The town of Westborough, MA is located 29 miles west of Boston and its commuter rail station provides easy access to Boston and Worcester. Conveniently located at the intersection of the Mass Pike, Route 495 and Route 9, Westborough is an ideal location for business headquarters.
Olympus Corp. of the Americas, a global technology leader in innovative solutions for medical and surgical procedures, selected Westborough to build its new regional headquarters. The new site at 800 West Park Drive will consolidate employees into a $45-million facility of 150,000 square feet.
The class ‘A’ office space will not only consolidate working space for employees but will enable better coordination and support the future growth of the medical technology enterprise.
In order to match both the corporate image of the global company and the surrounding Westborough Office Park, the 4-story office building was designed with precast concrete and metal panels. The exterior façade bears on a steel-framed structure supported by spread footings with a slab-on-grade at the ground level.
Strescon Limited began production of the precast spandrel panels in August of 2019 and installation was completed by October of that same year. The architectural precast features a white concrete mix with a light sandblast finish to provide an iridescence in the sunlight. The panels are highlighted by formliner pattern that creates a band around the façade to create a small amount of shadowing. The white precast concrete is in stark contrast to the ebony colored metal panels at the entrance. Precast column covers create the illusion that the storefront glazing is floating above the ground.
This was the fourth time Strescon and Gutierrez Construction had teamed up for a precast project. For 800 West Park Drive, the 25,000 SF of architectural precast components included prestressed spandrels, precast flat panels and curved column covers. In total, 193 pieces of precast were fabricated, delivered, and installed.
Strescon subcontracted the installation to Monadnock Steel & Precast who had expertise with the complicated geometry proposed by the Architect. The architectural vision for the precast included various; shapes, heights, lengths, widths, projections, thickened areas, real and false joints. The buildings perimeter also included angles, and skews which added to the difficulty in installing the rigid panels. Installation began in October of 2019 of the flat panels and spandrels. The round column covers were installed in a second mobilization in December 2019.
The newly constructed offices feature a space where employees can work dynamically, emphasizing innovation, collaboration and flexible workspace options. The amenity-rich setting also includes walking and biking trails. Employee well-being is an important part of keeping and recruiting talent.
Olympus moved into its new facility in early 2021, after pandemic related delays. Employees were relocated from its Southborough and Littleton sites.
Ultimately Westborough Office Park will contain more than 1 million square feet of first-class office space over 153 acres. Tucked into a wooden hillside, the Eastern Massachusetts location provides convenient access to major highways and can be seen from I-495. |