Innovative Composite Engineering Headquarters and Manufacturing Facility
Emerging high tech office finds a place in the Pacific Northwest
The Innovative Composite Engineering (ICE) headquarters and manufacturing facility serves as this high-tech company’s center of production and advancement. Scott Edwards Architecture partnered with ICE to design a headquarters that reflects their industry leadership, facilitates innovation, and showcases their carbon fiber products. The interior balances the specific restrictions of the manufacturing process with an open and airy office environment, while the exterior’s metal panels and Northwest contemporary vernacular serve in substantiating the company’s brand.
Client
Innovative Composite Engineering
Location
White Salmon, WA
Size
62,000 sf
Year
2012
Achievements
2014 Gold Nugget Merit Award
ICE is a cutting-edge leader in the design, engineering, and production of carbon fiber products and components. The company’s manufacturing process, which produces everything from aerospace technologies to high-end racecar parts, demands precision. The manufacturing section of the building is sterile, and the temperature is meticulously controlled—it maintains a temperature difference of ten degrees from one end to the other, with a constant and even gradation between the two extremes, without any major divisions of the space.
By closely collaborating with ICE to understand their operations, we minimized overlap in circulation paths to allow raw carbon fiber to move from the loading dock into the facility’s freezer as efficiently as possible.
The office portion of the building is bright, open, and offers views of the surrounding forest and Columbia River basin beyond. Interior spaces are welcoming and take opportunities to highlight ICE’s products. A feature stair forms the circulation core of the space and illustrates the strength and durability of carbon fiber by using the material as cantilevered stair treads.
Acknowledgements
SEA Team
Sid Scott
Rick Berry
Andrew Kraus
Jason Wesolowski
Project Team
Design Structures
WDY, Inc.
Photography Credits
Peter Eckert
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