Skender has completed construction on the new Walgreens Technology Center of Excellence in Chicago’s redeveloped Old Post Office. Post COVID, the 200,000-sf office will welcome hundreds of employees from e-commerce, mobile, pharmacy technology, as well as digital team members and Walgreens Boots Alliance Information Technology personnel.
The office spans multiple levels and buildings of the Old Post Office development. It features a signature staircase, open and private offices, collaboration and conferencing spaces, data rooms, and kitchen and lounge spaces.
Within the workplace, the communal spaces are located in the central core of the building, forming a "city center." Zones for groupings of individual workstations and specific amenities, which form "neighborhoods," stem from the city center. Each neighborhood has its own identity, and the collection of neighborhoods stitches the community together.
Courtesy Stantec.
"Town centers" bookened the neighborhoods. The town centers comprise huddle rooms, break areas, and smaller conference rooms. The main circulation artery breaks the city grid like the European urban plan, which connects all spaces across the massive floor plate.
Located on the first floor is the new Walgreens University spacve. This space celebrates the company's legacy and its future. It will welcome new hires and current employees for training, meetings, and special events. The Innovation Hall, meanwhile, will showcase a series of creation labs to display the innovative culture and history of Walgreens. The design is intended to support flexibility with content changing regularly, and engage people who enter from the building's main entry.
Courtesy Stantec.
The project will increase Walgreens presence in Chicago and signifies a commitment to attracting top technology talent. In addition to Skender acting as the general contractor, Stantec, along with Walgreens in-house development group, handled the architecture, integrated buildings engineering, and interior design services.
See Also: Chicago’s Old Post Office get new zip with massive $900 million renovation
Courtesy Skender.
Courtesy Skender.
Courtesy Skender.
Related Stories
| May 11, 2011
DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.
| May 10, 2011
Google hires Ingenhoven Architects to design new Mountain View office
The current Googleplex is straining at the seams and yet the company is preparing its biggest hiring surge ever, so Google decided now’s the time to build its own office space—a first for the Internet giant. The company hired Ingenhoven Architects, a German firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, to create plans for what could be a 600,000-sf office.
| Apr 13, 2011
Office interaction was the critical element to Boston buildout
Margulies Perruzzi Architects, Boston, designed the new 11,460-sf offices for consultant Interaction Associates and its nonprofit sister organization, The Interaction Institute for Social Change, inside an old warehouse near Boston’s Seaport Center.
| Apr 13, 2011
Red Bull Canada HQ a mix of fluid spaces and high-energy design
The Toronto architecture firm Johnson Chou likes to put a twist on its pared-down interiors, and its work on the headquarters for Red Bull Canada is no exception. The energy drink maker occupies 12,300 sf on the top two floors of a three-story industrial building in Toronto, and the design strategy for its space called for leaving the base building virtually untouched while attention was turned to the interior architecture.
| Apr 13, 2011
Former department store gets new lease on life as MaineHealth HQ
The long-vacant Sears Roebuck building in Portland, Maine, was redeveloped into the corporate headquarters for MaineHealth. Consigli Construction and local firm Harriman Architects + Engineers handled the 14-month fast-track project, transforming the 89,000-sf, four-story facility for just $100/sf.
| Mar 29, 2011
Chicago’s Willis Tower to become a vertical solar farm
Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is set to become a massive solar electric plant with the installation of a pilot solar electric glass project.
| Mar 29, 2011
Read up on Amazon.com's new green HQ
Phase IV of Amazon’s new headquarters in Seattle is nearly complete. The company has built 10 of the 11 buildings planned for its new campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and is on-track for a 2013 grand opening.
| Mar 11, 2011
Blockbuster remodel transforms Omaha video store into a bank
A former Hollywood Video store in Omaha, Neb., was renovated and repurposed as the SAC Federal Credit Union, Ames Branch. Architects at Leo A Daly transformed the outdated 5,000-sf retail space into a modern facility by wrapping the exterior in poplar siding and adding a new glass storefront that floods the interior with natural light.
| Mar 11, 2011
Chicago office building will serve tenants and historic church
The Alter Group is partnering with White Oak Realty Partners to develop a 490,000-sf high-performance office building in Chicago’s West Loop. The tower will be located on land owned by Old St. Patrick’s Church (a neighborhood landmark that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871) that’s currently being used as a parking lot.
| Mar 9, 2011
Hoping to win over a community, Facebook scraps its fortress architecture
Facebook is moving from its tony Palo Alto, Calif., locale to blue-collar Belle Haven, and the social network want to woo residents with community-oriented design.
