Barton Malow’s Southfield Office Upgrade
- Featured Space
- May 17, 2018
Barton Malow, a world-renowned construction firm, has called Southfield home for its corporate headquarters since 1986. As a centrally-located metro Detroit suburb, Southfield has proven to be a great fit for Barton Malow’s headquarters, allowing easy access to projects and clients in the area. With more than 2.4 billion in annual revenue and more than 2,000 employees worldwide, the family-owned company holds the title of Michigan’s largest general contractor, as ranked by Crain’s Detroit.
As the City of Southfield has evolved and grown in size over the past few years, so has Barton Malow. Looking to bring their business into the next chapter and get their organization excited about new developments, the company recently renovated the entire first floor of their Southfield office (located at 26500 American Drive) into a modern Innovation Center for collaboration.
The Build
Barton Malow’s in-house design team, led by Brian Threet(AIAA), was tasked with redesigning a smart, functional, collaborative, fun, and beautiful first-floor space that would showcase construction and technology in an adaptive environment.
“The main goal of the renovation was to create flexible, multi-sized conference spaces to promote better collaboration,” says Romano Curti, Barton Malow’s Director of Business Development.
Just as they would with any other project, the team utilized 3D model-based BIM (Building Information Modeling) software to plan the renovation. Barton Malow’s Executive Vice President, Doug Maibach, emphasized how critical 3D-modeling and virtual reality software was to the planning process.
The Design
“The design of the innovation center was complex, so walking through the space made it easier to see the spatial relations and get a feel for items such as lumens for various spaces,” Maibach says. “Being immersed in the space with all the colors and textures really helped me get a feel for what the space would look like in real life. It helped accelerate the time to go from concept to construction.”
The resulting Innovation Centercelebrates transparency and teamwork, with a modern, glass NanaWall system in the center of the space. The entire first floor, including the lobby, was renovated to add rooms of varying sizes that can hold anywhere from two to 150 people. Twelve conference and drop-in rooms were also added with upgraded video capabilities.
The Result
“The result is a space that both employees and clients enjoy,” Curti says.
The renovated space is now used for both meetings and other company gatherings. With such positive feedback, Barton Malow plans to continue updating the rest of their office throughout 2018. Later in the year, updates will be made to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors including: elevator lobbies, kitchen areas, copy and mail rooms, and additional meeting spaces.
“We’re currently working on rounding out the first floor to include a curated Barton Malow history wall that will flow through the lobby and atrium,” Curti says.
Looking Ahead
As Barton Malow expands globally, they haven’t forgotten about the city they call home, or where it all started in 1924 — Detroit. The company has been an integral part of downtown Detroit’s resurgence in the past few years, and prides itself on making an impact on the city.
Current downtown projects include: the Shinola Hotel, which will be completed later this fall; along with the Hudson’s Site Devlopment Project.
“Projects like this are what we live for,” says Ryan Maibach, Barton Malow CEO. To learn more about Barton Malow, visit http://www.bartonmalow.com, or follow them on Facebook, Twitterand LinkedIn.