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Ash Grove Cement Company Home Offices

Information

Location Overland Park, Kansas
Size 95,000 SF
Completion 2003
Services Architecture
Project Type Corporate

BNIM designed an office building for the Ash Grove Cement Company that reinforces and enhances their working environment with an economical, yet well designed solution. The facility houses administrative functions, as well as a materials and construction research laboratory component on the main floor. To tie into the Ash Grove’s business, the building was constructed with a prominent and creative use of concrete in both the post-tensioned concrete frame and precast skin systems. The building is organized around a central “town hall” within the atrium that brings employees together and engenders a strong office culture.

The aluminum storefront and curtainwall systems include high-performance glazing and incorporate precast light shelves on the southern exposure to minimize heat gain and maximize daylight penetration into the office spaces. The building orientation minimizes the east and west exposures to lessen the affects of the associated heat gain. The main circulation spaces are organized around a central space, called the “town hall”, that brings natural daylight into the main public area.

The design was developed from the inside out; functional relationships, movement, and visual and physical interaction between departments were most important to Ash Grove. Reliable technology, natural daylight, views to the site, outdoor spaces, high-energy efficiency, and the creative, but affordable use of concrete were important concepts that BNIM addressed in designing the facility. Each of these items worked together to serve Ash Grove’s vision for its new office.

The functionality of the town center has been a highlight of our new corporate life in this building. The space draws our employees together in various ways throughout the day and draws them toward one another in a way that can only be done in a comfortable common setting. There is no question that this will have a positive impact on our efforts to foster our collegial cooperative corporate culture. Interior design looks to be timeless, durable and functional. The new furniture utilizes space so efficiently, it has created a more spacious feel throughout the building than we anticipated. The functionality of the space is a huge improvement from our previous space and is functioning as planned. We really haven’t come up with anything we would do differently now that we have been in the space for a few months. The space planning process was very effective. We had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted to accomplish going into this project. BNIM was able to understand our vision and design our building accordingly.

Charles Sunderland, Chairman, Ash Grove Cement Co.

BNIM provided a high level of design service and involvement on the Ash Grove Cement Company Home Office by their thoughtful site design process through understanding the user goals and depth of knowledge with corporate office design. The end result is a building aligned with the way Ash Grove operates their business. It is a building of which they are extremely proud.Interior design looks to be timeless, durable and functional. The new furniture utilizes space so efficiently, it has created a more spacious feel through out the building than we anticipated.

Charles Sunderland, Chairman, Ash Grove Cement Co.

My relationship with BNIM has included three built office buildings totaling 600,000 sq. ft., several conceptual design efforts, and other development ventures. Their experience in investment office design and development land planning has supported us in making informed, quality decisions that help to increase our bottom line. They have always been professional and bring a highly collaborative method of working with development and construction project teams. Their group is responsive, realistic, and creative. BNIM provided a high level of design service and involvement on the Ash Grove Cement Company Home Office by their thoughtful site design process, thorough understanding of the user goals, and depth of knowledge with corporate office design. Sustainable practice strategies and tools were used, including LEED design guidelines, to help guide our project team. The end result is a building aligned with the way Ash Grove operates their business. It is a building of which they are extremely proud.

Col. Tom Coulter, Construction Manager, MC Realty Group, LLC