Located on the 27th floor of a prominent high-rise in downtown Milwaukee, Joy Global’s corporate headquarters had a desirable location and impressive views of the city and Lake Michigan beyond. But, the company wanted to expand its footprint and redesign the resulting space to better reflect its image as a worldwide leader in high-productivity mining solutions.
The Design, Build, Furnish team at Building Service Inc. (BSI) met Joy Global’s objectives with a plan that completely reconfigured and transformed the space.
The new floor plan includes eight offices for top-level executives, including the CEO, and five administrative assistants. Additional offices will support future growth. The suite also includes a new 25-person, state-of-the-art boardroom supported by an adjacent hospitality lounge, a work lounge for employees, and five conference rooms to host clients and visitors from other Joy Global branches around the United States.
To maximize the downtown views and access to natural light, BSI designed a non-hierarchical floor plan using full-height glass demountable walls to create the majority of the private offices, allowing daylight to filter throughout the space. Case goods divided by custom wood panels balance the openness of the floor plan with moderate amounts of privacy. Custom panel-mounted storage and back-painted glass marker boards engineered into the panels also help enhance the private office atmosphere.
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Joy Global Corporate Offices Project @ A Glance
- Project size: 11,000 square feet
- Project Duration: 4 months
- Contract Form: Design, Build, Furnish; Guaranteed Maximum Price
- Awards: ASID Platinum Award; IIDA First Place Gold
- BSI Services: Design, Build, Furnish including: Interior Architecture, Interior Design, Interior Construction and Furnishings
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Aesthetically, Joy Global wanted a space that combined executive-level, professional appeal and a clean, contemporary look. To achieve this, BSI balanced cool and warm tones using neutral colors as a backdrop to colorful custom artwork by Milwaukee artists. Wall treatments add a variety of texture while playing with shade and shadow.
Specialty, high-end furnishings and finishes further enhance the ambiance, many of which required careful installation by skilled local craftsman. Custom walnut doors with inset architectural glass serve as the focal point in the boardroom, a design echoed in the hospitality room where identical glass is used as a room divider. Dimensional glass mosaics add visual interest to back splashes in the hospitality room, work lounge and boardroom, while selections like Ann Sacks tile in the restroom and travertine countertops and flooring in the restroom and lobby add warmth and combine traditional materials used in a modern way.
BSI’s lighting plan utilized energy efficient lighting throughout. BSI balanced the natural light with lay-in fixtures to help create the ambient light. LED cove lighting provides accent lighting in the boardroom and office space and unique pendants and chandeliers add visual interest with eye-catching pops of light.
BSI added efficiency and impact through attention to every aspect of the state-of-the-art technology used in the lighting controls, motorized light-filtering window shades, and audio/visual settings.
“Everyone who has been in the space has been absolutely blown away,” said Dennis Winkleman former executive vice president of administration at Joy Global. “It is remarkable.”
“The Joy Global project gave us extensive free reign to be creative,” said Roger Daniels, senior vice president of architecture and design at BSI. The creativity paid off earning the Joy Global space an ASID platinum award, as well as a first place gold award from the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). “The IIDA award was particularly gratifying,” said Daniels. “An award is not always given in the gold category and is rarely given to a firm our size.
