Built in 1968, the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC), at 1.7 million square feet, is the largest office campus in Florida. Marcel Breuer and Robert F. Gatje codesigned the buildings of BRiC for IBM, the campus’s first owner. In the 1980s, IBM developed, manufactured, and mass-produced its first personal computer at BRiC.
For his brutalist design, with a façade repeating the same geometric pattern, Breuer took inspiration from the beauty he found in the repetitions of mass production. Designed for Florida’s tropical climate, the building features heavy concrete shading canopies over its glass windows to provide cooling and protection from the sun. The design also provides protection against hurricane damage such as floods.
After purchasing BRiC in 2018, the building’s current owner, CP Group, has been transforming it from a mostly empty office building into a thriving tech campus. Added amenities include restaurants, art galleries, and coffee shops. CP Group also is in the process of rezoning from a light research and industrial park to a planned mobility development, which will expand BRiC to include office, retail, hospitality, and residential. Additionally, CP Group is pursuing a master plan to add retail, townhomes, and an amphitheater—turning the campus into a town center.
Architecture firm CallisonRTKL has used a phased strategy to provide flexibility around the existing tenants and day-to-day operations while pursuing a ground-up enhancement. CallisonRTKL’s work includes the following:
- Increasing the allowable floor area ratio from four to six and upping the maximum allowable development by 1,123,850 square feet
- Reducing the setbacks from 50 feet to 20 feet
- Standardizing office planning metrics
- Scaling the amenities, landscaping, and infrastructure in tandem with the development’s phases
On the Building Team:
Owner and developer: CP Group
Design architects: Marcel Breuer and Robert F. Gatje
Architect of record: CallisonRTKL
Structural engineer: Jezerinac Group
Related Stories
| Aug 18, 2014
SPARK’s newly unveiled mixed-use development references China's flowing hillscape
Architecture firm SPARK recently finished a design for a new development in Shenzhen. The 770,700 square-foot mixed-use structure's design mimics the hilly landscape of the site's locale.
| Aug 14, 2014
How workplace design can empower employees, businesses
Focusing on recent work at Follett and Zurich, CannonDesign’ Meg Osman reveals the power of research, strategy, change management, and measurement to transform businesses for the better.
| Aug 12, 2014
Shading prototype could allow new levels of environmental control for skyscraper occupants
Developed by architects at NBBJ, Sunbreak uses a unique three-hinged shade that morphs from an opaque shutter to an abstract set of vertical blinds to an awning, depending on what is needed.
| Aug 11, 2014
The Endless City: Skyscraper concept connects all floors with dual ramps
Rather than superimposing one floor on top of another, London-based SURE Architecture proposes two endless ramps, rising gradually with a low gradient from the ground floor to the sky.
| Aug 8, 2014
First look: China's latest office development will take the shape of binary code
The Window of Guangzhou project will consist of three towers forming the number sequence "001."
| Aug 8, 2014
Government Sector Giants: Public-sector construction slow, but stirring [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Improving energy performance of existing properties through targeted upgrades and large-scale reconstruction continues to be a federal priority, according to BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 7, 2014
Office Sector Giants: ‘Flex’ reigns supreme in hot office construction market [2014 BD+C Giants 300 Report]
The adage “doing more with less” has become a byword for many businesses since the Great Recession, and clients are trying to maximize every precious inch, according to BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 6, 2014
25 projects win awards for design-build excellence
The 2014 Design-Build Project/Team Awards showcase design-build best practices and celebrate the achievements of owners and design-build teams in nine categories across the spectrum of horizontal and vertical construction.
| Jul 30, 2014
Wolf Point high-rise development begins construction in Chicago
Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the 48-story luxury residential tower is part of a three-tower mixed-use development along the Chicago River.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction market benefits from improving economy, new technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following years of fairly lackluster demand for commercial property remodeling, reconstruction revenue is improving, according to the 2014 Giants 300 report.
