Rex Materials Group Headquarters

The building was treated as an expressive representation of the client’s technology driven business, while incorporating the site’s exposure to natural wetlands and providing detailing and materials hearkening back to the company’s barn-grown roots. This project provides all three components and outwardly expresses the client’s program through three unified yet distinct volumes.

For the last 50 years the client, Rex Materials Group, was operating out of a converted horse barn. Our firm was tasked to design a new headquarters more reflective of the technological ideals and collaborative nature of the client’s business. The design approach separated the building’s functions into three unified yet distinct volumes. The central volume is the collaborative heart of the facility. It houses the employees in a large, open, naturally lit space. The client’s team-oriented approach to business is fostered here. The space has large southern exposed glazing with exterior louvers, acoustical roof decking for noise control, and modern barn doors symbolic of the company’s roots . The central volume is bookended on each side by support and service functions. The western bookend houses the more public support functions. A large meeting room with expansive views to the site’s wetlands, kitchen, bathrooms, and lobby are all accessed here. The east volume houses the more private support functions of the business. Here employees use a shop, kiln room, and research & development lab spaces. Similar materials and detailing are used on all three forms of the facility to give a unified look. Vertical metal siding, wood barn doors, exposed structural elements, and split face concrete masonry block were all used as modern interpretations of the client’s historic roots.