LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.
Issue link: https://landscapearchitect.epubxp.com/i/457513
82 Landscape Architect and Specifier News When Grange Mutual Insurance, based in Columbus, Ohio, outgrew its headquarters, the company was faced with the decision to expand the present site or relocate. The easier solution would have been to move to the suburbs, as many corporations have done. Grange decided to maintain its current location within the city and continue to invest in the community and taking advantage of the city's infrastructure, instead of contributing to urban sprawl. Situated on a three-block property downtown adjacent to High Street, the Brewery District and the historic German Village neighborhood, the Grange headquarters site anchors the downtown's southernmost edge. The headquarters building, a bulky brick structure built in the late 1970s, sat alone at the corner of the site off Front Street, closest to the Brewery District. It was bounded by a landscape that appeared quite suburban, with large expanses of lawn and an eclectic collection of beautiful mature trees interspersed across the site. Although attractive, there was little structure to the landscape, nor connection between the headquarters and its surroundings. The expansion project offered opportunities to remedy the disconnection between indoor and outdoor environments. The Project The siting, massing and design of the new 11-story, 240,000 sq. ft. office building had the potential to either enhance the community or damage the charm of the site and the adjacent historic districts that bounded it. Landscape architects from NBBJ provided leadership in early urban design studies, which led to the client's decision to minimize building development into the park-like open space to the south. It became apparent that siting the new building Above & Inset Low-profile slabs of Hanover granite add interest to the reflecting pool. The pool wall is cast-in-place architectural concrete.