Approach
Burgess & Niple’s (B&N’s) new corporate headquarters marks a significant move in the firm’s history with a return to downtown Columbus, Ohio where they were established over a century ago, and today have views of several of their landmark projects. B&N’s origins in water engineering served as the primary inspiration for crafting design elements throughout their office.
Shades of B&N’s blue brand color are used as water-inspired gradients. The main corridor features a bridge-like floor to ceiling timeline highlighting significant milestones throughout their 100+ year history. To highlight underground work that may be unseen, a custom-designed B&N branded manhole cover is integrated within the floor at the entrance to their training room.
Focal elements in the café were designed with both function and form in mind. While they delineate space and provide kitchen storage to hide equipment, they were designed to celebrate the simplicity and efficiency of basic engineering principles and brand values in a highly used space by B&N’s citizens and their guests.
