Shoe Company’s Headquarters Put in Motion

CHALLENGE:During the planning stages of the company’s new office headquarters, Jim and Anne Davis, owners of New Balance Athletic Shoe, wanted a building that reflected what their company was all about: speed, motion and high performance. INFLUENCE:“It was a fun project, a great project,” says Mark Sardegna, AIA, LEED AP, vice president of Elkus Manfredi Architects in Boston. “We were approached by Jim and Anne Davis to help design their fourth headquarters building since the ’70s, all in this neighborhood. They are very committed to the Brighton Landing neighborhood and have transformed their company into a huge success. They’re not Nike, they’re not Reebok, but they’re one of the best and they have the only American-made products among those companies. That’s a big deal for them.” Sardegna said the former headquarters did not speak to what was going on inside. That’s certainly not the case with the new building. “It’s open, it has no walls and very high ceilings,” he says. “It was inspired by the company’s shoe factory (Lawrence, Metal Wall Panels Mass.). Jim Davis says he wanted a building shaped like a mill and that’s what he got.” SOLUTION:To help make the design a reality, Sardegna specified wall panel products from Morin. “We’re always trying to balance cost with high quality. They’re technical staff was extremely helpful through the design process, letting us know what their products could and could not do. We were asking a lot with this design.” Morin’s MX 1.0 panel (6426 sq. ft.) and X-12 panel (662 sq. ft.) were installed on the two-story podium. “It was important to us to have high-quality products on the first two stories,” Sardegna says. “That is where visitors and employees feel and touch the building.” The company’s O-24 crimp-curved panel (3,107 sq. ft.) was installed as a cladding on the structure’s penthouse. Karas & Karas Glass of Boston installed the entire outer skin of the building, including the three Morin products listed above and 13,547 sq. ft. of the O-24 panels throughout the exterior. null