Press - Properties Magazine
School of Thought: Eaton University facility incorporates modern design, state-of-the-art capabilities
"Thinking outside the box" might be a cliche business circles, but for a real world example, visit Eaton Corp.'s new learning and technology facility in Willoughby Hills. The 70,000-square-foot building nestled in a wooded grove boasts a design that is both creative and cohesive, the very message that the diversified manufacturer wants to send to the thousands of people who come for meetings and special training every year. The center is located on 11 acres just off of Route 6 near Interstate 90.
The building's modern face in a natural environment blends contemporary design with tradition, reflecting Eaton's identity as an industry and technological leader.
The first-time visitor would never guess that the building was originally built for manufacturing in the 1970s and was all brick. The original brick has been covered in places by synthetic stucco and aluminum panels.
The exterior's grey, dark blue and sand colored forms, and a strategically exposed vertical brick slit, alert the visitor to an ethereal experience. An entry tower in the front of the building with linear windows overlooking the small courtyard commands the attention of an educator addressing a student assemblage.
A revitalized facility
Originally a manufacturing center for Eaton prototypes, this $6 million project revitalized the facility into a regional conference center and corporate university. The building was renovated in three phases. The program included replacement of the exterior window system and roof, updating and expanding the electrical and mechanical systems, renovating existing office space and transformation of an industrial space into a learning and technology center.
Mindful of its past use, this world-class center was carefully inserted into the existing building fabric.
The new facility, known within the company as Eaton University, was added to Eaton's existing Learning and Technology Center. It includes a tiered auditorium, multipurpose training rooms, a computer training room, an executive conference area, 10 breakout rooms and office space for Eaton University staff and guest speakers.
"This new and expanded facility represents Eaton's continuing commitment to the growth and development of its people," says Sam Dolinsky, Eaton's vice president of leadership and organizational development. "In today's time-sensitive, competitive global environment, Eaton University provides the opportunity for employees to develop personally and professionally as part of the strong Eaton team. This addition is the logical next step in ensuring we have a common vision and language for conducting business across Eaton."
Continuing a tradition of education
Since Eaton University's inception in May 2001, instructor-led courses have been taught at Eaton's headquarters in downtown Cleveland and at its plant locations around the world. The new facility provides additional space for Eaton University's expanding curriculum and will also accommodate large-scale Eaton meetings and seminars.
Nearly 15,000 employees took Eaton University courses in 2003. On average, Eaton University has experienced a 50% increase in quarter-on-quarter utilization since the program was launched.
"You walk in and you're wowed by it," says Joyce Gilman, operations manager for Eaton University. "Everyone likes something different about it. You can't take it in all at once."
An unforgettable impression
The lobby immediately presents an environment that is both comfortable and leading edge. Visitors are greeted by a handful of vertical, hanging stalactite-like fixtures that can be found throughout the building. The fixtures are blue and clear in color, and semi-transparent, creating a feeling of intimacy. These "pseudo stalactites," which glow by means of electrical lighting, were a way to offset the depth of the ceilings in the building, noted John Waddell, the project's architect.
"They took some risks with this," says Waddell, who runs Lakewood-based Waddell Associates Architects. "Eaton never did anything quite like this."
The hanging fixtures extend eight feet from the ceiling and 10 feet above the ground and were built on-site by the general contractor, Jance Construction LLC of Mentor. The fixtures are made from an aluminum frame with a new acrylic composite material that compresses fabric together and creates a glow effect, noted Jim Perusek, project manager for Jance. Electrical wiring extends through the wall into the fixtures.
"You have to see it to believe it," Perusek says.
There are more than 20 of these fixtures in total, and they are not uniform in appearance. Some emit a pale color and some are bluish. Some are a square-foot in width while some are double that width.
A series of flat wood planks forms a vertical, ladder-like column along one of the lobby walls, matching the plain maple sliced wood in the reception desk. Other walls have a polished plaster surface. "There's a constant interplay of materials and forms," Waddell explained.
A challenging design
Waddell describes the project's design as a mixture of modern and retro.
"We gave John free reign to develop a design to meet Eaton's needs," Gilman says.
Perusek notes that the unusual materials used in the project presented some challenge to the construction crew. Different aspects of the project couldn't be done in individual phases; the project had to be staggered. Project coordination was challenging. Nonetheless, the job was completed in about eight months.
The visitor can either use the small stairways or a handicapped access ramp to the main "hub" of the building, both of which are slate-surfaced. A plasma screen framed in a decorative wall lists the day's events. The visitor immediately sees more hanging stalactites of varying sizes throughout the spacious hub area.
The most obvious feature in the hub is a curved wall that runs along the south side. The wall's surface was hand polished with plaster by a specialist. The wall is made from gypsum board. A multi-textured plaster from Armour Coat, based in the U.K., envelopes the wall, giving it beige, light brown textures.
The walls, like the ceiling, are tiered throughout the central hub and there is no singular surface style. One area has a finish that looks monolithic at a distance but is finely textured when examined up close. Some areas are dark blue. The vertical slit found on the building's exterior emerges on the hub wall, too.
Visual themes reappear
The wood plank pattern found in the lobby is pronounced even larger on one hub wall in the form of a big maple plank column that Waddell refers to as "The Terminus." Another structure protrudes perpendicularly from this "Terminus" and hovers above the refreshment counter, made again from the same granite/wood, creates the outline of a huge coffee cart. The self-serve refreshment area is called "The Bistro."
"We didn't want it to be solid wood," Waddell explained. The maple planks are something people can actually touch.
