When your design client is also a longtime collaborator, you’re likely to feel an even greater sense of ownership and responsibility for a project to live up to expectations. This was certainly the case for Fayetteville, Ark.-based Modus Studio in its recent work for the Rogers, Ark., office of Nabholz Corp., a leading national commercial contractor.
 
The two firms have worked on numerous projects throughout Northwest Arkansas and beyond, so when Nabholz decided its Rogers campus needed a way to bring disparate teams together, turning to Modus for help was a natural choice. The result is a light-filled cube with a distinctive exterior notable for its minimalist blending of concrete, glass and ribbed metal wall panels.
 
Nabholz’s Rogers facility had grown without a real plan in mind as the firm, itself, expanded its business. Not surprisingly, this resulted in departments becoming isolated and it hindered efforts to develop a more collaborative working environment. The company turned to Modus Studio to develop space that would foster closer engagement. The finished plan also highlights Nabholz’s growing expertise in cross-laminated timber construction, with this increasingly popular structural approach clearly evident in the interior.
 
For the exterior, architects created a plan with a ribbed concrete base around three sides. Glass curtainwall separates the base from sheer walls of vertically ribbed metal wall panels, with a pattern that mimics the concrete. The overall effect, with the void between these masses created by the ribbon of curtainwall is almost like a jewel box opening up to reveal the interior offices. And, while distinctly minimalist in its approach, the plan’s use of ribbed materials allows impressions of the building to vary throughout the day, due to varying patterns of shadow and light.
 
 The designers turned to Petersen to supply the panels, specifying the company’s PAC-CLAD Box Rib panels in two profiles, which are paired in different combinations to create a varied pattern across all elevations. The panels’ Black finish offers a strong, yin-yang contrast to the white concrete base, drawing the eye to what lies beyond the curtainwall that separates them.