Perfect match

Oliver blends old and new for Trek

By Janine Anderson

The Trek Bicycle Corp. expansion project wasn't just about getting more space.

The 78,000-square-foot addition was also about getting Trek employees under one roof in a building that matches the company's mission.

Oliver Construction's design and construction of a light-filled space with clean, modern lines did just that.

"The central theme was movement, the flow of people and openness," said Bud Bessler, Oliver's project architect. "We wanted to keep people flowing through the building."

The expansion used state-of-the-art forms and materials with curved lines that softened the space and echoed the design of the bicycles Trek makes. In fact, the exposed steel in the expansion was painted with metallic-champagne bicycle paint.

One of the biggest challenges of the project, Bessler said, was getting the original building to match the addition. The new construction had high ceilings and lots of windows to let in as much natural light as possible. Offices were grouped in the middle of the building to open up window space.

The original building dated back to the 1970s. It had low ceilings and few windows.

	Project Name: Trek Bicycle Corp. Location: Waterloo Submitting Company: Oliver Construction Co., Oconomowoc Design/Builder: Oliver Construction Co. Project Leaders: Bud Bessler, Oliver's project architect; Barry Stephan, Oliver's project superintendent; Robb Wierdsma, Oliver's president and project manager Architect: Oliver Construction Co. Engineer: Strand Associates Inc., Madison Owner: Trek Bicycle Corp., Waterloo Project Cost: $5.5 million Project Size: 78,000 square feet Start Date: September 2004 Completion Date: April 2006

"We had to do some things that were kind of messy but that ended up working," Bessler said.

Ultimately, Oliver gutted the original building to raise the ceilings and add windows and then painted the sprinklers and mechanicals with the same metallic paint used for the exposed joists in the addition.

Mark Joslyn, director of human resources for Trek, said the addition did exactly what the company's leaders hoped it would do.

"We wanted an open design without barriers," he said, "so you could see all the different departments. It's not cubicle-land."

The other goal, Joslyn said, was to develop a design that won't look outdated in 30 years.

"It absolutely has a very modern and current look," he said. "But we were careful in choosing timeless materials. It will look current years from now."

But perhaps the greatest achievement, Joslyn said, was the seamless transition from new to old.

"We'd set such a high standard with the new building, we wanted to replicate that so people wouldn't feel they were in a second-class space," he said. "One of the things that's quite gratifying is most people can't figure out where the old ends and the new begins. The design ties the two together."