Merit Award: LORD Corporation | Phase I Office Building
Architect: The Freelon Group
Location: Cary, NC
100 Word Description: The new Lord Corporation Office Building is the first of a four-building master plan for new office buildings on the Lord Corporation’s campus located in Cary, North Carolina. This 49,500 SF four-story office building will provide administrative office and meeting space for 175 people in various departmental groups.
Architect’s Statement: The building mass is organized into four simple, parallel bars. The first is dedicated to approach, connecting parking to the main entrance. The second contains the lobby and is rendered as a carved solid. All support functions, vertical circulation and meeting rooms are bundled into this bar. The third contains an open office environment with full-height glass on all sides, allowing an uninterrupted visual connection to the surrounding tree canopy. A fourth smaller bar is dedicated to exterior utility services. The project is intended to provide high quality workspace with special attention to flexibility, environmental workplace quality, and environmental conservation. As a high quality work environment, the goal was to design healthy, attractive office space that connected staff to each other and to the bucolic landscape of the building’s context. Each level includes meeting rooms, a work room, and small break area. On the second floor, above the entrance to the two-story lobby is a large staff lounge. A video-conference room is located on the third floor level above the lobby. A new data center and IT support lab are located on the lower level of the building. Also on the lower level are all mechanical rooms and a loading dock. The project was designed to LEED Gold Certification (anticipated completion July 2013). Sustainable site strategies include minimizing land disturbance, limiting utility and infrastructure requirements, on-site water-quality treatment, and indigenous plantings requiring no irrigation. Sustainable interior strategies include daylight harvesting with bucolic views from all occupied spaces. Sustainable systems include under-floor air distribution on all office levels, high performance glazing with integral sun control louvers, and brick made from processed sewage waste and other non-clay, post-consumer materials.
Type of Construction: The building structure is steel frame with a combination of braced and moment support. The weather envelope includes 100% recycled brick veneer made of processed sewage, metal panels, and curtainwall with integral louvers. Interior detailing includes stone flooring, low VOC finishes, and FSC certified wood. The open office environments utilize an under-floor air distribution system and automated solar shading that responds to daylighting levels.
