Analog Devices - World Headquarters - Bridge Connections

Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA

LEED v4 Gold

The bridge connections are an important element in transforming Analog Devices (ADI) former manufacturing campus into a dynamic and united world headquarters. In developing the masterplan for the site, we quickly saw how distant and separated the existing buildings were. Often, employees would spend their entire day isolated in their corner of a building, sometimes not seeing other colleagues for months, or having no reason to walk across the campus.

The BDG team saw the potential for using the new World Headquarters space program to create new buildings positioned in a way that they could facilitate interior connections for the entire campus. A Community Hub Building was created at the center of the campus, as a daily gathering point for dining, meetings, and to welcome visitors. The proposed New Office Building was located near an existing office building built 38 years ago, to facilitate a connection to and passing through to the new Community Hub.

The design of the bridges needed to provide the obvious pedestrian connections, but they also act as an infrastructure raceway that connects all of the buildings, since the floors of the bridges used raised computer flooring. The BDG Team examined many ways of creating the bridges with the ADI team, but the approach that captured everyone imaginations was the use of a triangular truss designed as a bridge. This allowed for the same structure needed to span between buildings to become a visually dynamic element to the campus. The triangular shape also meant that we could eliminate the entire roof and drains.

The interior of the bridges used the shape of the trusses to create an engaging experience as people crossed them. We used an expanded metal screen captured within insulated glass of the south and western facing facades to reduce the solar gain, this eliminated the need for window shades and allowing the north and eastern facades to be clear glass, with views to the landscape.

˅ Project Imagery ˅