When renowned Gensler Architects contacted Röben Brick USA Division, the clear objective was to construct and integrate a state-of-the-art workspace for 2,000 employees across 50,000 m2 of floor space on nine levels. McDonald’s chose 1035 West Randolph Street as its project location in the ambitious and trendy quarter of West Loop.
The result is an emphatically urban building with large windows and an openly accessible mezzanine floor, offering attractive views in both directions for employees on the inside and passers-by on the outside”, explains project architect Grant Uhlir.
Several individual mock-ups were produced to obtain a PCI rated thin brick for the masonry columns. Following this initial sampling, Röben AARHUS blue-variegated US modular size think brick were ultimately selected. The darkly grouted thin brick emphasizes the sophisticated façade construction and create harmony with the other various brick buildings in the area.
In order to accelerate construction and minimize costs, the thin brick clad columns were delivered to the building site as precast concrete manufactured by International Concrete Products.
Röben delivered 140,000 thin brick with 52,000 additional corner and edgecap thin bricks . The project boasts a variety of brick coursing patterns that match the surrounding architecture.
“Depending on the chosen masonry design and the required function and position of the thin bricks, these are manufactured in special shapes”, explains Andreas Andernach, the Röben Plant Manager in Bannberscheid, Germany, where the thin brick units were produced. “One critical factor was the high dimensional accuracy of our bricks, which sometimes are not supplied like that on the American market. This means our thin bricks didn’t have to be cut to size with extra expense like products from other suppliers to meet the USA’s high building standards”