Windowalls at Acxiom® Signature Building Help Employees Connect with Little Rock's River Market Setting

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas--December 9, 2003

Extensive use of interior windowalls at the new Acxiom River Market Building helps create a feeling of connectedness and motion for the company's employees that work there. Creating the windowalls was made easier and more cost-effective by using Steelcraft's versatile architectural stick system.

A Signature Building

At 12 stories high (approximately 180 feet) Acxiom's newest location is the tallest building in Little Rock's River Market District, a revived historic section of downtown that is becoming an entertainment, arts and retail district. Although not the company's headquarters building, the unique structure exudes a cutting-edge style that embodies the company's character while it also enhances the other elements of its site. The $30 million building incorporates a 171,000 square foot office tower that includes meeting rooms, a tech and data room, conference and training rooms, a cafeteria, wellness center and offices. It offers views of the River Market, the Arkansas River, and the future Clinton Presidential Library. A parking garage attached to the lower five levels of the office tower provides parking for approximately 600 cars.

Reflecting the Company's Character and its Surroundings

Project Manager Doug Carmichael, of Acxiom, points out that, although the building is not the company's headquarters, it stands as the company's signature building. "It will become the identity of the corporation," he explains. "This will be the first building people see coming from the airport or across the river bridge. The design fits in with our corporate culture and the type of business we are."

Architect Reese Rowland, AIA, a Principal of Polk Stanley Yeary Architects, Ltd., states, "We try to make our building designs respond to the client's needs and also reflect who they are and how they work, so they give a visitor some idea of what the company is about. For Acxiom, we wanted the building to reflect the fact that the company moves information and that the movement uses technology." He says that the building's curvature was planned to mirror the curvature of the adjacent freeway ramp and the bend in the nearby Arkansas River, with the views bringing in the dynamic feel of vehicular and pedestrian traffic and boats on the river.

The company began moving into the River Market building in January, 2003. The facility currently houses 350 to 375 associates, as the company calls its employees, and eventually it will have space for approximately 700. Carmichael says financial and marketing people will make up most of the occupants, partially because of the building's proximity to downtown Little Rock. However, the building was designed for flexibility. Architect Rowland notes, "Because business is always changing, we tried to make the building as universal as possible. The group that is here today may move somewhere else, and they need to be able to move whatever group they might need into the building and have them work as efficiently as possible."

Carmichael adds, "We're a more open company and try to enhance the team concept as much as possible. There aren't a lot of private offices here, but we try to make them available for people who may need them from time to time. If they need some privacy, they can use one of the smaller offices to make telephone calls or do whatever they need to without interruption."

To give as many associates a view of the surrounding area as possible, offices are located above the five-story parking deck, with meeting rooms, wellness center and cafeteria occupying most of the lower five floors. Carmichael says, "Above level five, you can see over the bridge. We wanted to make sure all employees had the opportunity to see the river and the River Market district."

Rowland says the building's construction itself also was designed to capture the combination of cutting-edge technology and movement. He explains, "We played off the architecture of things like the steel columns of the freeway bridge. We also wanted the building to reflect technology, so we used a lot of sharp edges and crisp corners, with silver metal to give it a machine-like look. We didn't want it to be a box that could have been a law office or anything else."

Keeping the Interior Open

The building creates a certain unity between its occupants and their surroundings that extends outside beyond the building site itself. Rowland says, "With most of the people on the higher floors, we felt we could take advantage of the curve to locate offices and meeting spaces." To keep the transition as transparent as possible and allow people working inside the building to still experience the river and feeling of movement, Steelcraft windowalls are used extensively for the perimeter offices. This also allows the natural light to extend further inside each floor. Using the architectural stick system's pre-engineered fabricated components, Steelcraft distributor ASCO Hardware, of North Little Rock, was able to assemble the windowalls to the project's specifications.

Carmichael says this approach was more cost-effective as well. "We knew we were pushing the envelope with the architecture of the building, and we felt the Steelcraft components would cost less to install but give us the same look as a custom-fabricated aluminum system," he explains. "This was a challenging project because the column spacing varies as you move around the curve, but we found that the Steelcraft system had the flexibility to make it work."

The benefits are twofold; first the occupants are able to feel the dynamics of the building and its relation to the motion outside, and second, the natural light enhances the working environment. Carmichael points out, "The interior windowalls allow people to look out from wherever they are, but they also allow natural light to penetrate deeper into the building. If you're working 25 feet away, you're still getting natural light, and you can still see outside."

CAPTION INFORMATION:

1. Acxiom's new River Market building in Little Rock reflects the company's leading-edge capabilities as well as the elements of its unique site.
2. Steelcraft windowalls allow outside light into the cafeteria while providing a view of the surrounding area. The architectural stick system was easily adaptable to the curvature of the building.
3. View from outside the cafeteria shows curvature of windowalls.
4. Limited amount of solid wall in this copy center allows light in, while frosted glass maintains a neat, clean appearance.
5. Closeup shows crisp, clean lines that the system makes possbile.
6. Private offices along the outside wall are available for flexible use. Interior windowalls let light into the inside general office area and allow people to see outside as well.
7. Corner of this copy center is tapered to give more room for passage and accommodate people's tendency to take the shortest path.
8. View from inside a project room shows openness of the windowall design

NOTE TO EDITOR:

Headquartered in Little Rock, Acxiom creates and delivers customer and information management solutions that help major companies establish great relationships with their customers. Of its approximately 5,000 associates internationally, more than 2,600 are located in Arkansas. The company was founded in Conway, Arkansas in 1969, under the name Demographics, and relocated its headquarters to Little Rock in 1999. Acxiom customizes industry-specific solutions to solve the unique business issues of the Automotive, Financial Services, Government Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Media, Retail, Technology, Tele-communications, and Travel and Leisure industries. Additional information on Acxiom can be found at www.acxiom.com.

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IR (Ingersoll-Rand) is a leading innovation and solutions provider for the major global markets of Security and Safety, Climate Control, Industrial Productivity, and Infrastructure. Further information on IR can be found on the corporate web site at www.irco.com.

Polk Stanley Yeary Architects, Ltd., with offices in Little Rock and Fayetteville, Arkansas, specializes in major corporate, commercial and institutional projects throughout the state. The value of construction projects designed by the firm has averaged between $30 million and $50 million annually for the past five years. For the Acxiom project, the firm served as architect, working with general contractor Nabholz Construction, of Conway, Arkansas.