News | November 12, 1998

Lucent Announces Design/Construction Team For New R&D Facility

Representatives of Lucent Technologies announced on Nov. 10, 1998, that they have selected Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Assoc. (Hampden, CN), as the design architecture firm for Lucent's new state-of-the-art R&D facility in Westminster, CO.

In July 1998, Lucent announced plans to construct the new R&D building on the north side of its 25-year-old, 1.3 million-ft² facility in Westminster. Currently, 3,800 Lucent associates work at the manufacturing and R&D facility; 1,200 of them are Bell Labs developers. The developers will begin moving into the new 480,000-ft² building in the late summer of 2000. The building design has already received one international award.

The new four-level R&D building that Lucent Technologies is constructing in Westminster, CO, will open in mid-summer 2000.

In addition to selecting the design architecture firm, Lucent representatives chose the local project teams who will create the building. These include:

  • Swinerton & Wallberg, Construction Management; Arvada, CO
  • Martin & Martin, Civil Engineering; Wheat Ridge, CO
  • Swanson Rink, Mechanical Engineering; Denver
  • CTC Geotech, Geotechnical Engineering; Denver
  • Felsburg, Holt & Ullevig, Traffic Engineering; Englewood, CO
  • Norris and Dullea, Landscape Architecture, Denver

The exterior design of the four-level building will have two wings arranged symmetrically around a central entrance. This will feature a lobby topped with skylights that will serve as a waiting area and provide space for receptions or exhibitions. The interior will be split into approximately 70% offices and 30% laboratories. Tailored to meet the needs of researchers and developers, typical one- and two-person offices will include personal space, acoustical ceilings, and modular panels for quick reconfiguration.

The design for Lucent's new R&D facility includes a window-lined atrium that will provide space for receptions and exhibitions. The building will house 1,200 developers from Bell Laboratories.

"Lucent's new R&D facility includes both environmentally responsible and cost-effective features," said George Wronski, division manager for financial and service operations at Lucent's Bell Labs facility in Westminster. The structure features highly durable, low-reflective glass that will gather solar heat during the winter. Perforated stainless-steel sunshades will deflect heat during summer months. Multi-level parking structures will maintain soil areas. Indigenous plants will be used in the landscape design, Wronski says.

The R&D facility provides a mix of space ranging from areas for collaboration to quiet zones for focus and concentration. The building also showcases Lucent's products, providing high-capacity voice and data connections with speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (the equivalent of 20,000 standard book pages per second) for all offices, labs, and meeting rooms.

"We want these facilities to provide our employees with an environment where innovation can flourish," explained Wronski. "Our new facility underscores Lucent's investment in R&D by providing employees with the latest technology available to help them rapidly exchange information and ideas."

Lucent Technologies received a Best Practice Award for Workplace Transformation for the design of the Westminster R&D facility. The award was presented to Lucent by the International Development Research Council Foundation (Norcross, GA) at the foundation's meeting on November 2 in San Antonio, TX. A leading association of corporate real estate executives, the foundation recognizes companies that develop and implement innovative management practices that enhance workspace design, increase productivity, and add value. Lucent was recognized for blending new information technology, changing physical workspace to account for new work practices, and successfully implementing workspace design changes to support the company's strategic objectives.

One of Colorado's largest employers with 7,000 associates, Lucent Technologies operations include manufacturing, assembly and distribution, customer service, sales and marketing, global training and consulting, technical service, Bell Labs R&D, and network management. Lucent's Westminster facility was built 25 years ago as a manufacturing plant for Western Electric, a Lucent predecessor company, and has subsequently housed the manufacturing and Bell Labs R&D operation for Lucent Technologies. The R&D operation supports the development of new communications technology such as Lucent's flagship product, the Definity Enterprise Communications Server, which is manufactured there.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, NJ, designs, builds, and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company.

For more information, call 303-620-9044.