WRNS Studio designed the new Utah outpost of Adobe to bridge across a four-lane road.
Tim Griffith WRNS Studio designed the new Utah outpost of Adobe to bridge across a four-lane road.

Category: Work
Award

When Adobe set out to build its new Utah campus, the digital media company turned to WRNS Studio, a San Francisco–based firm and the top firm in this year’s ARCHITECT 50. Located in Lehi, just south of Salt Lake City, the 38-acre site was something of a challenge: long and narrow, it runs alongside Interstate 15 and is bisected by a four-lane public road.

As a way to negotiate this unusual site, WRNS designed the campus as a series of three long slabs, each one slightly angled in plan, as a way to break up the facilities into manageable units. The central building makes a 90-foot span of the intersecting road, allowing the campus to be experienced as a continuous landscape, despite the infrastructural intrusion. The team carried out design and construction on a speedy 27-month schedule.

The glass-clad buildings offer views to the surrounding mountain ranges and to Lake Utah, and they cut down on energy loads from artificial lighting. Ninety-three percent of the building’s occupants have views to the outside, while the high-performance glazing further reduces the property’s energy consumption. Adobe is participating in a post-occupancy analysis to maximize the efficiency of the building’s mechanical and electrical systems; it is certified LEED Gold.

Inside, there are offices, of course, but also plenty of amenities, including a basketball court, climbing wall, pool, gym, and cafeterias. “These campuses for technology companies—they’re more grown-up now,” observed juror Cathy Lang Ho. “It’s beyond the play environments with coffee lounges and bean bags and all of that. It’s just more grown-up.”

The architects coordinated this diverse program on a challenging site with a carefully considered site plan that provides a bridge—literal and metaphorical—from one far end to the other. “It’s a supremely skillful massing,” juror Sheila Kennedy said. “It’s a very simple diagram that’s well executed throughout.”

See all of the winners of ARCHITECT's 2013 Annual Design Review here.

For more projects by WRNS Studio, please visit ARCHITECT's Project Gallery.

Ping-pong tables give an open cafeteria a youthful edge; communal tables promote group interaction well after lunch hour.
Tim Griffith Ping-pong tables give an open cafeteria a youthful edge; communal tables promote group interaction well after lunch hour.
“These campuses for technology companies—they’re more grown-up now,” observed juror Cathy Lang Ho.
Eric Laignel “These campuses for technology companies—they’re more grown-up now,” observed juror Cathy Lang Ho.
Murals in the offices depict innovators of previous eras.
Eric Laignel Murals in the offices depict innovators of previous eras.
Circulation spaces echo Adobe's commitment to innovation through graphics and product displays.
Eric Laignel Circulation spaces echo Adobe's commitment to innovation through graphics and product displays.
Ninety-three percent of the building's occupants have views to the outside.
Eric Laignel Ninety-three percent of the building's occupants have views to the outside.
The new Adobe campus comprises three buildings on a 38-acre site.
Tim Griffith The new Adobe campus comprises three buildings on a 38-acre site.
High-performance glazing allows views to surrounding mountain ranges while contributing toward LEED Gold certification.
Tim Griffith High-performance glazing allows views to surrounding mountain ranges while contributing toward LEED Gold certification.

Project Credits Project  Adobe Systems Utah Campus, Lehi, Utah
Client  Adobe
Architect  WRNS Studio, San Francisco—Bryan Shiles, AIA (design partner); Sam Nunes, AIA (partner-in-charge); Brian Milman, AIA (project architect); Pauline Souza, AIA (sustainability director); Moses Vaughan, AIA (senior architect); Raul Garduno, Jason Halaby, Assoc. AIA, John McGill (project designers)
Interior Design  Rapt Studio
Associate Architect  GSBS Architects
Structural Engineer  Dunn Associates
Mechanical Engineer  Colvin Engineering Associates
Electrical Engineer  Spectrum Engineers
Civil Engineer
  Ensign Engineering and Land Surveying
Landscape  WRT
Audiovisual  Avidex
Food Services  Cini-Little
Security  Security by Design
General Contractor  Okland Construction
Photographer  Tim Griffith
Size  280,000 square feet
Cost  $74 million