Northwestern Mutual Headquarters

Milwaukee, WI, USA

The new Northwestern Mutual headquarters will stand as a visual representation of the company’s values, embodying both a commitment to sustainability and a clear focus on both customer and employee wellbeing.

As well as being visually striking from the exterior, the tower is designed to deliver a high performance workplace that supports productivity and social interaction, as well as providing employees with a strong connection to the surrounding environment.

We designed a high performance facade that will respond and adapt to the unique climate conditions of the site

Features an innovative air conditioning strategy delivering exceptional air quality and better energy performance than conventional systems

Striving to achieve LEED Gold certification

Challenge

Our client is looking for the building to achieve LEED Gold certification, and
Buro Happold is providing a number of key services to ensure these exacting criteria are met.

Solution

Throughout the initial design stage, we liaised closely with our client and pooled our expertise with that of the wider project team to create an integrated design that kept these sustainability and performance goals at its core.

We undertook dynamic thermal energy modeling of both the tower and the
surrounding town center, and used this data to evaluate a number of potential energy conservation measures and identify which would be the most effective.

As a result, we have been able to optimize daylight harvesting throughout the building, design a high performance facade that will respond and adapt to the unique climate conditions of the site, and incorporate an innovative air conditioning strategy that delivers exceptional air quality while boasting
better energy performance than that of conventional systems.

Value

The result is a building that is as cost effective as it is energy efficient. It is on
track to achieve LEED Gold certification, and will provide our client, their customers and their employees with an exceptional new headquarters.