Description

Shaklee is a manufacturer and developer of natural health products sold through a nationwide distribution network of part-time representatives – multi-level marketing, like Tupperware. As most of the staff in such an organisation are spread throughout the country, Shaklee needed a new building that would promote the corporate identity and embody its motto “In Harmony with Nature.” Changes in work organisation due to teleworking and teamwork were also to be taken into account.

The choice of a suburban site was dictated by proximity to the workforce and public transportation, a commuter rail network. Only the first phase of the master plan developed by Gensler was realised, as Shaklee was sold and restructured during the planning. This first phase consists of two building masses, a three-storey office block and the two-storey ‘spine,’ which houses the reception area and the exhibition hall for Shaklee products as well as giving access to a meeting room for 250 employees on the ground floor and conference rooms on the first floor. The office block, oriented in parallel with the path of the sun, is accessed and naturally lighted by two atriums slotted into the north side. On the south side, horizontal ‘light shelves’ reflect the daylight into the building and supply shade at the same time.

The core of each office floor is a living room-like area, with sofas, a fireplace, library and kitchen, which is intended to give the staff the feeling of being at home while at the workplace. In the adjoining workstation area with half-open cubicles, there are small, open areas for meetings. The intimacy of the office is reinforced by the dominant colours and materials. The patterns for the carpets and furnishing fabrics, both made of recycled materials, were developed specially for the project to appeal to the tastes of the Californian employees.

A high degree of flexibility and individual comfort has been achieved by the implementation of raised floors, still uncommon in the US. Night cooling using the thermal mass of the concrete floor slabs, individually controlled ventilation outlets at the workplaces and ventilation in the ceiling areas form part of the smart design for the climate control system. The building materials derive for the most part from certified sustainable sources and are recycled or recyclable.

Shaklee is another example of the American corporate world’s transition from traditional work organisation to team and worker-oriented structures, from fully air-conditioned office buildings that are ecologically damaging, to sustainable and environmentally friendly architecture. The project won a number of prizes for sustainable and environmentally friendly construction, among others, the AIA Energy Efficiency Design Award.

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Originally published in: Rainer Hascher, Simone Jeska, Birgit Klauck, Office Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2002.