Projects

Office Case Studies

Merck & Co., Inc.
Upper Gwynedd Office Expansion
Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania

The design/build team of Torcon and Ballinger were selected by Merck in a design and price competition to add a new office building and parking structure to the company’s corporate campus in Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania. The site featured two office buildings that serve as headquarters for Merck’s U.S. Human Health division.

The project’s objective was to expand the existing facilities in the most cost effective manner possible, while maintaining a complementary appearance among the buildings. In addition to a new four-story office building, the project encompasses an expanded central utility plant and an addition to the parking structure. Site improvements include new visitor parking, completion of a site loop road and the addition of new access roads to the campus.

Although the expansion project provided generic office space with flexibility to accommodate a range of users, the Torcon/Ballinger team sought to create a design that unified the campus. The team’s design creates a place in which employees and departments have a sense of identity while maintaining a strong sense of community.

The new building is a four story administrative office facility providing 366,480 sq. ft. of space, along with an 8400 sq. ft. central skylit atrium. It incorporates pedestrian connections to existing buildings and garages. Exterior materials are precast concrete panels to match color, texture and pattern of existing. The building is designed to accommodate 1659 people in a combination of private offices (executives and managers) and open landscape workstations. Conference rooms are provided on each floor (8 to 20 people) as are multipurpose conference/training rooms for 30 to 50 people. A ground level pantry and servery is supported by a dining area within the landscaped atrium. A large library on the second floor also faces the glass-lined atrium.

Torcon also expanded Merck’s campus parking structure to provide an additional 867 spaces as part of this project. The new garage uses architectural precast panels and structural precast columns and spandrels. Elevations match those of the existing structure at all levels to allow for garage-to-garage vehicle circulation. The central utility plant expansion adds 6,000 sq. ft. of space to the current plant, and equipment to support the new office building. Shell space remains for an additional building that was designed as part of the project.