Project Client. Republic Services
Project Location. Tuscon, Arizona
Project Size. 300,000 GSF
Project Budget. $52,500,000
Project Phase. Programming, Schematic Design
Programs Used. Revit, Sketchup, Podium, Photoshop
Project Description. SmithGroup was hired by Republic Services to re-imagine the future work environment for the Headquarters Offices. Previously, they operated in two different locations, and the opportunity presented itself to consolidate into two existing buildings that are separated by a 600 foot parking lot. Focus was spent upfront in analyzing their cultural and functional needs through active Workplace Strategy sessions. Create a consistent and connected campus that celebrates and fosters collaboration. Create and environment that is more conductive to allowing their teams to do their best work while promoting their health and well being, connecting people with place.
My Role. Helping facilitate and produce content for client programming workshops. Extracting existing building documents and drafting new plans in Revit. Creating space typologies. Creating blocking and test fit plans. Producing 3D renders from Revit. Creating initial mood and finish boards.
In order to create a campus feel, a series of site development concepts were explored in order to foster a pedestrian friendly campus that promotes connection across the two office buildings. Within the buildings, new work lounges are being placed on each floor to allow choice and variety in workspace to the employees. A new cafeteria is being planned on the east end of the campus that will open up to a large event space lawn where the entire corporate campus can come together for "Town Hall Meetings" and employees can enjoy some fresh air during their breaks. On the West end, there will be a conference center, coffee bistro, lockers/shower facilities, and bike storage.
With both East and West buildings, there are a total of 6 office floors. Through programming and adjacency matrices, we were able to allocate each department to certain floors (seen above in stacking diagram). We created the concept of neighborhoods, allowing for floors to be similar with the same amenities and layouts, however only different in the departments that work there. You can see on the right how we first symmetrically divided up the space with these different colored zones.
Diving deeper into the neighborhood concept, each neighborhood zone would be blocked out to have the five colored amenities zones within. You can see in the slide deck how we progress from orientation to the exterior, to blocking out functional zones, to a preliminary furniture layout. Then we started to define these colored zones into how they can relate to the programming for Republic Services
The next step was implementing these blocking and neighborhood concepts onto the overall floorplan. Which then can be mirrored and replicated among the 6 office floors.
space typologies
During programming meetings with the executive team and each department, we were able to determine the types of spaces that were necessary and the components needed within each. Above, you can see the meeting space typologies we created as typicals for the floors. Below you can see an example of how we defined and designed each space. These break downs were done for each meeting room type.
test fit
The next step was implementing our preliminary blocking and space typology typical onto the scaled floorplans. For Level 01 in both East and West, we created one test fit that fits all the required programming. For levels 02-04 in both buildings, we created two options:
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Option A - Offices are o the interior of the building, pushing meetings and collaboration spaces to the glass line.
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Option B - Offices are along the exterior glass line, pushing all meeting and collaboration to the center areas of the plans.
east building level 01
The Level 01 East Building of Republic Services is were the Cafeteria/kitchen is located. On this floor there are 4 large training rooms, as well as a central meeting hub in the center. This level also has meeting rooms before security for certain guests that do not need to fully enter the building. This floor contains the existing building facilities operations department and will be on the only part of level one that has an actual department with workstations - Physical Security.
east building option a
interior offices
east building option b
offices along exterior
west building level 01
The Level 01 West Building of Republic Services is where the Grab n Go, work lounge and work café are located. On the right side of the plan are 4 more training rooms, as well as a conferencing center equipped with the biggest variety of meeting spaces (shown in pink). On the bottom left of the plan is the mail room, locker/showers, and workstations for remote workers or company employees who are travelling in from elsewhere.
west building option a
interior offices
west building option b
offices along exterior
typical floorplan
typical reflected ceiling plan
schematic design interior renders
For our deliverable to the client for the schematic design phases, I produced these neutral tone renders to give the client a visual on how these spaces shown in the 2D floorplans could look three dimensionally. These renders were produced out of Revit, replicating exactly what is shown in the test fits. The next step in the process was to start thinking about adding the color, materials and overall mood of the space. I then created this color pallet below, referencing beautiful aeriel shots of the earth. Republic Services is all about sustainability and connecting to helping the planet, being a leading American Waste Disposal company. So I thought referencing back to the earth and bringing in those strong vibrant colors could become the start of strong brand throughout the space.
The first thoughts of branding and creating an identity for the interior was showcasing graphics and identity words that relate back to the company. I created threshold moments among the floors as one enters into the work lounge. In the West building, a tunnel, and then this wrapping feature in the East.
Using colors that relate back to the earth imagery, it can create wayfinding design between the levels. And then that color can continue to be a focal tone throughout the floor.
Shown on these three examples are the words. "process", "community", and "purpose", which relate back to Republic Services goals and mission statements for the company.
