Lotusphere was an American annual conference hosted by Lotus Software (which later became an IBM software brand) from 1993 to 2017. In 2013, Lotusphere was re-branded as IBM Connect.
59-518: Except for the first conference, which took place in December 1993, Lotusphere was held in late January. It started with a reception party on Sunday night and continued on through the closing session on Thursday afternoon. The conference was held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels. Most years it has used the additional space at Disney's Yacht and Beach Clubs. In addition to
118-620: A "radical departure" from his earlier work. The Plocek Residence (1977), a private home in Warren Township, New Jersey , was among the first of his designs in this new style. Graves designed some of his most iconic buildings in the early 1980s, including the Portland Building . The fifteen-story Portland Municipal Services Building, his first major public commission, opened in 1982 in downtown Portland, Oregon . The "monolithic cube" with decorated facades and colorful, oversized columns
177-556: A "reluctant health expert," as well as an internationally recognized advocate for accessible design . In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Graves to an administrative role in the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (also known as the Access Board ). The independent agency addresses accessibility concerns for people with disabilities. In 2014, a year before his death, Graves helped to establish and plan
236-479: A 99-year lease on a much more desirable location within walking distance of Epcot and the yet-to-be-built Disney-MGM Studios and also connected by a waterway with ferry boats. The $ 375 million project was to include the 1,514-room Dolphin Resort, (Florida’s biggest at the time), the 756-room Swan Resort and 200,000 square feet (19,000 m ) of meeting space. Disney and Tishman hired architect Michael Graves to design
295-629: A Target executive who appreciated his product designs. (The Target Corporation contributed $ 6 million toward restoration of the monument.) The result of their acquaintance was the formation of a business relationship between Graves and the U.S. retailer that lasted until 2012. Graves began the collaboration with Target by designing a half-dozen products for the mass-consumer market. His collection of housewares began selling in Target stores in January 1999. In 1998, Target Corporation commissioned Graves to design
354-646: A career that spanned nearly fifty years, Graves and his firm designed more than 350 buildings around the world, and an estimated 2,000 household products. In 1962, after two years of studies in Rome, Graves returned to the United States and moved to Princeton, New Jersey , where he accepted a professorship at the Princeton University School of Architecture . Graves taught at Princeton for thirty-nine years while simultaneously practicing architecture. He retired as
413-677: A covered walkway crossing a lagoon. The hotels were developed as part of a joint venture between Disney, the developer Tishman , insurance company MetLife , Aoki Corporation and Starwood Hotels and Resorts , which was bought by Marriott in 2016. It is operated by Marriott's Westin Hotels & Resorts brand. The Swan and Dolphin are part of the Walt Disney Collection of resorts, so guests have access to benefits typically available to Disney Resort Hotel guests only, such as early entry. The Dolphin and Swan share similar elements, but each has
472-676: A distinctive appearance. The Swan's main structure is a 12-story rectangular main structure with a gently arching top and two 7-story wings, on the Swan side the main structure is crowned with two, 47-foot (14 m) tall Swan statues. The colored facade is adorned with turquoise waves similar to the Dolphin's banana-leaf motif. In the early 1980s, The Walt Disney Company was facing a cash crunch. Company leadership decided that when it decided to add more resorts to Walt Disney World, it would partner with property developers and hotel companies, who would take on
531-511: A form of entertainment and a guest speaker, as well as executives and key employees sharing news and demonstrations of what was planned for the near future. In 2008, there were 197 different presentations scheduled during the breakout sessions, scheduled across 18 slots, giving attendees an average of eleven choices per session slot. Each breakout session lasted about an hour. Breakouts were split into several categories called "tracks". Common tracks were: In addition to these four tracks, there
590-452: A model home to showcase the new line of housewares, but Graves went a step further. He designed "Cedar Gables," contemporary house in Minnetonka, Minnesota , complete with custom furniture, lighting, fixtures, and other unique items, making it only one of three homes he designed and furnished. By 2009, however, Graves noted that the house "doesn't have a wow factor. That gets old quickly." When
649-558: A noted designer of consumer products. His distinctive style was well known among the general public in the United States in 1980s and 1990s, when he began designing household products for major clients such as the Target Corporation , Alessi , Steuben, and The Walt Disney Company . Over the years, the Michael Graves Design Group, a part of his design firm, designed and brought to market more than 2,000 products. In
