Mooresville, NC, Sept. 18--At the new corporate campus for Lowe's in Mooresville, the dominant themes are water, woods and sunlight, according to the Charlotte Observer.
The first of roughly 1,200 employees of the home improvement retailer who will work in the five-story, 400,000-square-foot building begin moving in this weekend. They will have plenty of views to enjoy besides their cubicle walls.
Entire walls in the building are windows, and the grounds will soon be accented by a lake and waterfall created by damming a natural creek running through the property.
A wood-chip nature trail will border the lake and wooded area.
Even the interior architecture of the building, from slate used in the atrium's spiral staircase to natural fibers in the fabric-padded walls to electric lights that automatically adjust according to levels of natural light, are aimed at reminding employees of nature.
"The concept with the architect was to bring the outside in," said Kim Culp, facilities manager.
Almost 200 employees are set to move to the 164-acre complex. When they leave their old offices on Friday, all their work materials will be boxed up; by Sunday, all of those boxes, plus their computers and new telephones, will be in place at their new desks.
Over the next 12 weeks, more batches of employees will move during alternating weekends.
Lowe's CEO Bob Tillman is scheduled to move there in October.
The Fortune 100 company, with $26.5 billion in 2002 sales, plans to maintain a strong corporate presence in Wilkesboro, its original base.