The reverse side of this "Terminus" contains a sunk-in counter and sink, with storage cabinets below.
There is a large table near "The Bistro" where people can set refreshments and the center can assemble a seasonal display.
Once you move to the center of the hub, an angular portion of the upper wall juts out a bit. A window cut into this section gives a quick look at the PC training room, one of the second story training areas.
A high-tech environment
Chairs by Herman Miller Inc. of varying shades cover most of the hub floor. Most have moveable desktops, known as "tablet arms," and are equipped with electrical outlets for convenient Internet hookup. The area also offers cellular connectivity for visitors with wireless Internet laptops.
"If you're coming from Shanghai, you can sit down here, put your plug in and log on to the Internet," Gilman says.
The floor itself is carpeted with tile that can be easily lifted to install a cable fixture just about anywhere.
"They wanted the ability of being able to access the floor to keep upgrading the electronics," Perusek says.
The installation of the access floor required Jance Construction to extend the walls down to the concrete base of the building, install the floor and then build another wall on top of the access floor. The staff can simply remove a 24-square-inch carpet tile, unscrew the paneling and install a cable or electrical wire.
There is ample light in the area, thanks to the skylights that have been added to the ceiling. The ceiling itself is layered by a variety of angular structures. The original roof truss is also visible in spots, adding a design element of traditional manufacturing to the eclectic mix.
The central hub is bordered on almost every side by private rooms sectioned off by walls that do not extend all the way to the ceiling, maintaining a sense of connectivity to the main building.
Inspirational artwork
The north and south sides of the hub each sport a pair of shallow alcoves. The center of each alcove wall features custom artwork created by local artist Guy Vincent Ricketti, each with a written inspirational message selected by members of the Eaton University staff. There is also a granite wood counter beneath each painting, which blends in with the calm browns, greens, grey and sand earth tones of the various forms found throughout.
"It just adds to peoples' spirits," Waddell explained. "It makes people comfortable; they're not intimidated."
"What's good about it is that it makes people react," Waddell says of the artwork.
"I wanted people to come up close and explore these pieces," says Ricketti, who operates a Cleveland custom art company called Elevation Art. This makes perfect sense for a waiting area.
"We wanted to bring nature and use it in a cutting edge way," Ricketti says.
He reviewed the various materials in the project before coming up with his paintings and sculptures.
"I wanted to incorporate different materials," he says. "This is really art being integrated with thought."
Theme: technology and nature
The lobby features a set of digital images of sea waves printed on metal. Just above these images is a horizontal image of clouds. In another a hallway, another one of Ricketti's pieces features a red square on top of a yellow rectangle positioned against a backdrop of trees. These are linear shapes that are consistent with the building's design.
What's more, "All the work deals with nature," Ricketti explains. "It's a commentary on technology and nature."
The hub includes some large, structural columns from the original building that could not easily be removed. On one of these, Waddell opted to paint some high-gloss earth color accents, suggesting a barbershop pole.
"It's just another surprise," Waddell says.
The hub leads to conference rooms of varying size; each of those on the north will have windows that can be darkened by shades. The granite wood counters in the hub alcove are visible once again in each conference room, with the addition of a sink. Each conference room also has a coat rack.
There are four training rooms, an executive conference room, a PC training room and an auditorium. The building seats anywhere from 197 to 325, depending on how the rooms are configured with the moveable walls, Gilman noted.
"We are very pleased with the utilization of the facility to date. Something is going on every week," she says.
The main coatroom near the lobby has lockers that can be locked with locks provided by the receptionist.
The executive conference room sports a figured sycamore table with built-in microphones for video conferencing and teleconferencing. The wall is a sage color while the carpet has a greenish pattern.
The auditorium on the south side of the building has its own break area, complete with cushioned chairs and a cutout alcove with the granite wood counter for coffee and refreshments. Light is provided by means of another skylight. Arched walls give this area a slightly more solemn ambiance; the ceiling curves into the walls, enabled by cold form steel framing.
Inside the auditorium itself, the tables and chairs curve around the speaker's platform and a wide video screen. The auditorium floor is tiered, declining to the speaker's platform.
Opposite the auditorium is another training room.
The west side of the building houses an office section which employees can access using a key card. The office area has its own conference room, its own private offices and a general work area. The Herman Miller workstations feature a non-"Dilbert World" design that is bright and airy, unlike traditional office cubicles.
The second floor contains a full-service kitchen.
"We've done very well promoting it within our company," Gilman says of the learning center. "Everybody wants to hold their training here."
She notes that while the center is conveniently located for employees within driving distance of the Cleveland area, employees from Eaton locations around the world have attended training and meetings at the learning center.
"It's not your typical office or conference space because of all the unusual details," says Perusek from Jance Construction.
Eaton University wins recognition
In 2003, NETg, a leading supplier of corporate education and training programs, named Eaton University the Best Corporate University. Finalists were judged on their ability to identify business needs, deploy training programs that support organizational objectives and demonstrate measurable outcomes.
Last year, Eaton also received the Corporate University Best in Class (CUBIC) Award for best evaluation techniques. The award was based on Eaton's evaluation of training program outcomes, its formalized data collection and analysis processes and its methods for evaluating return on training investment.
The building also recently won the International Institute of Business Designers award of merit for large corporate projects for the Cleveland/Akron chapter.
Eaton is a global diversified industrial manufacturer with 2003 sales of $8.1 billion that is a leader in fluid power systems; electrical power quality, distribution and control; automotive engine air management and powertrain controls for fuel economy; and intelligent drivetrain systems for fuel economy and safety in trucks. Eaton has 55,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 100 countries.