Will Sherwin-Williams’ HQ be a pretty bunker?

This rendering of the proposed gardens in front of Sherwin-Williams’ new
downtown headquarters shows people standing around. They’re not sitting
because the global coatings giant did not want any benches to be included
in its gardens which face Public Square. Security concerns about attracting
homeless people led to a compromise with the city by providing leaning
 and sitting railings at locations around the new headquarters complex. The
railings aren’t wide enough to allow someone to lie down on them (The
Sherwin-Williams Company). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

To sit or not to sit, that was the question that caused the biggest debate today among members of a design-review panel of Cleveland’s City Planning Commission prior to supporting landscaping and site amenity plans for Sherwin-Williams’ (SHW) new global headquarters. The question became a point of debate over concerns of whether adding benches to the outdoor areas of the downtown HQ would attract homeless people to sleep there as is already the case at locations throughout the adjacent Public Square.

READ MORE