Location for the new facility

is at the centerpiece of the planned Gateway Center complex at Camp Creek

Parkway and Roosevelt Highway, a stone's throw from the main street of

College Park.

Gateway Center will be a multi-purpose

complex combining the convention and meeting capabilities of the new GICC

with 2,000 hotel rooms, a consolidated rental car compound serving Hartsfield,

a people mover and office buildings.

Its proximity to Hartsfield

dictated much of the GICC's building structure, which had to be both low

enough to accommodate low-flying planes and sturdy enough to withstand

and buffet the noise from the hundreds of take-offs and landings at Hartsfield

each day. In addition, after visiting other similar facilities throughout

the US, the GICC's building committee directed its architectural firm

to design something contemporary and cutting-edge.

Starting with a rectangular

box-like structure, the architectural firm of Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart,

Stewart and Associates, was quickly inspired to add roundness and dimension

to the building.

"Curves and circles became

a pervasive theme of our work, both inside and outside the building,"

said Jack Pruitt, the firm's interior design lead on the project.

"By sheer necessity, this

building had to have a lot of hard edges, primarily to make it soundproof,

so we added a lot of circular forms to soften them."

Another restriction for a building

in the midst of Hartsfield's flight patterns is that a lot of glass is

a no-no. "Instead, lighting has ended up playing a key role,"

said Pruitt. "And our circle theme extends to the lighting in the

ceiling, where we used cloud-like shapes."

It also extends to added details

in the pre-function spaces of the facility, where large architectural

elements encompass curved wood panel grids with dozens of smaller circles

inside. A giant mobile made by Los Angeles artist Brad Howe suspends more

than 2,000 ovals and other curved shapes in an 80 by 10 by 10 foot space

in the Exhibit Hall Concourse, the prefunction area outside the GICC's

grand ballroom.

Inside the ballroom, which

is Georgia's largest at 40,000 square feet, circular patterns are repeated

in the ceiling and in the swirling carpet underfoot.

"We intentionally made

the carpet intensely colored and full of shapes, to add contrast to the

neutral wood tones, white walls and metal accents in much of the building,"

adds Pruitt.

Metal accents were a natural

for the building, both inside and out.

"We used metal sculptures

to play off of the materials of aviation," said Pruitt. "At

the entry drive to the new GICC, for example, we placed seven tall windsail

sculptures fabricated in the same way that airplane wings are made, and

inside the building, metal shapes play into the signage and the commissioned

artwork."

Extensive artwork for the new

building was commissioned by the Atlanta firm, EDL & Associates, from

ten artists who live and work in California, Georgia and North Carolina.

Brightly colored paintings, wall sculptures, glass vases and a series

of black and white photography join Howe's mobile.

"The GICC committee provided

a wonderful template upon which to build art," said EDL Project Manager

Brenda Locke. "Our artists were all quite impressed with the creative

freedom they were given, and I think it shows in their work."

"We have taken the opportunity

we've been given by the fifth runway to create a world-class new facility

that has many new, cutting-edge and state-of-the-art features," said

Hugh Austin, executive director of the GICC. "We're immensely pleased

with the physical beauty of the building, but also wanted its features

to add to the experience of the meeting professional and the guests that

they bring with them."

Among those features are a

Cyber Lock system, which significantly beefs up the facility's security

at a cost less than traditional keyed locks by using a programmable locking

system and enabling GICC's security staff to see which doors have been

entered and by whom at all times. The GICC is the first convention facility

in the country to use Cyber Lock, which is already in place at Lenox Square

Mall and CNN in Atlanta. An exterior courier and mail delivery station

will also enhance security.

The flexibility of the GICC's

new space is another feature that Austin says was carefully planned with

meeting professionals in mind.

"Our large spaces allow

for conferences, conventions or events accommodating up to 20,000 attendees

and yet, we can also make our space fit the smaller to mid-sized events

Meeting planners will have

a slew of options at the new facility, including the ability to change

lighting dramatically in each room.

The building's theatrical lighting

system, for example, would give a company like Mary Kay Cosmetics the

option of bathing each meeting room in its signature pink color. Each

meeting room has a Janus LCD system at the door, enabling custom displays

and signage. Lights automatically turn on when conference attendees open

the door.

The entire facility offers

unblocked, secured Internet access through it high speed, fiber optic

T-1 service and an in-house Intranet so that clients can easily communicate

with event staff.

The GICC's 150,000 square foot

Exhibit Hall, which is divisible into up to four separate halls, can fit

up to 863 10 by 10 foot booths. Seventeen loading docks will make move-in

and move-out much easier and there is drive-in access for each hall, with

a ceiling height of 32 feet.

Its new ballroom will allow

the GICC to serve a seated dinner for as many as 3,000 guests at one time.

And its new state-of-the art, 9,800 square foot Culinary Arts Center has

chef Dennis Graeff and his staff excited about the added room to maneuver

for both meal preparation and service for such large events.

"The Culinary Arts Center

was designed to improve the flow of movement for our cooking and wait

staff, and it also features the latest and best tools: a garde-manger

finishing cooler for salads; seafood and desserts at a constant temperature

of 52 degrees with zero percent humidity; a top of the line Insinger dishwasher

in our separate dish room; a can wash; ice machines with three foot grates

to lessen spillage; a steward's office; a full-service commercial laundry

and many other bonuses," said Chef Graeff.

A unique element from the ballroom

leading to the kitchen is a series of black-out corners from ballroom

to kitchen. The ballroom's design allowed for fabric covered corners which

skillfully hide the blacked-out area, which keeps light from the kitchen

from intruding on the lighting in the ballroom as servers go back and

forth.

"It's always annoyed me

during a meeting or artful presentation to all of a sudden see bright

fluorescent light or hear the sounds of the kitchen come flooding into

the ballroom," said Austin, a veteran convention center director

and guest.

"Smallwood, Reynolds,

Stewart, Stewart & Associates solved that little problem for us neatly."

A wide service corridor between

the kitchen, ballroom and exhibit hall will aid the flow of food and beverage

servers, along with fully-stocked beverage wait stations, meaning that

servers don't have to go back into the kitchen