Recently, our client Little Dixie Construction converted an empty factory into a state-of-the-art green building for IBM’s Delivery Center in Columbia, Mo. VANGEL was proud to create educational signage throughout the building to highlight its green design, construction and silver LEED certification.

Here’s what the site looked like before.

And here is the building after Little Dixie worked their magic.

Little Dixie and IBM tapped VANGEL to develop informational graphics to educate employees and visitors about the building’s green features.

Our first step? Dumpster diving.

In the spirit of reduce/reuse/recycle, we visited the IBM job site to scout for construction debris.

Lucky for us, our Italian intern Carlo had come along. He volunteered to scale a construction dumpster and haul out a primer-gray, 8-foot electrical door panel. His fine Italian sweater may not have survived, but he can proudly say he got his hands dirty on the job in America. (Ti ricordi, Carlo?)

Here is the metal panel.

With the basis of a cool sign in hand, we enlisted the crew at SignsNow, for a plexiglass panel we would use to tell the building’s green story. The two pieces were then joined and mounted on the wall at IBM.

Next, we needed a way to maintain awareness throughout the massive building. The solution was a series of 12” x 12” plexiglass pieces that feature 3-dimensional items illustrating the building’s green features.

Simple and intriguing, the pieces also serve as “objets d’art” at IBM. There’s nothing like a chunk of concrete, an elephant, or a beer bottle sliced in half (thank you Village Glassworks) to get people talking.

VANGEL is proud to have been a part of this innovative LEED project. Ever wondered what creative, compelling ideas could do for your office space? Try dumpster diving.

Or give VANGEL a call.

So… here I am for my last post!

This is the last day in Columbia, it has been four weeks full and fun!!

I told you in the last post that I was going to visit the KOMU TV Station. I went there last week with Shannan.

Matt (a KOMU staff member) showed us the studio, all the offices they have and explained to us that MU students are really involved in the TV programs development!

During the afternoon Shannan, Allison and I, went to the Tribune newspaper and printing plant. So they took me to see different workplace here in Columbia! This has been a good way for me to understand different things.

Last weekend was the first one we spent without moving to another accommodation and we had more time to manage…So on Saturday afternoon three of us went to Macy’s; David and I preferred to continue studying and to go out to experience our first (and only) Saturday in Columbia by night. We went to Harpo’s (a local bar) and it was really crowded!

Finally I finished the thesis for my master degree on Sunday at 4:30pm!

After that I immediately went out for a run on the MKT trail!!  What a good place to go for running or cycling!

And on Sunday evening, we decided to have a swim in the Regency pool… yes we know, it’s not the best pool in Columbia! It was so cold .. but you feel full of energy when you get out !!! AND after that we used the Jacuzzi! … It would have been better if there had been beer

I would like to stay longer; the time has gone too quickly!!

Moreover, in Italy it’s cold these days! And we have been so lucky with the weather here, quite always sunny and warm!

Downtown landscape from Regency: Tiger, Sun and USA Flag (Thanks Gabriele for this amazing picture)

Everybody told us that this weekend is the more exciting one of all the year. Of course we would like to stay, but the problem is always the same: we have no accommodations for the rest of our stay!

We will leave for Chicago and we have our return flight on Monday, so we can at least visit another city before going  back in Italy!

And we are going to see a NBA match – Bulls vs Indiana.

I’m so happy for my experience here at VANGEL!! So thanks to everybody of the staff!!!

Tuesday morning we had the weekly production meeting… but it was a special one: with a typical American breakfast and a gift surprise for me: a VANGEL t-shirt with the slogan translated into Italian!!

Now I have to say goodbye everybody!

I will write something from Italy, so keep in contact!

And who knows, I can come back to Columbia in the future!

CIAO A TUTTI
Carlo

Hi everybody! I’m here to tell you about my second week in COLUMBIA.

I can’t tell you all the exact projects that VANGEL is working on, but I saw a lot of new things till now. I attended different internal meeting and it’s really interesting for me, trying to understand as much as possible.

I also went out to see different work places. This is a good way to be involved and to appreciate the way to work here.

