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Located in an open field landscape of 125 acres in rural Pennsylvania, the Corporate Headquarters and Research Facility provides offices for engineering, finance and marketing, extensive R and D laboratories and product manufacturing facilities. The building is approached by way of a large circumferential drive inscribed in a pre-existing grid of hedgerows, and surrounded by a row of pear trees, screening parking lots on either side. This geometry is reinforced by the curvature of the entrance façade, which conforms to a segment of the circle and thus is as much a garden wall as a building enclosure.

The plan is organized as a series of parallel tracks housing the elements of manufacture and laboratories in one-story high spaces, and the offices which, using the slope of the site, are accommodated in a 3-story high extrusion facing onto a great meadow and the wooded rolling landscape beyond.

The building complex is entered from the east through an entrance hall which is approximately aligned with the bisector of the circle and penetrates the full depth of the building. It is designed as a glazed arcaded portico connecting the various program elements and leads to the administrative reception area. A tall atrium links all levels of the offices. Its clerestory windows, running the full length of the building, bring light to the workspaces of the two upper floors, which are suspended by steel hanging columns from the atrium roof. The peripheral offices on the west side have views of the landscape through large window openings which widen as they rise through three floors and are shielded by the overhang of the copper roof. The office wing departs from the regularity of its plan shape at the western end with a taut inflection, which allows for the accommodation of a boardroom, library and cafeteria. In the low parts of the building, the bands containing the industrial functions of the work process are served by skylit "indoor streets," which connect the entrance portico with secondary entries to the work areas.

The distinctive presentation of the office wing, its special shape and prominent roof, differentiated windows and detailing, suggests the finite form of a villa in the landscape as much as that of a universal and extendable, industrial system.

The general concept allows for incremental expansion, which will occur shortly on the north side and will relate to the circular geometry of the site plan.

click to see larger image	Located in an open field landscape of 125 acres in rural Pennsylvania, the Corporate Headquarters and Research Facility provides offices for engineering, finance and marketing, extensive R and D laboratories and product manufacturing facilities. The building is approached by way of a large circumferential drive inscribed in a pre-existing grid of hedgerows, and surrounded by a row of pear trees, screening parking lots on either side. This geometry is reinforced by the curvature of the entrance façade, which conforms to a segment of the circle and thus is as much a garden wall as a building enclosure. The plan is organized as a series of parallel tracks housing the elements of manufacture and laboratories in one-story high spaces, and the offices which, using the slope of the site, are accommodated in a 3-story high extrusion facing onto a great meadow and the wooded rolling landscape beyond. The building complex is entered from the east through an entrance hall which is approximately aligned with the bisector of the circle and penetrates the full depth of the building. It is designed as a glazed arcaded portico connecting the various program elements and leads to the administrative reception area. A tall atrium links all levels of the offices. Its clerestory windows, running the full length of the building, bring light to the workspaces of the two upper floors, which are suspended by steel hanging columns from the atrium roof. The peripheral offices on the west side have views of the landscape through large window openings which widen as they rise through three floors and are shielded by the overhang of the copper roof. The office wing departs from the regularity of its plan shape at the western end with a taut inflection, which allows for the accommodation of a boardroom, library and cafeteria. In the low parts of the building, the bands containing the industrial functions of the work process are served by skylit "indoor streets," which connect the entrance portico with secondary entries to the work areas. The distinctive presentation of the office wing, its special shape and prominent roof, differentiated windows and detailing, suggests the finite form of a villa in the landscape as much as that of a universal and extendable, industrial system. The general concept allows for incremental expansion, which will occur shortly on the north side and will relate to the circular geometry of the site plan.
	*Project Data* Completion Date: 1991 Total Area: 167,000 sf	Awards: • 1998 BSA Honor Award for Architecture • 1997 AIA Brick in Architecture Award • 1995 AIA Honor Award for Architecture • 1994 AIA Honor Award for Interiors Publications: • Brick In Architecture, May 1997 • Architecture, May 1995 • Architecture, May 1994 • L'Arca, March 1994 • Interior Design, January 1994 • Architecture, October 1993


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