Until July 2004, 200 East Brady, a 40,000-sf, 1920s-era warehouse, had been an abandoned eyesore in Tulsa, Okla.'s Brady district. The building, which was once home to a grocery supplier, then a steel casting company, and finally a casket storage facility, was purchased by Tom Wallace, president and founder of Wallace Engineering, to be his firm's new headquarters. Wallace's firm did the structural engineering, working with Tulsa-based Selser Schaefer Architects to bring the building back to life on a $3.6 million budget.
Though Tom Wallace had grand plans for the 75-year-old building, the west exterior wall was crumbling away, the first floor slab was cracked, and the roof, windows, and entries were in dire need of attention. Luckily, the structural frame was stable, which made it possible to preserve as much of the original warehouse character as possible, including three concrete and brick exterior walls, complete with faded painted signs. The original steel sash windows were repaired and fitted with double-paned, low-e glass. The damaged west wall was removed and replaced with a steel-framed curtain wall façade, providing a new entry for the building and allowing for natural light. The roof was not only repaired and insulated with a protected membrane system, but 20,000 sf was set aside for a possible roof garden. “To not alter the building drastically was a nice touch,” says Reconstruction Awards judge K. Nam Shiu, P.E., S.E., of Walker Restoration Consultants, Elgin, Ill.
The interior of the building maintains the industrial atmosphere that the exterior suggests, while also providing a bright and modern workspace for the firm's employees. To expand on the natural light that the new west wall façade introduced, old interior partitions were replaced with glass ones and all exposed concrete was painted white. The floor plan consists of open studios, principals' offices on two sides, utility/core space, and a storage unit.
This renovation is the first of its kind in the Brady district, and Wallace Engineering hopes that it will inspire others to rebuild the neighborhood.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Glass features keep Phoenix high-rise cool
A 26-story, 700,000-sf glass-clad tower has become downtown Phoenix's first office high-rise in eight years. One Central Park East, developed by Mesirow Financial, designed by SmithGroup, and built by Holder Construction Company, contains 495,000 sf of office space spanning 16 floors, plus a nine-level parking lot and ground-floor retail space.
| Aug 11, 2010
New HQ for automobile association stresses employee collaboration
AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah (AAA NCNU) has a new corporate headquarters in Walnut Creek, Calif. The interior of the six-floor, 250,000-sf building features an open layout by architecture firm Gensler to encourage greater collaboration across the automobile association's departments. Targeting LEED Gold certification, the building uses wood from Forest Stewardship Council-certified...
| Aug 11, 2010
Project's mixed materials downplay massing
Philadelphia-based KlingStubbins provided design services for the 120,000-sf Carnegie Center, which is part of the 103-acre mixed-use Carnegie Center West development in West Windsor Township, N.J. The four-story building features horizontal brick bands, ribbons of glass, aluminum accents, and metal end panels and curtain wall at all four corners to break up the building's massing.
| Aug 11, 2010
Firehouse converted to hip hot property
Sound the alarm! A 9,000-sf former firehouse is being converted into a new multipurpose space for ZUMIX, a nonprofit music and arts organization that's partnering on the project with Landmark Structures of Woburn, Mass., and the East Boston Community Development Corporation. The $2 million renovation of the 1920s structure, known as Engine Company 40 Firehouse, includes a complete gut job to ma...
| Aug 11, 2010
High-tech tower targets LEED Platinum
Construction is slated to begin on the new $38 million AI Tech Center in Hartford, Conn., in spring 2010. The Building Team, which includes Suffolk Construction Co., CBT Architects, and Jones Lang LaSalle, planned the high-tech 13-story, 259,000-sf tower to meet LEED Platinum certification. Green features include photovoltaic power, a fuel cell power plant, abundant natural lighting, and a roof...
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.
| Aug 11, 2010
New pavilion planned for famous boulevard
Located in a prime spot along Santa Monica Boulevard in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Pavilion will have 9,000 sf of retail space, 35,500 sf of office space, and two below-grade parking levels when it opens in late 2010. The $10 million, three-story building extends a full length of the block to create a window wall of blue-gray translucent, fritted glass panels ove...
| Aug 11, 2010
Firm goes for Gold with office design
DLR Group is designing its new Omaha, Neb., headquarters to achieve LEED Gold. Sustainable features being incorporated into the three-story, 39,000-sf building, which is part of the city’s new Aksarben Village mixed-use development, include daylighting, outdoor workspaces, native landscaping, a green roof, and the pursuit of renewable energy credits.
| Aug 11, 2010
Mixed-use Seattle high-rise earns LEED Gold
Seattle’s 2201 Westlake development became the city’s first mixed-use and high-rise residential project to earn LEED Gold. Located in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, the newly completed 450,000-sf complex includes 300,000 sf of Class A office space, 135 luxury condominiums (known as Enso), and 25,000 sf of retail space.
| Aug 11, 2010
Corporate campus gets LEED stamp of Gold
The new 100,000-sf corporate headquarters for The Thornburg Companies in Santa Fe, N.M., earned LEED Gold. Designed in the “new-old Santa Fe style” by Legorreta + Legorreta, with local firms Dekker/Perich/Sabatini and Klinger Constructors on the Building Team, the green building sits on seven acres and features three distinct but interconnected office spaces with two courtyards and ...
