EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The new world headquarters of ADC Telecommunications in Eden Prairie, Minn., offers more than high-technology infrastructure; it offers a high-tech look.
The 510,000-sq.-ft. (47,430-sq.-m.) campus set on 93 acres (37 hectares) in this growing suburb just south of Minneapolis was designed to convey a "humanized environment" offering an "inside out" perspective (see photos on pages 831 and 832). In fact, that perspective came from the 1,100 employees who work in the three-building complex that opened for business on Oct. 20.
"Because systems are the sum of many different components working together in unison, doing something greater than individual components can do, we have kept that notion alive through the physical environment," says Manos Ginis, principal and senior designer for Minneapolis-based architects HGA. "We have set out to create a place that is perceived as open and collaborative and engages people who work together to feel part of the whole."
Ginis adds that "when you look at the typical corporate environment, you really never have an idea of who is outside your group or division, and you rarely perceive the other pieces. When you come to this campus, you are fully aware that you are in a neighborhood, and there's a place where you belong, but you're always aware of others and how all the pieces come together."
Ginis explains that the facility is designed in such a way as to tell a sequential story. "The entry, not visible from a great distance, is revealed upon a meandering approach creating an exterior courtyard or plaza. A sweeping canopy and all-glass vestibule welcomes the visitor into a dazzling, four-story atrium flooded with natural light," he adds. "A Spartan use of materials -- steel, concrete and glass -- conveys a feeling of high technology. In addition to its glass skin and skylights, the building is sheathed in a precision, corrugated-aluminum panel and tan brick."
Other high-tech features of the complex include individual heating, cooling and lighting controls at each workstation; advanced electrical and telecommunications infrastructure; and high-tech windows that allow in 90 percent of sunlight while blocking ultraviolet rays.
Campus amenities include outdoor plazas, a public park, walking trails, all-glass conference rooms, bridge-like catwalks and nine atriums that encourage the use of stairways to get from one level to another.
"Flexibility, in the way spaces can be adapted for various uses, was also a key factor driving design," Ginis says. "For example, an office plan can easily be adapted into a laboratory setting, or a training center modified into offices. To ensure ease in configuring and reconfiguring environments, compatible modular systems have been used throughout.
"In a competitive business environment focused on attracting and retaining the best and brightest workers, design is coming to be understood as a strategic advantage," he adds. "This new global headquarters for ADC raises the bar while humanizing the work environment."
-- by Ron Starner
