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Innovation Center and Regional HQ, Wacker Chemical
Pittsfield Township, MI
Dynamic science.
Attracting the next generation of innovators.
Holistic planning for a new scientific workplace
The need to attract and retain valuable talent is universal, but in the realm of chemical and product R&D it is especially competitive. Recognizing their aging, outgrown facility was acting as a deterrent to attracting valuable talent, Wacker Chemical made the commitment to building a new R&D workplace in a highly desirable community. Wacker turned to HED to design an upscale, modern, desirable workplace that would attract top young talent and be twice as large as the original.

An engagement plan that brought together over a third of Wacker's staff highlighted the features most important to their work culture: flexibility, ergonomic workstations, and plentiful daylighting. The workplace design emphasizes a diminished sense of hierarchy in favor of a conscious dedication to team, projects, and products thinking.

The 165,000 SF building’s “extroverted design” of sweeping glass helps engage employees and visitors with the surrounding landscape and community context, creating a highly experiential and interactive environment that inspires and activates its occupants. Long north and south building faces use their ideal solar orientation to allow the building and its inner workings to open up and engage with the surrounding context with a focus on access to views, daylight, and transparency.
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Results
Wacker Chemical's Innovation Center and Regional Headquarters has won the 2023 Commercial Real Estate Awards for Best New Office Project by DBusiness Magazine.
Due to the nature and complexity of the project, experts from the scientific workplace team worked collaboratively within these engagement workshops, executive steering committee and move ambassador committees, addressing the needs and desires of three different groups. These multiple points of engagement resulted in a positive impact to the culture of the workplace, fostering more collaboration, interaction, and innovation.
The workplace design emphasizes a diminished sense of hierarchy in favor of a conscious dedication to team, projects, and products thinking.
Designed to support secure and safe operations, the design also maintains an open internal atmosphere and access to daylight and views.
Large contiguous floor plates of both open office and lab space provide a high degree of flexibility and opportunity for interaction and collaboration.
Attracting the next generation of innovators.
Innovation Center and Regional HQ, Wacker Chemical
Pittsfield Township, MI
PROJECT DATA
Dynamic science.