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Completion 18: Northwestern Mutual Headquarters
Cost: $125 million
Northwestern Mutual's headquarters and
parking structure in Franklin, Wis., features a distinctive
design.
The office entry has an elliptical shape to tie the two main
wings of the building together. Protruding from the elbow
of the L-shaped, five-story building, the structure will house
a two-story lobby and conference spaces on the upper floors.
Rather than a true ellipse, the structure is actually a polyline
ellipse.
Every trade - glazier, fabricators, installers - needed precise
drawings of the quasi-ellipse. As a result, numerous drawings
were developed that documented the geometry for sharing among
subcontractors.
Site's History
Site concerns had to be addressed before work began.
The site is a compilation of several land parcels, one that
previously held a 19th-Century school and the other a drive-in
theater.
An asbestos product was found in the drive-in site. Because
the product had been broken, special handling was required.
It was hauled to a landfill approved to accept potentially
hazardous material.
The school had also contained asbestos, and residue from petroleum
products was found on the lot where cars had parked for 50
years. The lot had also been sprayed periodically with oil
to suppress dust.
Wetlands were also found, and they had to be protected with
a silt fence.
A master plan that affected the schedule was developed for
the site. The first bid package for grading and utility footings
was sent out while the entire site plan was finalized so utilities
could be put in place for all the buildings planned for the
next 20 to 25 years.
The central plant north of the office is sized for the future
buildings and runs through the office. The huge pipes were
capped off until future construction is ready to tie into
the system.
Inside the office is a 14-in. raised flooring system that
allows air to be distributed through pressurized plenums.
Air will flow through more than 2,000 holes in the floor.
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Key
Players
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Owner:
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Northwestern Mutual, Franklin, Wis.
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Construction Manager and General Contractor:
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Opus North Corp., Milwaukee
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Eppstein Uhen Architects, Milwaukee
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Mechanical/Plumbing:
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Grunau Co., Oak Creek, Wis.
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Grading, Excavation and Site Utilities:
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R.G. Huston Co., Cottage Grove, Wis.
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Structural Steel Fabrication and Erection:
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Construction Supply & Erection, Germantown, Wis.
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Structural Precast:
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J.W. Peters, Burlington, Wis.
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Architectural Precast:
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Concrete Technology Inc., Springboro, Ohio
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Glass and Glazing:
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Harmon Inc., Minneapolis
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Granite:
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Cleveland Marble and Mosaic, Cleveland
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Access Flooring:
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Building Services Inc., Milwaukee
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Landscaping:
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The Brickman Group, Long Grove, Ill.
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