ABX 2015

On Thursday, November 19, part of the freshman class and two sophomores took a trip into Boston to attend ABX. ABX is an annual trade show where companies from every corner of the industry come to promote their products and educate attendees about new, cutting-edge technologies.  

Professor Rose Botti-Salitsky, Ashley Crosby, Casey Whitney, Brenna Edward, Mikayla Dobson, Grace Herron

Once we arrived at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, we split off and started exploring all the different stations and companies that were there..... after taking a group picture of course. 

Jessica Shaughnessy, Joe Arcuri, Mikayla Dobson, Samantha Plant, Ercilia Peres, Brenna Edward, Grace Herron, Casey Whitney, Ashley Crosby, Christie Poole

There were so many companies and products to learn about, we couldn't wait to get started. Making our way down the aisles, we made sure to stop at as many companies as we could, to say hello and introduce ourselves. By doing so, we ended up learning about several interesting products that we may not have learned about otherwise! 

Joe Arcuri with Mark Black (SkyDeck)

One of the first products that we came across was an entertainment rigging system, called SkyDeck. We learned about the benefits of this product compared to other systems, saw pictures of institutions where it was installed and we got to try the product out (we were able to walk on it and feel the support it provides)! Thank you to their representative, Mark Black, for taking the time to talk to us and explain this very cool product! 

The next product that we learned about was an engineered wood siding, KWP. This is a product made through sustainable practices as well as innovative practices. In fact, Professor Rose mentioned that she used this siding on our her own house!

As we made our way around the expo, we saw an abundance of products and materials that interested us. We spoke in depth with a few more company representatives to gain a better knowledge and understanding of their product. By talking to these representatives and just walking around and viewing materials and products, we all came up with new ideas for projects we're working on, or found a product we liked a lot and now want to incorporate into our design! It was an amazing learning experience. 

Ashley and Grace are currently working on an office design in their Studio III class, and they came across a company called New England Sound Proofing. They spoke with Joseph Drago, who explained the product to them, and they both decided they wanted to use them in their design right away. It's great how that works! You see a product that looks interesting, learn and educate yourself about it, and then use it. It was great to speak with Joseph and learn the importance of his company's product, as well as see the product. 

Below are plenty more pictures taken throughout the day. As you can see, we had a fantastic time at ABX gaining some knowledge and meeting new people.

Ashley Crosby, Joe Arcuri, Jessica Shaughnessy, Prof. Rose Botti-Salitsky with Blake Rothstein, learning about Bluebeam Software. 

Joe Arcuri, Ashley Crosby, with Brendan Mercier from Dekton learning about their products. 

This is nail polish that got painted onto a tile from Dekton... then set on fire... and was just wiped away. Tile was fine... Awesome!

From study sessions on the ride in (oh Art History- everyone's favorite class, right?), to navigating our way around Boston (if you know Rose at all, you know her driving this van in Boston was a trip!) we had a wonderful day learning more about our major and getting to bond with each other outside of the classroom! Until next year, ABX!