In a Workplace That's New, There's an Office with a View
Not too many years ago, workplaces were designed to keep people focused on work. Small spaces were often decorated with plants that grew in artificial light. Windows were few, due in part to the practicalities of heating and cooling, and fewer openings to the outside meant fewer opportunities to see what you might be missing.
Though some of these workspaces remain, the traditional brick box and sterile glass tower are being overshadowed by spaces filled with light and people who are more productive as a result. Chris Stone, associate principal and architect with LS3P/Neal Prince, draws on an early work experience in a windowless textile mill as he creates buildings that bring the outside in and the inside out. The Nachman, Norwood & Parrott office is an example. Stone transformed an existing building that lacked character into a showplace that captures the history and future of its South Main Street location. “We really wanted to take what was nothing more than a warehouse and make it into a storefront, creating a couple of new elements or languages but still be reflective of what is traditional in downtown Greenville with a new twist or turn,” Stone says.
Two sides of the original building were removed, allowing for the creation of a multi-layer façade reminiscent of a retail storefront. Retaining a sense of the old warehouse look, steel and glass are layered onto original brick. “It’s as if the old building is still there, but we’ve layered on top of the original building these new, renovated, more modern facades,” Stone says. Inside, layering is repeated in ceilings and walls. Glass-walled offices allow the staff to see what’s going on inside and to benefit from natural light flowing into the interior of the building.
Stone credits his client with allowing him to give the firm a signature look. “It’s always helpful when a client is very interested and eager to work with an architect to explore something that’s not traditional, that’s not cookie cutter,” he says.
There’s also nothing cookie cutter about the CU-ICAR management tower and parking garage, a collaborative project between LS3P/Neal Prince and the Smith Group. Thanks, Stone says, to another owner willing to explore options, the design added a skin to the parking deck itself so that it doesn’t look like just another concrete parking facility. Onthe eastern side, the parking deck façade is covered with a large truss structure and plate glass that provides a storefront effect, and on the southern side, metal screens allow light to shimmer. The LEED gold project also includes a rooftop garden that helps to control the amount of water that leaves the site.
Next door, the Center for Emerging Technology is a LEED silver project that combines precast insulated concrete and a metal insulated panel system with a glass perimeter across the bottom. Inside, Stone says, offices are transparent and translucent using a glass storefront with light coming from the outside, transferring through the office, and into the building’s core.
Glass figures prominently in the BMW Information Technology Research Center, where goals, based on European philosophies, included bringing in a substantial amount of outside light. Floor to ceiling glass combines with a light well through the middle of the building to ensure that no office is more than 20 feet away from some natural source of light. Three different types of glass combine on the perimeter wall to ensure the building, which received a South Carolina American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Outstanding Design, stays comfortable. These glass variations include a natural fritt similar in appearance to etched glass, mirrored reflective glass, and clear glass shaded by an exterior sun fin.
A second goal for the Research Center was to create volume and space, so that people aren’t working in claustrophobic areas. Ben Rook, chairman and CEO of Design Strategies, explains that space has been expanded by exposing the structure including duct work, electrical systems and valves. This allows the engineers, programmers and software developers who occupy the building to see how it works, creating, Rook says, a true research laboratory.
White metal is used on the exterior to reflect heat and to provide a sharp contrast to nature. Every work space has a view of the environment, and bird houses and sanctuaries on the grounds create the feeling of working in a garden, another way of bringing the outside in.
One of the most recognizable office landmarks in the area, Hubbell Lighting was designed with recruitment and retention in mind. The company was moving from Spartanburg and hoped its employees would also make the transition. At the same time, Hubbell was hiring for new positions, and attracting employees was a goal.
K.J. Jacobs of McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture worked to create a building that met those goals. The LEED silver certified project has a long, narrow footprint.
Elements that required hard walls rather than windows are located at the back of the building. Most office spaces sit off of the wall so that the entire spaceenjoys natural light. Lively break areas employ fun ceilings and vivid colors to give employees a visual breather along with some downtime. A full gym with showers gives Hubbell staff a chance to work out before the day begins, after work, or during the lunch hour. Hot meals are brought in every day, and employees can eat downstairs in a cafe or outside, where an eating area provides a chance for fresh air. Even the bathrooms are beautiful, featuring individual rooms rather than stalls, natural stone on the floors, and plenty of light and mirrors.
The company’s products are displayed and demonstrated in the first floor Lighting Solutions Center. This training center for people who make lighting decisions including architects, designers, engineers, contractors and distributors provides education on industry history and innovations, as well as Hubbell products.
Hubbell products are also shown off inside and outside the building. “All the materials we selected – both inside and out – were selected for texture and color so that we could really display the best of their lighting products,” Jacobs says.
Drive by the building at night, and you’ll see what he means. Typically, when lighting the outside of a building, the light fixture is mounted on the ground and aimed skyward. While the fixture lights the building, it also illuminates the sky, creating light pollution. The Hubbell building instead employs custom made, retractable fixtures on the top of the building. The Hubbell engineered fixture comes out at night and shines down on the building. During the day it retracts and appears to be an architectural element.
Edward Kirby, corporate executive recruiter with Hubbell, Inc., the parent company for Hubbell Lighting, says the building met and exceeded its goals for engaging and attracting the workforce. “It’s an excellent recruiting tool,” he says. “I’ve been in numerous corporate offices in Greenville, and I’ve never been in one as nice as this.” Decision makers at Business Week and Architectural Record thought so, too, awarding the building a “Good Design is Good Business” recognition for architecture that supports and advances the business mission of the client.
With psychological studies showing that natural light has a profound effect on worker productivity, these examples of Greenville’s greatest office spaces are designed to capitalize on what Mother Nature delivers. “The number one parameter in all work environments now is a profusion of natural light,” Ben Rook of Design Strategies says. “Particularly in the South, we have beautiful days, and light makes people happier, more efficient and more productive. It gives them more of a sense of place.”