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#1732868595759708-711: A professor of architecture at Princeton University in 2001, but remained active in his architecture and design firm. He also became an advocate for the disabled in the last decade of his life. When Graves became paralyzed from the waist down in 2003, the result of a spinal cord infection, the use of a wheelchair heightened his awareness of the needs of the disabled. After weeks of hospitalization and physical therapy, Graves adapted his home to suit his accessibility needs and resumed his architectural and design work. In addition to other types of buildings and household products, Graves designed wheelchairs, hospital furnishings, hospitals, and disabled veteran's housing. Graves also became
767-556: A special edition version with a dragon replacing the kettle's bird-shaped whistle. In Italy in 1987, clock on display Apollodoro Gallery , seventh event The Hour of Architects , with Hans Hollei , Arata Isozaki , Ettore Sottsass , Paolo Portoghesi , paintings by Paolo Salvati , Rome . In 1997–98, when Graves designed the scaffolding used in the restoration of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. , he met Ron Johnson,
826-513: A turning point in his career, and he was no longer known solely as an architect. After the $ 25,000 tea service began to attract buyers, Alberto Alessi commissioned Graves to design a moderate-priced kettle for his company. In 1985 Graves designed his iconic a stainless-steel teakettle (9093 stovetop kettle). The kettle featured a red, bird-shaped whistle at the end of the spout. It remained the company's top-selling product for fifteen years. In honor of its thirtieth anniversary in 2015, Graves designed
885-534: A waterslide and waterfall. Drinks can be ordered by guests near the pools through a nearby cabana bar. Resort guests have access to a spa, arcade, and daycare program, along with multiple Disney gift shops. Walking paths or Disney boats are available from the resort to both Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Buses contracted by the hotel bring guests to all other Walt Disney World attractions. Walt Disney World Swan guests are provided complimentary transportation to all Walt Disney World theme parks and attractions on
944-583: Is "considered a seminal Postmodern work" and one of Graves's best-known works of architecture. The celebrated but controversial municipal office also became an icon for the city of Portland and subject to an ongoing preservation debate. Regarded as the first major built example of postmodern architecture in a tall office building, the Portland Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Although it faced demolition in 2014,
1003-583: The American Academy in Rome 's Prix de Rome ( Rome Prize ) and spent the next two years at the academy in Italy. Graves describes himself as "transformed" by his experience in Rome: "I discovered new ways of seeing and analyzing both architecture and landscape." Graves began his career in 1962 as a professor of architecture at Princeton University , where he taught for nearly four decades and later helped to establish
1062-645: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection . The voluntary program encourages operators to adopt “green” practices that reduce waste and conserve natural resources. On November 3, 2021, the hotel opened a new wing, the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve, a 349-room luxury boutique hotel adjacent to the original building. The resort, along with the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, has two lap pools and one grotto pool with
1121-533: The Michael Graves College at Kean University in Union Township, New Jersey , and established his own architectural firm in 1964 at Princeton, New Jersey . Graves worked as an architect in public practice designing a variety of buildings that included private residences, university buildings, hotel resorts, hospitals, retail and commercial office buildings, museums, civic buildings, and monuments. During
1180-614: The Michael Graves College , which includes The School of Public Architecture at Kean University in Union Township, New Jersey . Kean University's Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies program began in 2015; its Master of Architecture program is slated to begin in 2019. As part of gift from Graves's estate, in 2016 the university acquired The Warehouse at 44 Patton Avenue in Princeton, New Jersey , Graves's former home and studio, and two adjacent buildings. The university plans to use
1239-553: The National Medal of Arts (1999) and the Driehaus Architecture Prize (2012). Graves produced both high end and mass consumer product designs for several companies, including Alessi in Italy and Target and J. C. Penney in the United States. The New York Times described Graves as "one of the most prominent and prolific American architects of the latter 20th century, who designed more than 350 buildings around
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#17328685957591298-912: The O'Reilly Theater (1996) in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ; the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis, Indiana; and 425 Fifth Avenue (2000) in New York City, among others. Graves also received recognition for his multi-year renovation of his personal residence in Princeton. International projects included the Sheraton Miramar Hotel (1997) in El Gouna , Egypt , and the Hard Rock Hotel in Singapore . One of
1357-761: The Portland Building in Portland, Oregon and the Humana Building in Louisville, Kentucky . For his architectural work, Graves received a fellowship of the American Institute of Architects as well as its highest award, the AIA Gold Medal (2001). He was trustee of the American Academy in Rome and was the president of its Society of Fellows from 1980 to 1984. He received the American Prize for Architecture ,
