Wells Fargo Corporate Campus
Project Stats
- Location
Las Colinas, Texas
- Size
850,000 SF
- Awards
DCEO CRE Awards Best New Office Project
- Market
- Expertise
Wells Fargo’s new net-positive campus celebrates the employee experience and prioritizes wellness and sustainability.
Anchoring a mixed-use development comprised of multifamily spaces, retail, and restaurants, the two 10-story office buildings connect employees to the growing activity and amenities of the area. Nearby walking and bike trails, paddleboarding, and several golf courses coupled with popular civic attractions including the Irving Convention Center and Toyota Music Factory not only offer complementary venues for team events and visiting clients but also support balance, socialization, and the preferences of a modern workforce.
Highly-amenitized, their new facility showcases the future of live/work environments — inviting employees to take advantage of dining with views of Lake Carolyn while at the office or live within walking distance so they can make laps with their dog after hours. For those commuting in, proximity to transportation arteries include DART rail lines and major highways.
Site planning preserves the human-scale and accessibility of the large site — accommodating the parking requirements while prioritizing a pedestrian-friendly campus; strategically managing flows and situating key destination points in the user experience; and maximizing sustainability and flexibility for future growth.
A dynamic façade draws inspiration from organic, irregular patterns and gradients in nature.
Grasses blown in the wind, clouds, and ripples are articulated in the direction and variations of the exterior’s precast concrete panels and glass. At night, LEDs climb the subtle undulations and gently graze the faceted texture to create a massing that serves as a distinctive piece of architecture for the area.
Dynamic, Human, Connected
An iconic skybridge welcomes staff from the parking garage and into the heart of the campus. Beyond sheltering pedestrians from the elements, the skybridge is designed with faceted planters and wood soffits to create an attractive pathway that maintains connections to the outdoors as it navigates visitors to security and through the lobby and ending at the promontory overlooking the water.
Pedestrian flow and movement circulating outdoor walkways that wrap around the buildings activates the exterior while visually outlining the zones of the building.
The lobby, punctuated by a bold skylight over reception, connects users to key onsite and surrounding amenities.
An ecosystem of spaces to maximize the employee experience.
The conference rooms, training center, café, fitness areas, a grab-and-go market, and coffee bar among other amenities inspire balance and connection. A dining pavilion with generous overhangs offers relaxing views of the lake and serves as an attractive space to meet with colleagues or host an event. The strategically positioned amenities and furniture selections respond to comfort preferences and the rhythm of modern work while open office spaces reinforce themes of transparency and connection to each other and the outdoors.
A monumental stair connects level one and two to encourage movement and transparency. Floors above are dedicated to optimizing the needs of their diverse workforce and enhancing social connection.
Topping the towers and garage, three structures are completely covered in PV paneling. Rather than concealing the PVs, they are hoisted up in the air with a finely articulated steel canopy structure. As the crown of the building, they are softly up-lit at night creating the illusion of a delicate floating plane — a beautiful, signature mark of the project and its vision.
The first net-positive campus for Wells Fargo, the campus is expected to generate more energy on-site than it consumes. As an extension of prioritizing health and wellness for their employees, the project will pursue LEED Platinum to measurably minimize the environmental impact of the building while maximizing benefits to staff.
Especially challenging to accomplish with the energy demands required of managing the Texas climate, achieving net-positivity required a comprehensive approach from large and small gestures including site planning, solar panels, regionally-sourced materials, lighting interventions, and introducing interstitial biophilic elements throughout the space.
A Vision in the Future of Work and Sustainable Design
Supporting the demands and preferences of a modern workforce, the new Wells Fargo campus is not only a flexible, connected space that encourages employee socialization, health, and well-being but is also a powerful model for ambitious sustainability goals — that lead industry trends, challenge design, and shape the future of work and the continued evolution of its surrounding neighborhood.
