From a working farm with livestock and a system of themed underground tunnels to a tree house conference room and individual offices for every employee, Epic is working to create a truly unique office environment. Open-hearth fireplaces and a creek running through the main quad area are additional touches the company is incorporating to make employees and guests comfortable. It is Epic’s hope that these components and deliberate attention to a heightened visual experience for guests will help sell clients on the Epic culture that is responsible for its success in medical software development.
Epic Systems Corporation Campus One
Verona, Wisconsin
GREEN = Society/Culture + Economy + Environment
_Incorporating LEED® principles throughout the design of a corporate campus reinforces this company’s mission to “Do Good.”
Epic Systems Corporation, a leader in developing information systems to the nation’s foremost healthcare organizations, has experienced rapid expansion in both its employee and client bases. Following the successful 1995 renovation of its former headquarters and in response to the growth, the company again hired Cuningham Group in collaboration with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership as architects for the first phase of its new 338-acre corporate headquarters.
Campus One was completed in late 2006 and accommodates over 1,500 employees. The original working farm is in intact and complements the new corporate campus, which features unique themed spaces, a tree-house conference room, collaborative team spaces with working fireplaces, and individual offices for every employee.
Sustainable goals were developed at the onset of the project. Integration of the site and campus buildings are designed to take advantage of basic elements: air, light, views, spatial relationships, natural resources and natural cycles of renewal. The project makes use of the high ground for natural breezes and views, and the multi-story buildings are compact to preserve the natural topography and maximize open space.
Technical innovations include: underground parking for 3,700 cars to minimize disturbance of natural vegetation; use of regional materials; 500 geo-thermal wells with pumps for heating and cooling (in lieu of a massive central plant normally associated with a corporate campus of this size); 90,000 Square Feet of intensive green roof over the parking structure and 37,000 Square Feet of extensive (tray system) green roof; on-site retention ponds; VFD motors; gabions to slow run-off thereby minimizing erosion; bio-swales; utilization of occupancy and daylight sensors; an efficient building envelope; reduction of light pollution achieved by minimizing interior light exiting the building; and management and recycling of construction waste diverted thousands of tons of waste. Special features include a unique treehouse conference room that was constructed primarily of recycled construction “waste.”