1416-684: The Snyderman House in Fort Wayne (1972, destroyed by fire in 2002) . Graves also became one of the New York Five , along with Peter Eisenman , Charles Gwathmey , John Hejduk and Richard Meier . This informal group of Princeton and New York City architects, also known as the Whites due to the predominant color of their architectural work, espoused a pure form of modernism characterized by clean lines and minimal ornamentation. The New York Five became
1475-629: The University of Cincinnati . During college he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Graves earned a master's degree in architecture from Harvard University in 1959. After graduation from college, Graves spent a year working in George Nelson 's office. Nelson, a furniture designer and the creative director for Herman Miller , exposed Graves to the work of fellow designers Charles and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard . In 1960 Graves won
1534-830: The Walt Disney Company in the postmodern style. These include the Team Disney headquarters in Burbank, California ; the Dolphin (1987) and Swan (1988) resorts at Walt Disney World in Florida ; and Disney's Hotel New York (1989) at Disneyland Paris . Patrick Burke, the project architect for the two resort hotels in Florida, commented that the Walt Disney Company described Graves's designs as "entertainment architecture." In addition to
1593-479: The Walt Disney World Dolphin , both of which are operated by Marriott International . It is one of the few resorts inside Walt Disney World that is not owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company . The resort opened on January 13, 1990, partially in response to a lack of convention center space inside Walt Disney World. Both the Swan and Dolphin were designed by Michael Graves and are connected by
1652-616: The "standard-bearers of a movement to elevate modernist architectural form into a serious theoretical pursuit." The book, Five Architects (1973) describes some of their early work. In the late 1970s, Graves shifted away from modernism to pursue Postmodernism and New Urbanism design for the remainder of his career. He began by sketching designs that had Cubist -inspired elements and strong, saturated colors. Postmodernism allowed Graves to introduce his humanist vision of classicism, as well as his sense of irony and humor. His designs, notable for their "playful style" and "colorful facades," were
1711-586: The 1990s for example, Graves created the Mickey Mouse Gourmet Collection for Moeller Design with the Walt Disney Company's approval. The collection of kitchenware and tabletop items was initially sold through the Walt Disney Company's retail stores and later offered at other retail outlets. In 2013, Graves designed what became known as the “ Hitler teapot ” for department store JCPenney , which garnered controversy due to its perceived resemblance to Adolf Hitler . In addition to housewares, Graves
1770-497: The Disney Transportation System, via boat (to Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios). Length-of-stay park passes are available, as is package delivery from Disney theme park shops to the resort. There is a Walt Disney World guest services desk located in the lobby of each resort. Walt Disney World Swan guests can also use Early Theme Park Access, and begin booking Genie+ selections at 7:00am by linking their reservation to
1829-601: The Humana Building, a skyscraper in Louisville, Kentucky , one of Graves's finest building designs. TIME magazine also claimed it was a commercial icon for the city of Louisville and one of the best buildings of the 1980s. The San Juan Capistrano Library (1982) in California , another project from this period, shows his interpretation of the Mission Revival style . Graves and his firm also designed several buildings for
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1888-573: The Ministry of Culture in The Hague , a post office for Celebration, Florida , a prominent expansion of the Denver Public Library to numerous commissions for Disney and the scaffolding design for the 2000 Washington Monument restoration. He was recognized for his influence on architectural movements, including New Urbanism , New Classicism , and postmodernism . His postmodern buildings include
1947-689: The My Disney Experience mobile app. However, room charging (using hotel key as a credit card at Walt Disney World) is not available and hotel restaurants do not participate in the Disney Dining Plan . For an additional fee, the hotel features onsite Disney Character Dining nightly and on weekend mornings, and reservations for all restaurants can be made through Disney. 28°21′56″N 81°33′32″W / 28.36556°N 81.55889°W / 28.36556; -81.55889 Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015)
2006-644: The Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, in 2001. Although Graves was a longtime faculty member at Princeton and trained many of its architecture students, the university did not allow its faculty to practice their profession on its campus. As a result, Graves was never commissioned to design a building for the university. Later in his life he contributed to the founding of a new college, which bears his name at Kean University . In his early years as an architect, Graves did designs for home renovation projects in Princeton. In 1964 he founded
2065-472: The Sheraton and Holiday Inn. The two-year legal battle ended in 1988 with a settlement, Disney and Tishman would form a joint venture with hotel operator Starwood and investors Aoki and MetLife to build two large hotels with convention facilities. As part of the deal, no damages would be paid, Disney would receive more say over the design of the complex and a share of revenues, while Tishman would be given
