Designing for the Future: The Conceptual Blueprint of Our New Facility
- Leah Gearhart
- Jan 16
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 17
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Our Vision and Design Philosophy
The design phase of our new facility is more than just the creation of a building; it’s the blueprint for our future. We want to meet operational goals and build a facility that will stand the test of time, both in its functionality and respect for the surrounding community. This post focuses on the overarching design philosophy guiding our project.
In collaboration with our architect, who has worked with us on several projects over the years, we’ve developed a design that embodies our mission while responding thoughtfully to the site and surrounding environment. We brought on an architect with whom we had communicated over several months and had a working relationship on multiple projects over the years. This existing relationship helped to create an intuitive understanding of our company and mission, which aligns with the philosophies and values of the architect.
While they were not involved in site selection, we brought our architect in early to help us do initial design studies on a different site, which we learned from and applied many lessons learned to the current site. The design took the new site and its context into account as we planned the building layout. We made sure that the building operations matched the site context, especially considering the school to the east and single-family homes to the north.
The design is grounded in seven key themes that reflect our operational needs and values: our craft, experience, context, scale, operations, sustainability, and flexibility.
1. Millwork: A Reflection of Our Craft
Like our work, our building requires the highest level of craftsmanship and attention to detail. This philosophy is embedded in every corner of the design. From the precision of the building’s construction to the careful detailing of its materials, our new facility will showcase the same quality and craft we bring to every project.
2. Experience: Elevating the Workplace
Industrial design and warehouse environments are not typically known for promoting healthy workspaces, but this is something we prioritized. The design of our new facility includes ample daylight and controlled views through carefully placed windows and skylights, creating a light and airy atmosphere. Using precast concrete in innovative ways further contributes to a healthier, more inviting workplace that will help us attract and retain top talent.
3. Context: Respecting the Community
Unlike traditional warehouses, the new building cannot just be a concrete box in the neighborhood. It is set back from the street nearly twice that of the neighboring buildings, reducing the impact of the building’s height on the adjacent buildings and homes across the street. Abundant landscape is incorporated to provide a more appropriate transition to the community.
The building is organized to respect the existing context and environment. Offices and places for people are placed to the north as an interface with the houses, neighboring offices, and school, while loading docks and deliveries are to the south end of the site, which is less visible. Materials are stored at the south end of the building with minimal windows to reduce UV exposure and solar heat gain. In contrast, ample windows are placed to the north to connect people to the community and landscape.
The green color of the pre-patinated zinc recalls the colors of prairie grass, trees, and vegetation to blend in while complimenting the red brick of the adjacent buildings. The residential development across the street features multiple pastel-colored palettes with which the zinc is compatible. A darker gray aggregate mix for the precast complements the zinc and the neighboring brick buildings.
4. Scale: Designing with Human Scale in Mind
A challenge with warehouses is that they lack scale and are, therefore, difficult to relate to at the human scale. The design addresses scale in a multi-faceted way:
A horizontal datum at approximately 12’-0” high runs continuously around the entire structure, referencing the neighboring single-story buildings but also providing a relatable human scale height.
Long expanses of precast concrete panels are visually broken down by fields of windows and random joints that elegantly compose each elevation, moderating from the large wall down to the vertical joint.
Various sized expanses of curtain wall mixed with zinc siding at the office break down the scale of the front elevation both vertically by communicating the two-story nature of the structure and horizontally by a gradient of curtainwall expanses coupled with various sized corrugations in the zinc.
5. Operations: A Tool for Growth
The building itself serves as a revenue-generating tool and instrument, providing the necessary space for equipment and production while elevating the experience of its people, thereby recruiting the best talent and enhancing their work.
6. Sustainability: Designing for the Long Term
Qualitatively, the design is focused on timeless principles such as daylight, proportion, views, high-quality materials, texture, and craft. We avoid trends as we endeavor to create a building that endures and will age gracefully over time rather than require multiple wasteful renovations to keep on fashionable trend. This is an inherently sustainable way of designing.
7. Flexibility: Building for the Future
Future uses and potential adaptation are being considered in the design to maximize possible future use without having to tear down and replace the structure. We have designed the building with a tall height (30’ clear) and an extra-large clear span (90’ x 50’ bays) to allow for future flexibility.
Overcoming Design Challenges
The size and height of the building are much larger than the neighboring structures, and its manufacturing use differs from the adjacent residential, office, school, and public works facilities. Even though the building’s use and size are all within allowable zoning restrictions, our team prioritized being a good neighbor and making a high-quality addition to the community. We addressed this by thoughtfully planning the building layout and choosing materials with elegant proportions and textures, all framed by abundant landscaping that further enhances the transition to neighboring buildings.
Additionally, industrial buildings and warehouses are generally concrete boxes that are ‘heavy’ in appearance and not known for promoting healthy work environments, which conflicts with one of our primary goals. To address this, we are celebrating the fact that most of our work uses thin but strong materials, like plywood, similar to precast concrete panels that can be 40’ high but only 1’ thick. We aim to express this by incorporating the thinness of the precast panels to allow light to enter and provide unexpected views, making the concrete building feel light and airy, which is more conducive to a healthy work environment.
Designing for the Future
Ultimately, the design of our new facility is not just about meeting today’s needs; it’s about building for the future. Some key elements that help us achieve that are:
Building size: The building is larger than anticipated to accommodate future growth in manufacturing and office areas.
Interiors: Office interiors are column-free to accommodate future needs for future tenants or owners.
Structural Configurations: Various structural configurations in the manufacturing space were rigorously studied to find an optimized solution that minimizes the number of columns in the space and maximizes clear height for future flexibility both for technological advancements and evolving layout and process.
Conclusion
From its flexible layout to its timeless materials, the building is designed to adapt to our future growth and the evolving needs of our industry. Our collaboration with the architect has ensured that every design detail reflects our mission, values, and long-term vision.
In our next blog, we’ll explore how the design incorporates sustainability features and energy-efficient solutions to minimize our environmental impact while maximizing operational efficiency.
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