Prominently located next to the New York Niagara Section Thruway on an abandoned brownfield site, the largest building in 20 years in Buffalo helped encourage economic development in the area. The design utilizes an 1859 stone façade to maintain historic preservation of the site’s past while incorporating a curved glass curtain wall. The curtain wall not only offers magnificent views of Lake Erie, but its southern exposure provides a valuable component of the building’s sustainable design.
The north, east, and west façades are a detailed colored architectural precast concrete with large window openings, recalling brick waterfront warehouses. The entry plaza reflects the shifted city grids of the waterfront and downtown. The building is set back from the thruway, allowing the site development of a landscaped “greenway”, and screening a 1,500-car employee parking structure with an enclosed employee pedestrian bridge connection.
Sustainable design features include the development of an urban brownfield site; the southern glass curtain wall with low-e glazing and sunscreens with motorized shades and light sensors for solar control, day lighting and views; energy efficient mechanical and electrical systems; and the use of “green” building materials and construction practices.
Over the past six decades, Monarch has distinguished itself as an industry leader through its efficient operations and customer service and a community leader through its sustainability and service initiatives. They are focused on providing an ever-escalating standard of service to their customers and their ability to do so is directly impacted by the operation of their distribution facility. CSO worked with Monarch to ensure that their facility would meet the needs of their operation.
The distribution area utilizes an automated material handling system to palletize products for more than 80 daily delivery routes. The entry façade features an integral loading canopy anchored with a 2-story curtainwall and precast entry feature. The 2-story lobby, conference/training spaces, and a tasting room are all featured within the interior.
The facility includes 55,000 square feet of corporate headquarters office space, 457,500 square feet of warehouse space, 21,300 square feet of cold storage, and a 19,000 square foot fleet maintenance building.
Festool relocated its central hub for U.S. and Canadian operations to just outside of Indianapolis. The facility includes a production warehouse, training facility, and a repair center.
CSO’s first project with Festool included a new building to house the North American corporate offices, a distribution/warehouse facility, and a national training center. During the design process, CSO worked closely with the parent company and their architects in Germany to provide a building that represented the corporate image reminiscent of their German facilities while utilizing traditional U.S. construction materials and techniques.
Ten years later, due to an increased presence in the North American and the need to add manufacturing capabilities to their facility, CSO worked with Festool again on a $6.8 million project that doubled their space and provided a new 2-story office space. CSO was tasked with providing an expansion that would complement the original building and that could be completed without interrupting day to day operations.
Just three years after the office expansion, Festool called on CSO once again to design an 80,000 square foot expansion that will be used primarily for assembly and distribution.
