Profile

IBM Office Building Complex

Somers, New York
Completed 1989

Lead Designer: Theodore J. Musho

7- building office campus with grade-level parking
 

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This large rural office complex was designed to accommodate 2,700 employees in a way that would enhance rather than overpower a 720-acre hilltop site. The solution involves a family of buildings in a sloped campus-like setting: four 5-story linked office buildings around a 4-story Central Services Building (CSB), with two additional structures for ancillary support. Over five miles of new roads provide controlled entry to the site and direct access to state and regional highways.

Fragmentation of mass permitted the complex to be functionally organized and better scaled to its setting. The CSB — the head and heart of the complex — is the center of communal facilities, its main reception area crowned by a 50-foot high pyramidal skylight.  Partial pyramids illuminate the lobbies of the surrounding office buildings, giving each "house" its own focus and unique sense of identity within the corporate whole.

Together with the ratcheted walls that expand exterior surface, the skylights aid orientation within the sprawling compound and help to bring the great outdoors inside. The special appeal of the pyramidal form lies in its simplicity and ease of construction. The five clustered peaks are seen from the highway rising out of the forest, creating a sense of mystery and variety and a memorable public identity.

Major Components

Central Services Building
342,000 s/f with 59,000 data processing; 45,000 s/f central utilities 42,000 s/f cafeteria; 23,000 s/f conference center; 13,000 s/f lobby; 11,000 communications center; 11,000 office services; 10,000 s/f reproduction; 3,300 s/f health services; 1,500 s/f library; 1,300 s/f sundry shop; 58,000 s/f services and support

Office Buildings (4)
193,000 s/f each with 74,000 s/f offices; 6,200 conference rooms; 1,800 s/f vending/snack areas; 1,200 s/f lobby; 600 s/f computer control

49,000 s/f pavilion links (4); 6,500 s/f pump house; 5,000 s/f sewage treatment plant;110 acres landscaping; helipad, 25 acres paved curbed parking for 2,600 cars

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Master Planning; Complete Architectural Services;  Interior Design including partitions / furnishings

Structural

Weiskopf & Pickworth, New York, NY   

Mechanical / Electrical

Joseph R. Loring and Associates, New York, NY  

Landscape

Hanna/Olin, Philadelphia, PA  

Traffic

Travers Associates, Clifton, NJ

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