Building for "Harmony with Nature"
The Shaklee Corporation, a major manufacturer of natural health products, has built a new corporate headquarters to reflect in architecture the company philosophy of "Products in Harmony with Nature."
The new office building in Pleasanton, California was designed by the architecture firm Gensler and engineering firm Ove Arup & Partners to express Shaklee's values and style. Its energy efficiency reflects the company's respect for nature and commitment to a healthy environment. Its open work space design demonstrates their commitment to its employees and to collaborative teamwork, aimed to create community in the work place.
Each work station has its own individually adjustable air supply.
The master plan brings together the headquarters office with the research and development laboratories and educational facilities. Within the office building, three floors of open workstations are connected by atria containing stairways and meeting spaces. At the center of each floor is a family-style hearth with casual furniture.
Key to the building's energy efficiency and comfort is Arup's innovative engineering approach to the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) design. A raised floor plenum not only makes space for flexible cable management, but it allows under-floor air distribution with individual user comfort controls. The supply air is cooled by contact with the thermal mass of the concrete floor deck. This evens out peaks in cooling load, reducing the peak demand charges. Nighttime ventilation keeps the floor slab cool.
With the return air in the ceilings, a significant proportion of convective heat gains from lights, equipment, and people are exhausted at high level before they become a load on the ventilation system.
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