Seventeen years earlier was the first time we worked with the client, and in-between we designed the buildout of their spaces in New York City, Austin and San Francisco.  This time it was Chicago, in the former headquarters of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, and they wanted a new conference center on the ground floor to support their existing offices on the fifth.  A friend in Chicago made introductions, and that allowed us to put together the right team.  The brief included new conference rooms, open collaboration areas, and a pantry, and lighting the exposed heavy timber structural bays connected the design to the materiality of the building.