ADC World Headquarters
Eden Prairie, Minn.
Hammel, Green, and Abrahamson

A light-filled complex designed from the workstation outward fosters collaboration

© George Heinrich

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Camille LaFevre

In 1998, ADC Telecommunications—a global equipment, software, and integration-services company—faced dramatic growth and change as the appetite for communications and data services exploded. It planned a new headquarters campus to spur high-speed, cross-discipline collaboration. By the time of its completion, ADC, along with its competitors, had rapidly contracted due to the dot-com bust; but unlike some competitors, it survives. Now leaner, ADC has consolidated operations in this 477,000-square-foot, three-building headquarters. The design’s operational and technical flexibility "allowed us to do what was needed with tremendous adaptability and minimal business disruption," says Scott Reinke, ADC’s director of real estate and facilities services.

ADC approached Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA), Minneapolis, which had designed the company’s prior facilities, about integrating offices, laboratories, and several business units into one campus location.

HGA designed the campus from the workstation outward, Ginis says, with employee comfort, control, and productivity in mind. Access floors, raised 24 inches, house easily reconfigurable conduit, wire, and data cabling, as well as an underfloor air-distribution system that allows each workstation to have a personal energy-management system. With this feature, employees can control the temperature and lighting of their immediate surroundings.

During a companywide survey conducted prior to design, natural light was the amenity most requested by employees. To ensure natural light reaches every workstation, HGA divided the floor plates with full-height, skylighted atria (plans, page 164), stacked with glass-wall conference rooms and open stairs. Most people work close to an atrium or an outside wall.

To support this strategy, HGA conducted extensive energy studies to calculate the optimum balance of exterior fenestration and energy use. At intervals, the architects pushed out the exterior walls to create sun-drenched edge atria with their own connecting stairs and team work areas. The inventive use of the atria creates more "exterior" exposure for workers without producing an excessive amount of building perimeter (expensive in terms of construction cost and energy use).

Through a combination of sustainable-design strategies—including lighting occupancy controls, high-efficiency chillers and boilers, and premium efficiency motors for fans and pumps—the ADC facility has reduced total energy use by 45 percent compared to code-performance requirements. Because the site is dotted with ponds and wildlife-sheltering marshes, the five-level parking structure took the place of extensive surface parking that would otherwise be required, while reducing runoff that could damage water quality. ADC threaded the 93-acre property with walking paths, transforming a legal obligation into an amenity.

See the June 2003 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of Project:
ADC World Headquarters

Location:
Eden Prairie, Minn.

Gross square footage:
476,518 sq ft

Total construction cost:
$105 million

Owner:
ADC www.adc.com

Architect:
Hammel, Green, and Abrahamson, Inc.
701 Washington Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-758-4000
fax 612-758-4199
www.hga.com