ETC CEO Fred Foster, who dreamed up the building's theatrical concept, believes it is not only the hub of his global company's productivity but an homage to its business - a building about theatre, about the sheer joy in the art of illusion and light. When the lights are bright in ETC's Town Square, towering expanded-metal mesh scrims create a virtual cityscape: when the lights are dimmed, the real office world of ETC appears magically 'behind the scenes.'
Based on the paintings of Edward Hopper, each 'storefront' and façade here has a story to tell, says Foster, who mocked up early models and has personally helped construct many of the façade structures. The centrepiece is the Nighthawks café itself, serving as the company's reception area.
Next to Nighthawks, an old-time marquee movie theater flashes its neon 'Century' sign (a nod to that historic American lighting company predecessor) and serves as entrance into ETC's product demonstration and staging area. Across the way, the 'Kelly Insurance Agency' is the façade to company's Human Resources department. Other façades - a bank, an office supply store, a public school, a travel agency, a haberdashery and a hardware store - crowd around the space of Town Square, overshadowed by an Empire State Building-like skyscraper, which rises up into the highest reaches of the sloped roofing.
Foster worked with a talented team - both from inside and outside ETC - to bring Town Square to life: co-scenic designer Paul Sannerud of Viterbo University and co-scenic designer Sue McElhaney; the on-site design-build team of Frank Miller and Jerry Scholts of Erdman Development Group; Peter Tan and Chris Oddo of Strang Architects; ETC's Bill 'Flash' Florac; a crew of painters and carpenters from the theatre world, and many others.
Besides its obvious theatricality, the building is also about Foster's idea of a better corporate culture. He wanted not only to demonstrate ETC's business in lighting but also to bring its 600 employees into a closer sense of community, into a thriving centre where everyone would be a 'main character'. Fred was inspired in part by the 'Marketplace' at the Herman Miller building in Zeeland, Michigan, where corporate offices and factory are joined by a continuous stretch of atrium. "I thought that was a head-slappingly good idea," says Foster. "I am really interested in social dynamics and creating a more porous work environment, which is not so rigid, so departmentalised or so meeting-bound. Now, everyone from all departments can mix in a common space. When you need to have an impromptu work discussion with just a few people, you can get a coffee in Nighthawks and sit down at a table in Town Square."
The rest of the 250,000sq.ft, fan-shaped building extends Foster's idea of a more 'democratized' space. Not only are factory and administration a continuum now, converging in the Town Square, the building materials reflect a more egalitarian spirit. Foster wanted to correct a trend he had seen developing over the past 15 years at ETC. "There had been this idea of a line of progression, where you got a job as an assembler and you were working on cement floors, then you moved to your next position and you were on the linoleum, and then eventually you moved on to the 'carpet.' I didn't want people to feel that way." Jerry Sholts of Erdman Developers understood Foster's thinking immediately, suggesting, "Why don't you carpet the factory then and leave concrete in the rest of the company?"
To the extent that safety and practicality permitted, that's what ETC did. Carpeting is only used where noise abatement is critical. As for raw concrete - you'll find that only in office areas. Bu
