Goals for Centennial Include Focusing On Future Growth, Leadership
Shelton, Conn. (April 14, 2010) — Fletcher Thompson, an award-winning full-service architecture, engineering and interior design firm headquartered in Shelton, Conn., is proud to announce the celebration of its 100-year anniversary.
With six East Coast offices, in Shelton and Hartford, Conn.; Boston, Mass.; Somerset, N.J.; Naples, Fla.; and New York City, Fletcher Thompson is growing regionally with an eye toward future expansion, both geographically and in the range of professional services it offers.
Over the course of a century, Fletcher Thompson has distinguished itself with an illustrious portfolio of projects. In its early years, the firm was known for its creative design and engineering of industrial and manufacturing buildings. Today it is a solidly integrated architecture and engineering firm with a strong body of design work in the K through 12 education, healthcare, college and university, corporate, development and government markets. Many of its projects have won American Institute of Architects (AIA) design awards for design excellence. The firm has also been honored by building, industry and community organizations for its work.
Fletcher Thompson was founded in 1907 by E. Leslie Fletcher, who first established his industrial engineering practice in Bridgeport, Conn. He was later joined by Charles L. Thompson in 1909, and in 1910 the firm established itself as the Fletcher Thompson Engineering Co., which later became Fletcher Thompson Inc. The firm has grown through a combination of acquisitions and the opening of new office locations.
“We are proud to be celebrating this significant occasion,” stated Michael Marcinek, managing partner and chief financial officer of Fletcher Thompson. “As we look to the future, we are confident that our next 100 years will continue to bring our clients as much design excellence, leadership and contributions to the community as we have successfully provided in the past 100 years.”
The University of Connecticut Thomas J. Dodd Research Center in Storrs, Conn., is one of the firm’s notable college and university projects. The complex contains 63,000 square feet of contiguous archival, academic and conference facilities within a technologically advanced, climate-controlled environment for the storage and preservation of university archives and special collections.
Within the healthcare sector, Fletcher Thompson has also left a major mark, especially in New Brunswick, N.J., where the firm’s projects in the healthcare arena have helped to transform and revitalize the downtown and have contributed to the city’s reputation as a “Health Care City” for the healthcare micro-market that has developed there consisting of internationally renowned medical researchers, practitioners and facilities.
In particular, the firm has been involved with New Brunswick’s Robert Wood Johnson Academic Medical Center and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey since 1989. Projects for those institutions include designing three prestigious medical facilities: The Cancer Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital of New Jersey, the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital CORE Pavilion and the Clinical Academic Building Complex.
In the corporate sector, Fletcher Thompson is well known for one of its most uniquely designed corporate facilities, the Timex Group USA Inc. headquarters in Middlebury, Conn., which set a new standard for sustainability and was the winner of a design award from AIA. The project, cited in 2001 by Fast Company magazine as “transformative,” is as unique as it is environmentally friendly.
Another Fletcher Thompson AIA award-winning project is the Cesar A. Batalla Elementary School in Bridgeport, Conn. The design goal of this pre-kindergarten through eighth grade urban school was to create a high quality learning environment while accommodating the diverse needs of each age group by creating a village with a town center, a main street and home base neighborhoods.
With its reputation well established, especially in the healthcare, education and corporate sectors, Fletcher Thompson is looking to a future that will emphasize design solutions to address the complex needs of tomorrow’s clients, especially in regards to sustainability.
Thomas A. Fantacone, design principal of the firm, comments on his vision for Fletcher Thompson, “Building upon 100 years of success, we are moving forward to shape solutions that continue to elevate design in partnership with our clients and the communities in which we work.”
“There are many developing markets and new business opportunities that match our integrated, single source approach,” says Edward N. Rothe, FAIA, business development principal and president of Fletcher Thompson’s New York City office. “Clients, regardless of the type of project, are challenging design professionals to do more, to do it faster and better and to make their business lives easier. Building upon our success, we are more than capable of meeting that challenge.”
Celebrating Fletcher Thompson’s milestone will be its 100 employees, including nine principals, six office presidents, associate principals, senior associates and associates. To commemorate the centennial year, Fletcher Thompson will be planning marketing campaigns and events that promote the firm’s longevity and stability at both the local and regional levels.
Fletcher Thompson is the recipient of the Architectural Firm of the Year award for 1999 from the New Jersey chapter of the AIA.
AIA New Jersey 