Office

Strack & Van Til Corporate Office

The Strack & Van Til corporate office in Highland, Indiana, is a renovation and addition that turned a former auto dealership service center into the headquarters of a grocery retailer. The company had bought the pre-engineered steel building years earlier and used part of it for maintenance and some office functions, with a distribution warehouse added at the south end. It wanted every current and future corporate office function under one roof, and an identity that suited a customer-focused, value-priced grocer. The Jenkins Group converted the entire first floor to office use, extended the partial mezzanine across it to make a second floor, and added a small lobby wing that became the building's new face and main entrance.

The existing building had sloping, low roof lines, so expanding the second floor meant fitting mechanical and structural systems into about 15 inches between the first-floor ceiling and the second floor. The new addition is only about 2,700 square feet but reads as much larger. A three-foot-thick brick wall separates the addition from the original steel building. In front of it, a two-and-a-half-story glass curtain wall marks the entrance to a lobby and vendor waiting area, with a multi-purpose room and vertical circulation. North-facing clerestory glazing lights the space and opens views to the second-floor boardroom. Inside, a main circulation spine runs from reception through the office, with quarter-circular corridor corners and circular nodes along the side routes. The client served as its own general contractor, and the interior work was organized in phases.