IBM
I went with Brooke to the new IBM building… and I enjoyed a new sport: “Dumpster Diving.” VANGEL wants to show how the building is an environmental friendly building, so it was necessary to take proof of recycling material, to demonstrate that IBM deserves the LEED certificate (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)…  and to create a few artistic symbols to use for internal communication.

The construction is so huge! It will hold about 900 employees, so it is a real good thing that IBM, VANGEL and the others involved in this project, are working to be make it the most environmentally friendly it can be.

Another work I appreciated is the “GetAbout Columbia”: a project that VANGEL has managed for three years with the municipality. It’s interesting to see how they have been trying to solve the traffic problem (which we also have in my city in Italy), offering alternative ways to go to work.

BOOCHES
On Wednesday night we ate at Booches! Their sandwiches were not big, but sooo good!

It was funny to have dinner there, in a pub from 1884, where so many generations of Columbia people and students spent their nights.

Thursday we spent the night in an “amazing” way … working on our dissertation!

But it was so surprising for us to see the study area downstairs in the bookstore!

It’s so big and comfortable, with armchairs and carpet (with tiger design of course!!)… Moreover it was almost empty, and we stayed there till midnight.

I think that Columbia students have a really good place where they can study and manage their time as they want. In Italy (in my city of Bergamo), we have no study areas open every day till midnight, and often, if you can’t study at home, it’s difficult to find a place to do it during the evening.

We would really like to have more time to experience Columbia better. It’s not so good to have to prepare the thesis while we are working and have to pack up every weekend. The time is going by so quickly and we would like to see Columbia by night at least once!

Last Friday we went for a trip to St. Louis,,, of course a good trip, even if we were obliged, because of no accommodation in Columbia for the Tigers match. That we would wanted to see. It has been a big pity, because we wanted to live the special atmosphere which everybody tell us… and also because the Mizzou-Tigers won 26-0 !!!

ST. LOUIS
So on Friday I left work about noon, and went to rent a car to drive to St. Louis!

We arrived there about 6:00 pm, and it was awesome to enter the city and to see the arch! Moreover our hotel was close to it, we were in a good place to stay!

We went out for dinner but there were not many people out on the streets, and on Saturday too: no people and no cars in the city (anyway, good for walking and sightseeing). We thought maybe there was some special event, but we didn’t find anything similar… maybe all the people were preparing themselves for the Saturday night, because at that time a lot of people populated the streets and the pubs.

We went to the arch on Saturday at noon…maybe all the tourists in St. Louis were there: a lot of people inside!

While we were waiting for go up, we visited the museum and I found it really interesting.

Then we went up in the arch… it was so strange to go up in such small cabin, because 3 of 5 of us are tall and it was a little problem for our legs and heads.

But in a couple of minute we arrived on the top … and we discovered an amazing landscape!!! We could see the entire city in front of us and it was also possible to see the big Busch Stadium.

On Sunday afternoon, before to coming back to Columbia we went to visit the Anheuser-Busch Factory!!

What a fascinating building …and what tasty sample of beer

EXPERIENCES WITH VANGEL
Just on Friday I discovered that VANGEL is managing a site visit to the Tribune newspaper before I leave, to see the presses roll.

Moreover Shannan will take me to see the KOMU TV Station on Wednesday; and on Friday I’ll attend Kevin’s design-class speech to students at the University..

So I thank VANGEL staff for these interesting experiences.

As I already commented on the previous post, it’s interesting to see how the former employees maintain their relationship with VANGEL and replied to the post quickly!

Here I can close …

Next weekend will be our last one in Missouri. We are going to see the women’s soccer match on Friday night and spend the weekend quietly.

We will leave for Chicago on Thursday the 21st… so, dear VANGEL friends, see you at the next last post (unfortunately for me).

Carlo

ENJOY USA!

Hi everybody!
I am Carlo, a new staff member… I’m here to have an internship in the exciting world of VANGEL.

Maybe I should introduce myself before writing about my “adventures” . I’m an Italian masters student, from Bergamo, a city in the north of Italy, close to Milan.

I’m here thanks to a relationship between my University and the University of Missouri – Columbia.

There are actually five students from a masters program in “International Marketing.” This is an extra step after graduation and it’s for workers, so the lessons are IN the evening. We all won a scholarship to enjoy this experience in the USA at five different companies in Columbia.

