Striking Gold with ACRYLITE® Satinice in Milwaukee, Wisconson
White ACRYLITE® Satinice Helps Bucyrus International Create Award-winning look in New Multi-Purpose Room.
When Bucyrus International, a global mining equipment leader, decided to redesign its corporate headquarters in South Milwaukee, management knew it would be a challenge. Their vision was an attractive and functional space that conveyed the company’s history, tradition, and products, while being inviting to customers. With the help of one of the region’s most respected design/build firms and white ACRYLITE® Satinice acrylic sheet from POLYVANTIS Sanford, LLC, they struck gold and created an award-winning design.
BSI, a leading design firm, developed a plan that leveraged the vintage building's original design for heavy-duty storage. BSI emphasized key features of the structure, including high ceilings, and turned the first floor into a corporate cafeteria/general gathering room and corporate museum.
One key design element was the implementation of two types of lighting – traditional overhead incandescent and an LED lighting wall, hidden behind textured fabric that would accent the high ceilings. The LED wall would be prominent and offer a subtle lighting feature when other primary lights were turned down for presentations. Additionally, this lighting could silhouette a steel frame that mimicked the company’s frame patterns in its current equipment line. As budgets dwindled and deadlines neared, however, the original lighting design elements needed to be altered. An alternative solution was required to address the stretched fabric and multi-colored LED lights.
The solution quickly became apparent when BSI was introduced to ACRYLITE® Satinice acrylic sheet. Its frosted appearance gives it excellent diffusion properties and the surface hides scratches and fingerprints very well. It was also affordable and readily available. All of these factors made it the perfect choice, according to Chris Walgren, associate AIA at BSI.
“ACRYLITE® was the perfect solution due to its ability to ‘glow’ when lighting was placed behind it as well as its lead time and ability to be field cut. We had samples of other patterned acrylic but ACRYLITE® was the best fit,” said Walgren.
The final design was awarded a Silver award in the category of Office/Corporate over 25,000 square feet at the 2009 American Society of Interior Designers (WI Chapter) awards last February.
Walgren noted that there was more to ACRYLITE® acrylic than just aesthetic advantages. “The product’s ability to meet our code requirements for flame and smoke spread were critical in order to get approval from the building official. I wish I had known about ACRYLITE® at the beginning of the project, as I would have never proceeded with ‘stretched fabric.’ I look forward to another project in which we can specify it again.”
Additional design services were provided by HLA Business Interiors and GRāEF. CG Schmidt served as the general contractor for core and shell on the project.
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconson
Fabricator: BSI
