Located on the last “buildable” hill in the region, WellPoint’s corporate headquarters had to provide a striking façade that appeared well-grounded on its stony site yet also had to meet tight budget and schedule restraints. Due to significant setback requirements, the designers blended sandstone and precast to create a strong horizontal rhythm that changes slightly as it moves up to the second story, which is composed predominantly of precast. The contrast of the materials breaks down the building’s mass, allowing it to become part of the landscape from a distance.
ClarkPacific not only fabricated the precast panels but also mounted small sandstone pieces to the panels to form larger, stone-faced precast units. This saved time and money while highly integrating the building enclosure. A challenging aspect came in providing the 450-foot concave radius along the front façade. This was accomplished by creating curved precast forms and mounting segmented stone to the curved panels.
The precast panels, the largest of which were 33 feet long and 9’6″ tall with a 2-foot return, feature a heavy sandblasted finish to expose the aggregate mix of yellows, tans, creams and blacks that pick up the variegated colors of the stone and landscape. Spandrels faced with sandstone typically measured 30 feet long and 5 feet tall with a 2-foot return at the bottom. In all, some 22,500 square feet of precast in 190 panels, was used on the project.