NYC
Four of us had never been to the USA, so we managed to spend a few days as tourists before we started working. The first stop on our trip was New York City!

We landed on the evening of September 21^st and we were full of expectations.

We were coming from an intense period with work, last masters exams the night before we  left and too much stuff to solve for bureaucracy…So we didn’t realize we were in the USA until we were in Times Square the first night, looking at all the ads and all the people around us!

We had so many strong impressions, but I don’t want to be boring, so I’ll choose just a couple that are the most clear in my mind.

I have a good one and a bad one. The bad one is that someone at the hotel stole a hard-drive (of mine) and a camera (of my friend). Unfortunately, it was the only day we forgot to lock one of our bags and we found a surprise! We tried to solve it, but it was Saturday morning, and we had to leave at noon!!

It’s better to talk about the good one: the view of the landscape from the Empire State Building!!!

In this case we were really lucky because it took just ten minutes to go up to the tower! We were at the entrance at 5 o’clock. We wanted to be sure and see the passage from day to night as it covered the city, so we spent about 3 hours there.  It was really windy and cold, but awesome. We could see the sunset on Manhattan, all the lights turning on one by one, the Brooklyn bridge… Everything around us was visible for a long distance.

COLUMBIA TIGERS
On Saturday we traveled from NYC to St. Louis, and on Sunday we drove to Columbia. We stowed the suitcases at the Regency Hotel and went to have a look at the city!

It was cloudy and there was nobody on the street. Of course, everyone was at Shakespeare’s! We ate pizza and it was almost as good as the Italian one!  Before we went to eat, we saw the campus and we realized that it’s almost like what we’ve seen on TV series and at the movies! It is so BIG, but it was empty.

The day after that everything changed! Columbia said “Welcome” to us with a funny sunny day!!! We had a meeting at the international students office and we saw a part of real American student life.  It’s so different from the Italian one. We had a second tour of the campus. It seems like a little town, crowded with students and Tigers logos on everything! We would like to see a football game and a soccer match, and experience the real Tigers atmosphere!

On Monday afternoon we had a look at all the firms where we are working now.

It was a good way to see where all of us Italian guys would have his own work experience! In the evening we went to look for a supermarket down Broadway. It was an amazing sunset in front of us!

Columbia, here we are!

And here I am at VANGEL.

On my first day, Diana presented me to all the staff, except Mike and Ellen… the bosses! They were on vacation. It seemed that the people here are very kind, and I was right! They help me and show me their work when it’s possible! I have my own tasks to do and a really good thing for me is to attend the internal meetings about different projects.  The only problem is that when they talk to one another I don’t always catch everything

I am sure this will be a good experience where I get to learn a new way to think about working and exchange different ideas.

FIRST WEEKEND IN COLUMBIA
For the last weekend we didn’t have accommodations at Regency Hotel (because of the Root & Blues & BBQ Festival)!… We discovered it about a week ago, so we didn’t find a solution until Thursday! The prospective was to go away from Columbia, like we have to do next weekend because of the football match (but we have booked for St. Louis). Fortunately we found an accommodation at Stephens College, so we could stay here and go to the Festival!

We spent the Friday night around the festival and had a great time looking at all the people involved and the artists in Columbia! One of the best impressed in my mind is a musician-rider, staying close to his motorcycle and playing his guitar!

On Saturday we studied preparing our master thesis and at 5;30 we walked to Hy-Vee to buy some food. Unfortunately the bus was not useful to come back, so we spent a lot of time walking and finished our dinner around 11pm.

Because of this I decided to not go out and to go to the women’s soccer match on Sunday … what a great time we had! Once again we went walking and we saw only the second part of the match, but we enjoyed the stadium and the people involved with the Tigers.

Of course soccer in Italy is the most important sport, but the women’s version is not so popular. When we arrived the Tigers were losing 0-1: it was awesome to see Mizzou win, scoring 2 goals in the last 10 minutes!!

I’m concluding my post saying goodbye to one of the Staff members who finished her experience at VANGEL after 3 years. I’ve been here just one week, but I know that you spent a good time here. So everyone wants to say to you goodbye Kate, looking forward to see you soon.

See you soon dear readers.

Carlo … Carlito for friends