Click here to see the article in the New England Real Estate Journal!
IBEW, Monroe, CT, November 13, 2012 – Antinozzi Associates is excited to announce The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) newly-built facility in Monroe, Connecticut. IBEW retained the firm to design their new 14,000 square foot, two-story headquarters incorporating several offices, classrooms, and a multipurpose room on the second floor.
According to George Perham, Vice President of Antinozzi Associates and Principal-in-Charge of the project, the location presented development challenges, notably the site’s small, narrow footprint, and a slope of 20 feet from front to back. “The town approval process required implementing strict Architectural Review Board and zoning regulations. To convey a better understanding of how the building would sit on the site, we created a physical model to allow the approving boards to visually understand the entire design better than drawings could possibly convey.”
The exterior compliments the angled, sloping landscape with materials and colors carefully chosen of vertical metal panel surfaces and brick. The metal panel colors of blue, green and yellow are custom-colored to match the color of wires used inside metal armored cable – a common cable used in the trade. Based on the Architectural Review Board’s mandate to represent the town’s Colonial architecture, traditional materials such as brick and limestone were used for the prominent, one-story front entrance building.
On the interior, the first floor facing the street contains corporate offices and a conference room, enclosed with frosted glass walls to allow natural light into the lobby of the conference room without compromising privacy. Five classrooms are located toward the rear of the building, below the sloping finished grade. Natural light is abundant, however, in these subterranean spaces as large light wells were designed on both sides of the building incorporating continuous clerestory windows.
The main corridor leading to the classrooms is lined with structural glazed block walls which continue to exhibit the wire colors used by the trade. Classroom entrances are composed of ceilings created through the use of electrical conduit and lighting above, with rubber flooring used for durability inside and outside the classrooms.
IBEW’s program requirements allowed us to create an architectural solution specific to their operation”, stated Perham. “By applying material and colors used by workers in the field and implementing them into the building design, students using the facility can appreciate the connection of what they do and how it relates to the architecture. With common mathematical formulas applied as large super graphics on the classroom corridors, there is no doubt that they have come to the right place to learn.”
On the second floor, the large 3,600 square foot meeting room includes a kitchen, table and seating capacity of 148, with an auditorium seating capacity of 430. The meeting room was also designed with continuous ribbon windows at the front and back of the room to maximize the amount of natural light to fill the space.
“It has been a pleasure to work with George Perham and the staff at Antinozzi Associates during the planning, design, and construction of our new facility,” stated Peter Carroll, Business Manager of the IBEW Chapter in Monroe. “Their professionalism and expertise in detail and design is commendable.”
The IBEW headquarters building was completed and occupied in mid-2012.