Abstract
Value Office™ is a term we’ve coined for the conversion of a typical conventionally constructed (that is steel or concrete framed perimeter column non-load-bearing wall construction) market office building to tilt wall technology. The original task, one of commodifying the building method through a building type, was an uphill struggle at first. We had to prove to commercial developers that utilization of a low-cost construction technology to build an investment grade office building could compete with the definition of Class A in the market place. The aesthetic flexibility of tilt wall combined with its ability to improve upon the characteristics of typical offices ultimately won a niche for Value Office in numerous national market regions. It improved upon the conventional product as it has no perimeter columns making it more efficient to plan, due to wall strength accepts any exterior cladding material and offers column free all glazed corners to name a few of its ultimately appealing attributes to developers. Most significantly and importantly when combined with the above advantages, it averages $7-$10 per square foot less expensive for the exact project built conventionally in most suburban markets. This is no subtlety; it represents a grass roots insurgency on the part of low-cost technology fueled by historic economic forces. It occurs in a space that many architects have occupied – developer work, investment grade commodity architecture – but as contractors and developers have been more open minded regarding adaptations like tilt wall into “high-end product” it inadvertently threatens to leave that area of architectural practice behind if ignored. Our effort has been to engage the economic metrics head on in order to control the possibility of an aesthetic potential in this building type that makes up so much of the everyday suburban landscape.
