct order and orientation so there are no future headaches or adjustments.

About the Project

[This project’s goal is] to create a buzzing town square that acts as a ‘third place’ – a spot where community can grow and new friendships can take root. The planned food and beverage garden is a key to a thriving center.

-Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid author and “An Unlikely Story” owner