IKA Works North American Headquarters

Architect: LS3P Associates (visit website)

Location: Wilmington, NC

100 Word Description: The expanded North American headquarters for this German manufacturer tailors a German aesthetic to an American workplace.  The addition maximizes the constrained site and strict budget, with clean lines and modernist design. The result is crisp, contemporary, and comfortable. A double-height lobby welcomes visitors and leads into a product showroom, while administrative spaces include offices, workstations, conference rooms, and a centralized break area.  A renovated facility includes administrative offices, a machine shop, and a state-of-the-art laboratory for research and development. The updated facade blends seamlessly with the administration building. A new pilot plant was added to supplement the manufacturing capacity.

Architect’s Statement: The client required a building which would help build brand identity in the United States, and wanted the headquarters to be a visual symbol of their sleek, modern, European products.  The resulting bold design incorporates large expanses of glass walls, white metal panels, and accents of color to highlight important spaces. Working within a constrained site and tight budget, the design team created a space with clean lines, abundant natural light, and a modernist German aesthetic.Renovations to an existing facility, a single story brick building built in the mid-1980’s as a specmanufacturing building, were phased so that operations in the manufacturing and assembly areas could continue with little interruption.  The existing facade also received a facelift, creating a seamless look transition to the new administration building.As a “deep dive†into the project, the design team traveled to Germany to learn about the client’s services, products, processes, and goals.  Since the project’s successful completion, the German employees are envious of the “new” and improved North American office building.

Type of Construction: The facility expresses its structure and function through structural steel framing, with sophisticated ground-level masonry details, sleek metal wall panels, and expansive aluminum storefront. Portions of the building are elevated on slender columns, with a transparent ground-level space below highlighting the activity within. The finely-textured exterior includes the human-scale rhythm of the aluminum panels, with warm wood accents to contrast with the cool metal panels and vertical fins for shading of the generous windows. The interior palette is likewise transparent, with a mix of glass-enclosed workspaces, glass interior walls, wood floors, and crisp white details. Welcoming employee workspaces such as a central break room include accents of color, a small hanging green wall to bring the outside in, and seating to accommodate a variety of group sizes.

Photography: Photography by Walt Dowdy