TOMRA Sorting Solutions North American Headquarters

TOMRA Sorting USA, a division of TOMRA Systems ASA, is a Norwegian multinational corporation which creates sensor-based solutions for sorting and processing fresh and processed food products. As a market leader within their field, they wanted their new North American headquarters to have the look of modern European manufacturing buildings.

The project's budget constraints required a tilt-up concrete building with a simple rectangular footprint embellished only with a single central pop-out on the front facade. Several design strategies were employed to minimize and dispel the big box look: the entire expanse of the front pop-out is enhanced with tinted blue glazing and the four primary facade corners are accented with dark grey, fluted, architectural metal panels. Spandrel glazing units strategically conceal the concrete panel legs at the main entry area and create the illusion of continuous glass bands.

A significant challenge was to create a high canopy that spans the entire 240 ft. of the building's main pop-out in a way that supported the design intent while maintaining the project budget. Ultimately, there was a simple and elegant solution: a 20-in. x 4-in. rectangular steel tube set 6 ft. off the main building face. The steel tube was to be set atop eight pairs of painted round steel pipe struts configured in the shape of a "V". Ultimately, the success of the TOMRA project's exterior design is born from the manner in which these two canopies - in conjunction with metal siding panels, ribbon windows and decorative light fixtures - all work in tandem to create a high-tech corporate office aesthetic that belies the tilt-up skeleton beneath.