Interior Design Program
Date of this Version
11-2005
Abstract
TYPE: OFFICE.
CLIENT: UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD, OMAHA.
This rail-freight giant consolidated nine locations at a 1.3 million-square-foot headquarters. Images of locomotives and boxcars add a dose of excitement for train buffs.
HARNESSING THE RAW POWER OF THE DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE and translating it into a design concept, the Union Pacific Railroad’s new headquarters in downtown Omaha alludes to the history and present of this freight giant in ways both large and small. Principal Bill Hartman designed the 1.3 million-square-foot building to make architectural reference to rail travel. Note, for instance, how the rows of interior office windows offer glimpses into private worlds, reminiscent of passing train cars. And the extensive use of variegated metallic tones, as on a 160-foot-high copper panel, in the 19-story atrium, appears simultaneously contemporary and industrial.
Comments
Published in Interior Design 76:14 (November 2005), pp. S110-S112. Copyright © 2005 Interior Design, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc. Used by permission.