Designer Forum - June 2010

By Jessica Chevalier

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee wanted an affordable and sustainable headquarters complex when it hired tvsdesign of Atlanta to create the interior for the new facility. The five-building campus, designed by architect HKS and completed 15 months ago, is constructed on a hill that overlooks downtown Chattanooga and the Tennessee River. Official confirmation from the U.S. Green Building Council on the project’s Gold LEED-NC status is expected this summer.

The challenge from BlueCross was to create a facility design that would help attract and retain through its aesthetics the most talented healthcare administrators in the field, contribute to the company’s emphasis on wellness, and be easy to clean and maintain—all the while staying within budget. In the overall design of the 950,000 square foot complex, much attention was paid to the use of natural light, reduced energy consumption and ergonomic efficiency. This is typical of most of the LEED buildings constructed today. The architectural design artfully positions five glass clad buildings that are five stories tall in an array that incorporates courtyards, green spaces, open stairwells and bridge connectors so that employees can traverse within and between buildings with minimal effort. Most of the interior floors incorporate a raised access panel design that provides configuration flexibility with power, voice and data connections, and also allows for ultra-efficient distribution of low pressure cooling and heating air.

Tvsdesign selected a broad range of flooring types—carpet tile, porcelain tile, poured epoxy, hardwood and rubber—to meet the client’s budget, as well as its goals for sustainability and aesthetics.

BlueCross is an independent, not-for-profit health insurance company and the single largest private employer in Chattanooga. The company’s goal was to bring all of the 4,000 local employees into one campus, replacing 12 different spaces that previously housed the firm’s Chattanooga offices. Operational efficiency gains from the consolidation are estimated at 25% to 30%.

Although balancing frugality and sustainability can be a challenging task, the tvsdesign team, led by design director Steven Clem, project director Nancy Cartledge and project manager Lynda Cobbs Brookshire, found quality solutions for the BlueCross project by considering not only initial costs but also lifecycle costs. And while carpet tile is more expensive than wall-to-wall carpet, it is still an affordable choice when compared to other flooring surface types like stone or tile. Additionally, carpet tile, which is used throughout the campus’ common areas and office spaces, offers the warmth of a soft surface while also providing the ability to pull up single tiles as needed for replacement—a budget friendly alternative to replacing a whole room of broadloom. The company keeps a stock of extra tiles on site for use as needed.

BlueCross wanted a campus with egalitarian sensibilities. For that reason, the company’s executive offices feature the same carpet tile as is standard throughout the facility. This sort of fair-minded approach worked well with the design team. As project manager Cartledge says, “You don’t want to walk around a corner and say, Oops, that’s where they cut the budget.”

The carpet tile throughout the facility displays an expanse of designs. Within the nutrition center seating area in the central building, the pattern of the blue-on-blue carpet resembles the condensation rings from a water glass. In the wide hallway outside the serving area, the grey-on-brown motif is reminiscent of a cobblestone road. The fourth floors of the buildings are equipped with bridges to carry employees efficiently from one facility to the next. An identical carpet is used as floorcovering on each bridge to denote the space.

Each of the five buildings on the campus has a signature accent color. Celery, golden rod, copper, burgundy and the BlueCross-blue provide pops of color and contribute to way-finding for employees and guests. The carpet tile used within office and cubicle spaces—outfitted with Herman Miller cubicles—features dashes of these accent hues, dropped sporadically within the floorcovering pattern, set off against the chocolate brown of the primary carpet. While ease of replacement is both a frugal and sustainable choice, carpet tile also serves another important function within BlueCross: the floorcovering allows for easy entry into raised access flooring space, a Tate Access Floors product, which houses the company’s data and electrical wiring.

Though the initial cost of raised access flooring is substantially more than that of standard flooring, raised access flooring provides a value over the course of its life. Rather than running wiring through the ceiling, down the walls and across the floor to an area where it is needed, raised access flooring enables wiring to be run underfoot and up to the desired location, reducing the amount of raw materials used.

