Madera Group Moves into the David Brower Center
Posted by Andre Carothers, Senior Strategist, Madera Group on May 8, 2009
The gala opening of the David Brower Center this Sunday in downtown Berkeley is, literally, a dream come true. I say this because I sat down four years ago with the founder and chief visionary of Berkeley’s showcase green office building, Peter Buckley, and the renowned UC Berkeley cognitive scientist, George Lakoff, to talk about what it means to create a place for good people to work, live, play and help make the world a better place.
At the risk of oversimplifying, Lakoff argues that metaphors structure human thought, both conscious and unconscious. For him, talking about the Brower Center kicks off an inquiry into language, motivation, and human needs. Peter is a humble and practical man, just looking for a way, he said, to provide people with a “decent facility.”
A superb meeting of the minds, it turns out. The tagline for the building—which is home as of this month to a dozen social ventures, a restaurant, a 180-seat theater, meeting spaces and a gallery—is “What Inspires You.” This little gem of verbal alchemy gets to everything this building is about. First, the space—open, dignified, and light-filled. Then, the building itself—an engineering marvel that is best practice in environmentally sensitive design and construction. And finally, the metaphor itself—a place of inspiration and purpose, and connection for the community that built it and is now making it home.
The Madera Group, for all the reasons cited here, and more, is both delighted and humbled to be part of this dream.
