Microsoft Buildings 30, 31 and 32
Redmond, Wash.            
Award of Merit

Owner: Microsoft Corp.
Lead Design Firm: Clive Wilkinson Architects
General Contractor: Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty Company
Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
MEP Engineer: Auburn Mechanical

The renovation of three Microsoft buildings over seven months included interior demolition and renovation to support the company’s evolving workforce.

The project aimed to transform the company’s culture from one of closed private offices to a team-based environment throughout the buildings’ total 338,423 sq ft. Crews refreshed the outdoor areas, adding covered walkways and an amphitheater. Inside, the team created expansive lobbies and open meeting areas.

To create the buildings’ three-story atriums, workers needed to remove a 300-sq-ft section of an existing post-tension slab on six of the nine floors in each building. Removing these sections required shoring of the post-tension slab across the entire span of the building, adding to the project’s time and cost. The team decided to sequence the release of existing post-tension strands rather than a full release of each affected area. This reduced the overall area needed for shoring by almost 70%, saving the project three weeks and $150,000.

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