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AmerisourceBergen Regional Headquarters

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements.

The regional headquarters for AmerisourceBergen Corporation is designed to take advantage of striking views reminiscent of the Texas hill country. Evoking the romantic spirit of the Texas vernacular, the campus sits on a bluff and overlooks a pond and natural Texas landscape. Phase 1 includes a 300,000 SF headquarters building. The building mirrors AmerisourceBergen's caring and down-to-earth professionalism and is composed of rugged elements, including polished concrete, exposed steel, deep canopies, and sun-shading devices. An elegantly simple exterior façade balances the impactful design at high traffic touchpoints—such as the visitor and employee entries—and amenities that include a grand staircase, centralized communal café, fitness center, outdoor eating, and a pedestrian spine along the bluff, with access to the trails around the lake. An enclosed paseo creates view corridors from the building's entry toward the lake, while wide trellis overhangs form outdoor rooms and shaded gathering areas. The monumental staircase acts as a focal point in the building, extending all four floors with a custom-designed light fixture that hangs through the center. The stairs encourage interaction and bring different departments together to facilitate spontaneous socialization. The interior design leverages warm materiality and tones to complement the architecture and landscaping which reference the Texas vernacular. Carrying natural elements into the interior like succulents, cacti, and other regional plants and rocks create a strong connection to exterior design. This indoor-outdoor connection is reinforced with elements like copper box and wood paneling, windows with wide outdoor vistas and a custom vinyl graphic of the site topography. Pitched ceiling lines throughout pay homage to the traditional Texas ranch house aesthetic, while a fireplace clad in metal and stone, modern cowhide rugs and tree stump tables add a sense of whimsy. The café draws inspiration from local farmers markets with garage doors that open to the exterior, custom landscape wall graphics, eccentric shelving and a variety of seating. The brand is woven throughout with wall graphics that highlight the range of services they provide for their clients and patients.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project?

The panel lay down area along the north elevation hugged a pond which led to multiple coordination efforts to erect and brace the panels. This became a challenge logistically. However, the erecting team and GC found a solution that would work and not delay the schedule. The project aesthetic was dependent upon two complex finish types, stained concrete, and form liner application at all spandrels. For the former, the architect directed the contractor to limit the patching to the most severe conditions, allowing minor imperfections to be embraced into the natural look of the panel. Where patch was needed, multiple patch makeups were tested with multiple stain formulas to find the patch that was the least visible behind the stain. The long lengths of stained tilt-up with no brake made it challenging for the stain applicators to complete their work in a single spray. Lots of time and attention was devoted to defining where these breaks would happen and how to protect adjacent panels. To ensure that weather conditions would provide a consistent aesthetic in the stain, entire elevations of stain were tackled in a single day.

Communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project.

The challenges of this project were in erection and finish application. Most of the engineering challenges were straight forward. The 15'-0" typical panel width allows for a very efficient opening size that aligned nicely with the buildings 30'-0" structural grid, a feature that our interiors team greatly appreciated with their inside-out design approach. Lateral support of the structure was challenging due to the following: the sheer size of these floor plates; double height volumes; and breaks in the façade at critical corners. This required an aggressive cross bracing solution at the core of the building that required our team to develop some clever core solutions to conceal them.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment?

With plans for continued expansion, AmerisourceBergen anticipates expanding its campus to accommodate more than 3,000 employees. This growth will make AmerisourceBergen the largest employer in Carrollton. To foster community, the building includes large gathering areas facing a lake and wide trellis overhangs form outdoor rooms and eating areas with access to trails. Inside, the wide staircase, which boasts a custom-designed, suspended light fixture, encourages organic interaction between colleagues across different departments. Dissolving the distinctions between master-planning, architecture, interiors, and landscape, the design embodies a highly collaborative and seamless process.

 
Main banner image for AmerisourceBergen Regional Headquarters

Project Location

Carrollton, TX 75010
United States

TILT-UP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Tilt-Up Achievement Awards were established to honor projects that use site-cast tilt-up concrete to introduce new building types, advance industry technology and provide unique solutions to building programs. Winning entries illustrate the variety, beauty, and flexibility of tilt-up construction.

EXCELLENCE

2022

The excellence designation is given to the highest scoring projects each year representing the top 10-12 projects. Learn more >

Project Images

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Project Team (TCA Members)

General Contractor:
 
Concrete Contractor:
TAS Commercial Concrete Construction
Architect:
 
Engineer:
 
Suppliers:
 
Photographer(s):
Ryan Gobuty

Project Specifics

Project Category:
Office
Building Types:
Office
Finishes:
Stain
Features:
Reveals
Insulation:
Post Applied (Interior)
Environmental:
LEED Certified - Silver
Number of Floors:
4
Number of Panels:
77 panels
Tilt-Up Wall Area:
83,495 sq ft (7,757 sq m)
Total Floor Area:
304,467 sq ft (28,285 sq m)
Project Footprint:
75,000 sq ft (6,968 sq m)
Tallest Panel:
71 ft 5 in (21.77 m)
Widest Panel:
23 ft 7 in (7.19 m)
Largest Panel:
1,252 sq ft (116.3 sq m)
Heaviest Panel:
128,100 lbs (58,105 kg)
Longest Spandrel:
10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)