Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
Helfand Myerberg Guggenheimer Architects

Photography © Paul Warchol Photography

A building to turn the heads of both clients and staff

Program: This technology/financial services firm, which formerly occupied a dumpy, increasingly cramped low-rise structure on a commercial strip, needed to expand. The staff required spaces for informal group interaction as well as private offices. In addition, the program called for a 6,000-square-foot trading room and a very secure 5,000-square-foot data center. The architect was challenged by an extremely tight schedule and a site dotted by oak trees and laced with cleaned-up storm-water-retention ponds.

Solution: Through a highly participatory process among representatives from each work group, senior management, and the architect's firm, a program developed that proposed an elegant and practical solution. The building sits in a bucolic landscape, and employees have the pleasure of abundant outdoor views, high ceilings, and natural light. Business improved 18 percent after the grand opening of the new space and continues to increase. As a result of its new home, the company enjoys positive media attention, strong brand recognition in the marketplace, and employee satisfaction.

For more images please see the November 2003 issue or Architectural Record.

The Winners: Orange Innovations | Hotel Habita | Sekii Ladies Clinic | Start-Up Offices | Inn at Price Tower | Darwin Centre | Apple SoHo | Stealth/Ogilvy | Gannett/USA Today Corporate Headquarters | ImageNet

The Finalists: Automated Trading Desk Technology Campus | Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery | University of Washington | Herman Miller MarketPlace | Beacon Communications Office | New Academic Complex, Baruch College, CUNY | Mott Children's Center

Unbuilt Projects: Great Harbor Design Center

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