EMC Insurance Companies

Client Need:
When EMC decided to expand their downtown Des Moines campus, they chose to continue their nearly 50 year relationship with BBS. In order to improve existing infrastructure and provide desired employee and business amenities, a four-story building was requested to adhere to their master plan and balance the existing campus buildings on this block.

BBS Approach:

Completed in March 2017, this new four-story, 106,000 square foot office building for EMC Insurance connects the old and new of Downtown Des Moines. Sitting on the corner of 8^th Street and Walnut Street, the building fulfills a twenty-year masterplan for the EMC urban corporate campus.

This building represents the latest step in an evolution of materiality and building technologies realized over forty years by one client and one design firm through three buildings now interconnected on a full city block.

Positioned between EMC’s eight story precast mid-rise headquarters building and their twenty story metal rainscreen high-rise, the new building compliments and connects the campus while holding its own on a prominent downtown corner. Envisioned as a glass jewel box, the structure is clad in a triple pane glass rainscreen curtain wall system that reflects the exterior conditions and context.

This new campus building provides internal connections to the adjacent high-rise at each level and provides visual connections to the 1970’s precast building within a three-story public skywalk atrium. A 100 foot linear skylight spans the length of the public skywalk giving occupants the opportunity to see the three structures coming together and to celebrate this connection within the campus.

This building reaffirms EMC’s commitment to sustainable design and investment in downtown Des Moines. Their employees have access to public transportation, an enormous network of bike lanes and trails, and a walkable neighborhood with shops, amenities, and residences. The design includes conservation measures which will reduce the building’s annual energy use by nearly 40% and reduce annual water usage by over 35%.

Extensive renovation of an existing central plant was undertaken in the 1971 building to modernize central systems and to provide heating and cooling energy to the new building. The renovation includes new high efficiency heating boilers and heat recovery chillers, revamped pumping and modernized DDC controls for optimal energy management.  The new building utilizes the chiller waste heat for both domestic and HVAC use.

Through thoughtful design, attention to the building’s context, and implementation of advanced building skin technologies this four story building successfully connects a campus inside and out, while making an urban statement of its own.

Project Results:

• Physical connections to existing buildings at all levels
• Multi-story Skywalk Atrium
• Underground Parking
• Wellness Center
• Auditorium & Conference Center
• Triple-Pane High Performance Glass Curtain Wall System
• Ground Level Tenant Space
• LEED Gold Certified