MidAmerican Energy Corporate Office and Conference Center Renovation

BNIM Architects

Recognitions: AIA Iowa 2021 Design Award

Project Description

The MidAmerican Corporate Office and Conference Center Renovation facility transformed a large warehouse structure into a vibrant environment of workspaces and amenities that promote productivity and wellness. With the client’s goals to create an office environment that offered more collaborative, healthy, and flexible spaces for employees, the design team worked to maximize the potential of the existing office space through reorganization, modernization, and human-purposed design strategies. Previously, the facility’s compartmentalized space organization caused limitations in functionality, wayfinding, and access to views. The new design introduces over 70 formal and informal meeting areas, many of which are equipped with white boards and monitors, that focus on optimizing flexibility and productivity while creating opportunities for improved workflows and interaction among co-located business units. 120-degree workstation pods with the flexibility to expand and contract were installed in place of the facility’s existing cubicles to promote easy collaboration and reconfiguration for new workgroup arrangements. The 144-seat conference center is another primary feature of this renovation project, providing space for MidAmerican Energy to host gatherings from across its larger organization. The conference center has the capability to divide into three separate rooms and offers a variety of adjacent public office amenities, including a 95-seat café, lounge area, and game room area. Office work areas and amenities are joined together by a light-filled 640-foot-long ‘Main Street’ circulation area that features a series of unique truncated pyramid skylights, bringing light into the heart of the facility and reenergizing employees in wellness and connection. A pedestrian walking circuit also establishes a sense of occupant wellness and invites employees to move around throughout the workday.