25 Years: One Big Party

Last Thursday, we celebrated 25 years of Walters & Cohen’s buildings, staff, clients, collaborators and friends with a big party.

Dennis Gilbert has been taking photos for the practice since the start – ‘even when we couldn’t afford to pay him,’ said Cindy in her speech. For the past few months, he and his partner Susan have worked wonders running around the country and capturing footage of our buildings for a short film. It’s rare to revisit your projects after 10, 15, and 25 years, but all looked beautiful and we couldn’t be prouder. Well done, Dennis! The film can be watched here.

Upstairs was lit in a shade of pink a flamingo would be proud of, and featured a mini exhibition about each member of staff: who they are, what they do in the office, and outside of it. Until the party, not many of us would have included dancing around our desks on that list. But we did – and sometimes even on them.

Thank you to all our guests, and those who couldn't make it but wished us well. And special thanks to Tom Hill (brother of Rob and executive chef of Duck Soup), Rory and their team for feeding us again, which is no mean feat when your kitchen is a tight space between the server and plotter.

We (W&C staff) gave Cindy, Michál and Giovanni a surprise too: 25 trees will be planted in their honour for 25 years in business. We haven't decided where yet: that will be done with a little help from our landscape architect friends.