With the recent opening of the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission’s (NSLC) flagship retail outlet in Bayers Lake, Bergmark Guimond Hammarlund Jones (BGHJ) Architects continue to gain recognition for their unique and innovative approach to architecture and interior design throughout the Maritimes. Upon entering the store, notes the Burnside News, “customers will step into a new concept they won’t find anywhere else in Canada.” BGHJ is breaking new ground in terms of how consumers experience corporate and commercial environments, and their designs, in turn, are generating tangible dividends for their clients through higher profits, heightened public exposure and greater consumer satisfaction.
BGHJ is a full-service architectural and interior design firm with offices in Charlottetown and Fredericton and licenses to practice throughout the Maritimes. Since its inception in 1999, BGHJ has helped to raise the stature of the architectural profession in the region by demonstrating that local practitioners can compete on equal footing with national and international design firms.
George Guimond, founding partner of BGHJ, notes that since the initial renovation of the University Avenue Liquor Store in Charlottetown in 1997, the firm has now completed more than 25 liquor store designs throughout the Maritimes, and has been a key player in the re-branding of liquor retailing in the region. NSLC’s new Bayer’s Lake outlet, for example, offers consumers a level of sensory involvement with their surroundings previously unexplored in this milieu. From design-specific, free-association graphics, to state-of-the-art ambient scent and sound generators developed in support of ongoing in-store marketing initiatives, BGHJ has generated a “total sales environment” to meet the needs of this discerning client.
Still, the retail sector represents only one component of BGHJ’s ongoing success over the past several years. With a portfolio that ranges from single-family vacation cottages, to the corporate and commercial sector, to multi-million dollar institutional projects, BGHJ continues to evolve a vibrant design focus that offers clients the opportunity for a fresh new look in the marketplace. The completion of the Charlottetown Driving Park Entertainment Centre (CDPEC) in August is a case in point suggests Bob Kozniuk, Vice-President of Gaming for Atlantic Lotto Corporation: “The design and interiors of the new CDPEC are world class. I’ve had first-hand experience with numerous similar buildings in Canada and abroad and the Charlottetown project easily competes on equal footing with these facilities in terms of both design innovation and aesthetic appeal.”