In addition, the 14” space is also the area through which the HVAC unit distributes heat and air. Underfloor air distribution is much more efficient that HVAC distributed through ceilings. Rather than heating or cooling the highest space within a room first and forcing the air downward, which consumes a great deal of energy, HVAC that emanates from the floor focuses climate control where it is most needed—at the level of the people within the space. In addition, the system gauges temperature needs within the facility by the air received on intake and adjusts its output accordingly. As such, the smart system will expend less energy in the evenings as the number of employees within the facility drops. With a reduction in raw materials used as well as significant reduction in energy consumption, raised access flooring is both a sustainable and a cost-cutting solution long term.

To determine where to use hard versus soft flooring surfaces within the BlueCross facility, tvsdesign considered both use and aesthetic. Hard surfaces, which make up less than 30% of the floor covering throughout, are the obvious choice for entryways that get the most foot traffic, as well as for primary hallways within the hub building through which most employees and guests enter. However, tvsdesign also preferred the polished look that hard surfaces provided at the entry point, as this area often conveys the first impression of the building’s interior space to guests and prospective employees.

The large format porcelain tile chosen for the entryway is light colored and simple, reflecting the firm’s desire to draw the eye upwards, toward the beautiful city and river views. The floor features a combination of rectangular and square tiles, offering greater visual texture than a single shape provides.

Hard surface products are also used within the service areas of the company’s café. Often following the contours of the ceiling panels, ceramic tile with a high coefficient of friction is laid alongside poured epoxy flooring. The chip-resistant epoxy is used in server and high traffic locations. Both products offer affordability in relation to lifecycle cost and durability. The colors of both hard surface flooring products are neutral tones that complement the sleek look of the space. At the center of the café is a circular salad bar, set within a footprint of russet colored tile.

The company’s wellness center features yet another type of floorcovering; rubber flooring with speckles against a black field covers the expanse of the gym floor. The rubber floorcovering is made from recycled tires and provides a supportive yet soft surface underfoot. In the aerobics room, a wooden strip plank sports floor is installed atop a resilient underlayment that adds cushioning.

The company’s goal of sustainability is evident through both BlueCross’ product choices and its overall focus on creating a healthy environment for employees. The company is seeking to transition from a sick care company to a life care company, so flooring design for the campus centers around the concept of a path of wellness. The company sought to enable exercise and movement within the new facility. Key to this idea is the connection between indoors and outdoors. On ground floors, a pebble border of smooth, creamy colored river rocks lines the travertine-look porcelain tile walkway on the window side. The pebble border matches the stone that is used within the garden area’s water features and creates a visual link to the peaceful landscape, almost seeming to eliminate the glass barrier between inside and outside.

The campus’s broad stairwells—positioned to encourage walking rather than elevator use—are glass walled with stunning views. The steps are faced fully in rubber, with a pebble pattern, to provide slip resistance and longevity.

In addition, BlueCross employs an eco-friendly service to clean its flooring. The service uses green cleaning products, which eliminates hazardous chemical run off in discarded waste water. The company also uses vacuum cleaners fitted with hepa filters to maintain good indoor air quality across the campus.

Hoping to attract top talent to its Tennessee headquarters, BlueCross created an environment pleasing to employees. Cubicles are spacious. Natural light is plentiful. Gym facilities are free, as is use of a 0.6 mile track that loops around the facility. Also, BlueCross has several walk-while-you-work machines scattered across campus. These machines feature a telephone and computer positioned atop a treadmill, enabling employees to exercise while completing daily tasks. For those employees seeking to minimize their own footprint, BlueCross offers a free shuttle service in its own hybrid shuttle, which links with the city of Chattanooga’s public transportation system. These initiatives speak to BlueCross’ commitment to equipping its employees to be healthy, happy individuals rather than uninspired worker drones.

The project ultimately came in on time and on budget, and much of the floorcovering used in the project came from manufacturers in and around Dalton, Georgia, less than 40 miles from the BlueCross campus. BlueCross anticipates that it will use the facility for 30 to 40 years.

A project as large as BlueCross’ is a tall order for an interior design team. Design director Clem notes, “It’s a very challenging exercise to create a space of this size, this scale with multiple buildings—and to achieve an aesthetic environment that has a strong design to it as well as a strong appeal for the end user. The collaborative relationship that we had with the client was outstanding.”

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