Project Profile: Specialty Products Win the Day at New Daimler Headquarters
Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), headquartered in Portland, Oregon, set out to build a new headquarters building to bring together DTNA employees previously located in offices separated by the Willamette River and to accommodate new positions as the company continues to grow. What resulted was a $150 million, nine story, 268,000 sq. ft. headquarters with a four-story parking garage overlooking the Willamette Greenway Trail on the Willamette River.
DTNA wanted their new headquarters to reflect what they bring their customers every day—engineering innovation. To meet the DTNA’s requirements, the general contractor, Hoffman Construction, contracted with Western Partitions, Inc., who then contracted with American Direct to provide doors, frames, and hardware for more than 500 openings as well as specialty items for the building. The architect provided specifications indicating a complete Allegion hardware package and well-written Division 10 specs. The Division 10 specifications indicated an emphasis on high-end specialty products to create DTNA’s desired look and feel, and American Direct provided the following specialty items:
- Paper towel dispensers
- Toilet accessories
- Bike racks
- Soap dispensers
- Fire equipment
- Closers
- Lockers
- Toilet partitions
- Hand dryers
- Locks
In choosing the specialty products for the building, DTNA considered even the smallest of detail so the high tech look and feel was seamless; even in the restrooms and locker rooms. While clients typically order the standard metal painted, fabricated lockers, Daimler chose stainless steel material for the lockers and the toilet partitions. The ceiling-hung, floating, stainless steel toilet partitions offer a sleek, modern design, more durable than traditional partitions.
Kyle Schmadeke, project manager at Western Partitions said, “With a door and hardware scope as big and complex as we had at Daimler, issues inevitably arise and rarely at an opportune time, so it is critical to have a confident, quick, and thorough project manager on the other end. Our American Direct project manager was truly at the top of her class.”
American Direct’s national footprint enabled the project team to quickly and efficiently deliver all the door opening and specialty products. The warehousing team coordinated deliveries to meet the specific construction and client timeline and ensured that materials were properly sorted, accurately labeled, and delivered in working order; a necessity in ensuring success in a project of this size.
