The great outdoors plays a big role in the business of rock quarry operator Vulcan Materials. But its headquarters provided very little visual connection to the outside.
Williams Blackstock Architects set about fixing that. After getting buy-in from executives and employees on most of its suggestions, the architecture firm transformed Vulcan’s office in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, to one where workers can see trees, streams and sunlight from their desks and gathering areas.
Vulcan’s main office “was dismal" and typical of what was "designed in the 1990s,” John Beason, director of interior design at Williams Blackstock, told CoStar News.
As more companies order staff back to the office, in some cases five days per week, it makes sense for employers to spiffy up their digs, according to architecture firms that design corporate workplaces. Corporate interiors should reflect that staff now need greater flexibility on seating, more places to congregate and collaborate, and additional comforts like fitness centers and game rooms, according to Perkins & Will, one of the world’s largest architecture firms.
“A workplace should be a place where people want to be,” Perkins & Will said in a Jan. 14 report.
Vulcan is one of the largest providers of sand, gravel and crushed stone for the construction industry. It operates dozens of rock quarries, asphalt and concrete plants in the United States and overseas, and many employees spend most of their workdays outdoors.
Beason and Grace Blackstock led the $24 million redesign of Vulcan’s office in Vestavia Hills. All six floors, covering 180,000 square feet, were renovated with new glass walls, carpet, lighting fixtures and wall decor. The project is "99.9% completed," Beason said.
Vulcan has occupied the space since 1998 but hadn’t touched the design since moving in, Beason said. After inspecting the premises, Beason, Blackstock and other designers immediately latched on to the concept of tearing down walls made from sheetrock, wood or other solid surfaces.
“The office is in a beautiful setting, suburban and very wooded. Streams run through this office park,” Beason said. “We told them it would mean a lot to their employees if they had more connections to the outdoors.”
Vulcan’s staff liked the idea, although top executives had some reservations. Williams Blackstock wanted to remove all private offices and have an open floor plan, but CEO Tom Hill wanted top managers to keep private offices if they had one before the renovation.
To compensate, Williams Blackstock gutted most of the interior structures, including privacy walls. That allowed sunlight to stream into the interior space, Beason said.
All the floors at Vulcan’s office previously looked the same, employees told the Williams Blackstock designers. There were no visual cues to let someone know which floor or department they were visiting.
“When you got off the elevator, you felt like you were in a shoebox,” Beason said.
The designers gathered high-resolution photos of Vulcan’s rock quarries and other operations and used them to create printed wall coverings. These adorn walls on all six floors of Vulcan’s office, giving each floor its own visual identity.
“They really wanted to make sure that when people come into their space, it’s very clear what Vulcan as a company does,” Owen Harris, director of marketing at Williams Blackstock, told CoStar News.
Vulcan’s staff has embraced the renovated office space, Beason said. Managers have asked Williams Blackstock for suggestions on how to renovate a satellite office the company will occupy next year at Mansell Overlook 300 in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Georgia.
Williams Blackstock added another feature to reinforce the company’s outdoorsy nature, something Vulcan didn’t have in its old headquarters. An art gallery was installed on the ground floor, next to the main entrance, with panels that display the history of the company and photos and videos showing Vulcan machinery like drilling, blasting and rock-crushing equipment.
“When guests come in, it’s something Vulcan can use to explain their products,” Beason said. “It really pays homage to what they do.”
For the record
Hoar Construction is the general contractor. Business Interiors and Ai Corporate Interiors provided services related to office furniture.