By Jean Nayar
Photography by Peter Aaron/ESTO
 
For decades, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), a public pension fund based in Sacramento, Calif., has been one of the most highly regarded employers in the area. And since its headquarters facility was expanded with a new 550,000-sq.-ft. freestanding addition a couple of years ago, its prestige as an employer of choice has gained an even higher profile.

Designed by New Haven, Conn.-based architects Pickard Chilton with office interiors by IA and landscaping by Hart/Howerton, both of San Francisco, the new $265-million facility doubles CalPERS' dedicated office space and brings together all of its employees in a four-square-block, campus-like setting. Located at the west end of what is known as the R Street corridor, a 30-block-long district of historic importance, CalPERS' original 500,000-sq.-ft. headquarters building—completed in 1986 by Sacramento architects Dreyfuss & Blackford—was beloved by its employees. But, due to the organization's rapid growth, it was literally bursting at the seams, with several of its 2,500 employees operating out of leased spaces throughout the city. Instead of relocating, the organization opted to expand its current headquarters, purchased two adjacent square-block parcels of land, and created a new sister building, which takes cues from the original structure and is laced with appealing outdoor terraces and courtyards.

Since CalPERS is a large government operation—it is the nation's largest pension fund and manages, invests, and administers more than $248 billion in assets for more than 1.5 million public employees, retirees, and their families—the building development process was long and involved. It took three years to design and two years to construct after numerous meetings involving CalPERS' board, its employees, local building and city planning officials, and community groups. Both Diane Proctor, the project manager from CalPERS charged with overseeing the design and construction process, and William Chilton, the principal on the project, attribute the success of the new building to a series of thoughtful visioning sessions and a great deal of listening and interaction with local groups. "At the same time our building was being designed, another project underway within a mile of our location got entangled with community issues," says Proctor. "It was clear that working collaboratively with the community was vital." Although, as a state agency, CalPERS was not required to follow Sacramento's recently adopted R-Street Corridor Plan—which aimed to revitalize the 30-block-long R Street corridor and develop new residential structures in the area—its board chose to uphold the tenets of the plan. As a result, the new facility includes office space, retail space, child-care facilities, and a fitness center. In addition, the project also includes 180,000 sq. ft. of proposed nearby housing (1 sq. ft. of residential space for every 3 sq. ft. of its office space as recommended in the corridor revitalization plan).

"By sincerely listening to all parties early on, we distilled a number of key issues that influenced the design," says Chilton. Among them, he says, is the idea that the board, the employees, and pension fund members, saw their original building as their "home." Although the existing building was constructed in the mid '80s, it was innovative for its time, says Chilton, incorporating integrated landscaping, outdoor terraces and plazas, wide interior corridors, raised access flooring, and daylighting. "They also wanted the new building to be pedestrian-friendly and respectful of the neighborhood," he says, adding that the client wanted the building to incorporate sustainable design strategies, too. "The idea was to create a building that would be equal in quality and character to the original, yet be of its time architecturally and technologically."

To create a seamless transition from one building to the other, the architects interpreted characteristics of the original structure in new ways. Composed of two U-shaped buildings that enclose a central courtyard, the new glass-covered facility features massing, light shelves, and sun shades that echo the original building and allow daylight to penetrate deep within the office spaces. Although the architects retained the wide corridors, they narrowed the size of the overall floor plates. They also included raised access flooring, but instead of housing only cables (as in the original structure), these also contain air distribution mechanisms. Fostering a sense of community and transparency—within the organization and with the community in general—the architects created a large central atrium, which includes a bamboo grove, a reflecting pool, and casual seating areas. This space serves as an inviting gathering place for employees and is open to view by passersby.

During the design process, the IA team reprogrammed and restacked CalPERS' existing headquarters and provided new programming and interior design for the office spaces and conference area. According to IA principal Mary Lee Duff, who was in charge of strategic programming, a primary goal was to optimally distribute CalPERS business groups between the two buildings. "The challenge was to define business drivers—infrastructure, high growth, expense to move, and adjacencies," she says. "Ultimately we defined three core competencies: operations, customer service, and executive/strategic management. We distributed them both horizontally, so that people from all of these groups would go in both buildings, and vertically, putting customer service employees on the ground floor, operations people in the middle floors, and the executive strategic management and traders on top." They also aimed to harmonize the look and feel of the new interiors with those of the existing building and employed sustainable materials and strategies. "It was really about working with the architects to design from the inside out to meet the users needs," she says.

A six-story entry pavilion serves as an iconic centerpiece of the campus and signals the main entrance. "Its tree-like shape was inspired by the idea that Sacramento has historically been called The City of Trees, says Chilton. To make the buildings pedestrian-friendly and reduce their overall mass to keep in scale with other buildings in the neighborhood, the architects submerged on-site parking for 1,000 cars. Exterior walkways link the two structures, which are bisected by a public plaza and a mews for pedestrians and vehicles. "If a non-employee or member wanted to go to a park-like setting, they'd feel at home here," says Chilton. "The grounds and the buildings were designed to embrace the community and feel very permeable."

In addition to the large central courtyard, the facility also features other landscaping gestures in a series of indoor and outdoor spaces, including an outdoor play area for employees' children, as well as quieter, more contemplative gardens. The landscape architects used sustainable practices in their choice of plants and materials. To complement the building's clean lines, they also chose a carefully honed palette of mostly ornamental grasses, flowering cherry, birch, and Japanese maple trees, and granite boulder benches. "We also employed a sophisticated irrigation system with moisture and flow sensors," says landscape architect Anne Howerton. Such practices ultimately aided in earning the building a LEED Gold rating from the USGBC. And the outdoor terraces, which edge various levels
of the 4- and 6-story structures, have also earned the new facility rave reviews from CalPERS employees. "We have terraces on every floor of both buildings and a large public plaza between them," says Proctor.

"We consider our buildings as recruitment and retention tools, with their outdoor spaces and access to light and air." With its inviting campus-like setting and good neighbor policies, it's no wonder CalPERS continues to be what Chilton calls "a destination employer."   

|c|