American AgCredit new Santa Rosa headquarters wins Top Projects award
SANTA ROSA — The new 120,000-square-foot American AgCredit national headquarters, located at 400 Aviation Ave. near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport, is an impressive landmark welcoming tourists and business professionals to the Airport Business Center.
Located on a prominent site, the building reflects the company's character as a quiet, but powerful presence. Two building forms wrap around an organically-shaped courtyard. Enclosed bridges, exterior roof walks and patios encourage people to explore and enjoy their workplace.
A forward-thinking, open plan environment with demountable office partitions accommodates AgCredit's constantly changing structure while allowing for maximum flexibility to meet the needs of its occupants well into the future.
A rammed earth wall, a two-story cowhide mural and a wine barrel stave wall — along with a comprehensive art program — round out the distinctive, visually appealing features of the building.
TLCD Architecture teamed with general contractor Jim Murphy & Associates as well as American AgCredit to create a building that brings all of the agriculture financing firm's local employees into a single workspace.
The building has 2.8 million pounds of structural steel, 51,707 square feet of glass, 7,500 cubic feet of concrete, over a million feet of copper wire, 8,600 exterior zinc panels, 20,000 pounds of uninterruptible power supply backup batteries, 7,070 yards of carpet made from recycled Asian fish nets, 1,920 wine barrel staves, 2,400 LED light fixtures and 420 motorized roller shades managed by detectors that open and close shades based on the sun's position.
Sustainability and energy-efficiency were top concerns, and the resulting office building exceeds U.S. Green Building Council LEED requirements for Gold-level certification. The eco-friendly features include: Exterior pigmented zinc panels placed over curtain wall glazing are perforated to provide sun shading where needed.
Raised floors accommodate wiring and displacement air distribution provides a highly energy-efficient work environment while providing superior indoor air quality. Environment-controlled window shading and daylight harvesting minimize energy consumption providing a comfortable workplace.
As envisioned by the owners, a portion of the building is leased to agriculture-based tenants, making it a hub for compatible enterprises such as the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, Sonoma County Vintners, Sonoma County Winegrowers, Wine Industry Compliance Services, LLC, and the Capra Company LLC. Capra has acquired vineyard properties whose future profits will be used to help sustain nonprofit training and mentorship programs for young people.