2124-621: The Swan and Dolphin hotel buildings, Graves's firm designed their original interiors, furnishings, signage, and artwork. Graves's other notable commissions for buildings that were completed in the 1990s include an expansion of the Denver Public Library (1990) and the renovation of the Detroit Institute of Arts (1990). Postmodern architecture did not have a long-lasting popularity and some of Graves's clients rejected his ideas. For example, his design for an expansion of Marcel Breuer's Whitney Museum of American Art building in New York City in
2183-510: The age of 80, and is buried at Princeton Cemetery. Graves favored a "humanistic approach to architecture and urban planning" and was a major influence in late-twentieth-century architecture. Graves was among the most prolific and prominent American architects from the mid-1960s to the end of the twentieth century. Graves and his team designed more than 350 buildings in the Postmodern , New Classical , and New Urbanism styles for projects around
2242-505: The annual conference in Florida , between 1997 and 2000 there was also an annual Lotusphere Europe conference, first in Nice (1997) and then in Berlin (1999). "Lotusphere Comes to You" (LCTY) events were for a few years held by local IBM Business Partners, where some of the information presented at conference was presented and business partners could connect with local users who were not able to attend
2301-485: The architectural firm of Michael Graves & Associate in Princeton and remained in public practice there until the end of his life. His firm maintained offices in Princeton, New Jersey, and in New York City , but his residence in Princeton served as his design studio, home office and library, and a place to display the many objects he collected during his world travels. Nicknamed "The Warehouse", it also displayed many of
2360-512: The big event. LCTY was held in over 50 countries around the world. Since 2007, LCTY in Sofia, Bulgaria was organized by IBS Bulgaria with the support of IBM Bulgaria. The event covered news around Lotus Software as well as sessions emphasizing on local business needs and Lotus Domino development. These events were later replaced by local LUG (Lotus User Group) events like IamLUG (later Icon US), MWLUG, ILUG, UKLUG (later Icon UK) and many others. Toward
2419-625: The city government decided to proceed with a renovation, estimated to cost $ 195 million. As a result of the notoriety he received from the Portland Building design, Graves was awarded other major commissions in the 1980s and 1990s. Notable buildings from this period include the Humana Building (1982) in Kentucky and the Newark Museum expansion (1982) in New Jersey . Some architecture critics, including Paul Goldberger of The New York Times , consider
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2478-542: The costs and risks of building and managing a hotel. The first of these deals came together in 1985 with developer Tishman , who had been the general contractor of Epcot . Under the deal, Tishman would build a Sheraton and a Crowne Plaza on the outskirts of the Walt Disney World complex, near Walt Disney World Village . In order to protect Tishman’s investment, Disney agreed that no new hotels would be built at Walt Disney World during an exclusivity period. However, by
2537-517: The day. Originally, Thursday was the last day of the conference, with a few breakout sessions in the morning, then a large "Ask the Developers" session where attendees are allowed to ask questions directly to a panel of IBM/Lotus employees involved in making the software. The last event of the conference is a closing session. Starting in 2014 the conference was shortened one day, ending on Wednesday instead. The opening and closing sessions typically had
2596-491: The early 1980s, Ettore Sottsass recruited Graves to become a member of Memphis , a postmodern design group based in Milan , Italy . Graves began designing consumer products such as furniture and home accessories. Especially notable is his "Plaza" dressing table. Around the same time, Graves became associated with Alessi , a high-end Italian kitchenware manufacturer. Graves designed a sterling silver tea service for Alessi in 1982,
2655-779: The end of 2012, IBM stopped using the Lotus brand and renamed the conference to IBM Connect. It was renamed again in 2015 to IBM ConnectED, but changed back to IBM Connect in 2016. The venue changed from the Disney Swan and Dolphin to the Hilton in Orlando. In 2017 the conference was moved to the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, and the date of the conference moved to the third week of February. In 2018, IBM Connect, along with several other IBM conferences,
2714-528: The facility as an educational research center for its School of Public Architecture, although its main campus and its School of Public Architecture are located about forty miles away in Union, New Jersey. Graves' marriage to Gail Devine in 1955 ended in divorce; his subsequent marriage to Lucy James in 1972 also ended in divorce. Graves was the father of three children, two sons and a daughter. Graves died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey , on March 12, 2015, at
2773-405: The home as "another of Graves's experiments in cubist‐influenced spatial manipulations" and cited the obvious influence of Le Corbusier on Graves' work. Built for friends he met in high school, the home went up for sale in 2017 for $ 264,888. The four-bedroom residence features a Graves-painted mural in the living room signed by the architect during a visit to the home in 2000. He also designed
2832-498: The hotels. Eisner had used Graves for other Disney projects and wanted to continue to build striking, unique buildings. The Swan was the smaller of the two hotels and was scheduled to open first in late 1989 and operated by Westin Hotels & Resorts , which at the time was owned by Aoki. In 2008, The Walt Disney Swan Resort was awarded a One Palm designation through the Florida Green Lodging Program established by
2891-597: The household items he designed. After Graves's death, Kean University acquired his former home and studio in Princeton, along with two adjacent buildings. Graves spent much of the late 1960s and early 1970s designing modernist residences. His first commission was the Hanselman House in Fort Wayne, Indiana , a design completed in 1971. The modernist structure built for $ 55,000 received an American Institute of Architects Honor Award in 1975. The New York Times described
2950-662: The last projects that Michael Graves and Associates was involved in before Graves's death was the Louwman Museum (2010) in The Hague , Netherlands . Gary Lapera, a principal and studio head of Michael Graves and Associates, designed the museum, also known as the Lowman Collection and the National Automobile Museum of the Netherlands, which houses more than 230 cars. In addition to his architecture, Graves became
3009-465: The mid-1980s was highly contested and never built due to architect and local opposition. Graves's designs for a planned Phoenix Municipal Government Center complex were among the project's finalists, but his concept was not selected as the winning entry. Graves's prominence as a postmodernist architect may have reached its peak during the 1980s and in the early 1990s, but he continued to practice as an architect until his death in 2015. Later works include
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#17328685957593068-461: The mid-1980s, Disney's financial fortunes had improved, and CEO Michael Eisner was growing frustrated that the Walt Disney World Resort was losing business to other hotels in the Orlando area that catered to conventions and large meetings. Tishman, worried that Disney may sign a deal with another developer to build a convention hotel at Walt Disney World during its exclusivity period, filed a lawsuit in 1986 seeking US$ 1.3 billion in damages and canceled
3127-473: The partnership with Target ended in 2012, Graves had designed more than 500 objects for the retailer. Increasingly concerned about Target's dwindling partnerships with outside designers, Graves decided to explore other relationships for marketing his consumer products. After Johnson became CEO of J.C. Penney in 2011, he and Graves reached an agreement for Graves to design products exclusively for Penney's. Graves also created products for other manufacturers. In
3186-437: The world but was perhaps best known for [a] teakettle and pepper mill." Graves was born on July 9, 1934, in Indianapolis , Indiana , to Erma (née Lowe) and Thomas B. Graves. He grew up in the city's suburbs and later credited his mother for suggesting that he become an engineer or an architect. Graves graduated from Indianapolis's Broad Ripple High School in 1952 and earned a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1958 from
3245-497: The world. His architectural designs have been recognized as major influences in all three of these movements. In naming Graves as a recipient of its national design award for lifetime achievement, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum explained that Graves broadened "the role of the architect in society" and raised "public interest in good design as essential to the quality of everyday life." Graves and his firm designed more than 2,000 consumer products during his lifetime. He
3304-457: Was an American architect, designer, and educator, and principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Group and a professor of architecture at Princeton University for nearly forty years. Following his own partial paralysis in 2003, Graves became an internationally recognized advocate of health care design. Graves' global portfolio of architectural work ranged from
3363-581: Was involved in a variety of other design projects that included sets and costumes for New York City's Joffrey Ballet ; a shopping bag for Bloomingdale's department store ; jewelry for Cleto Munari of Milan, Italy; vinyl flooring for Tajima, a Japanese company; and rugs for Vorwerk , a German firm. In 1994 Graves opened a small retail store named the Graves Design Store in Princeton, New Jersey, where shoppers could purchase his designs and reproductions of his artwork. At that time Graves had designed products for more than fifty manufacturers. Graves retired as
3422-572: Was merged into the IBM Think conference. The typical agenda started with an opening general session on Monday, followed by breakout sessions through the rest of the morning and afternoon where different presentations occur simultaneously in different conference rooms, allowing attendees to choose which one they want to go to. Each breakout session was typically an hour long, with pauses in the schedule to allow attendees to mingle and walk to their next choice of breakout session. Tuesday and Wednesday also had six or seven of these breakout sessions throughout
3481-437: Was sometimes a fifth track with a title and content around "Customer References" or "Sponsor Sessions". There were also "Hands-on" and "JumpStart" sessions. Bob Picciano Benjamin Zander Walt Disney World Swan The Walt Disney World Swan is a resort hotel located between Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida , and across from its sister resort,
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