Pinnacle Village is the complete neighborhood and vision of the future workplace in Rogers, Arkansas.
Building on MBL’s extensive architectural design and urban planning background, Pinnacle Village in Rogers, Arkansas, addresses the quality of life by focusing on the concept of a healthy lifestyle in a walkable urban development. As major American cities and their massive workforce populations begin to imagine what a future workplace looks like, the development offers solutions to the future of work and quality of life. Bringing the amenities of a large city and promoting ‘focused’ density clusters in communities like Rogers, Arkansas, can provide work/life alternatives. Air, light, comfort, and health contribute to a community’s wellbeing forming a symbiotic relationship with the built environment. Pinnacle Village intertwines parks and open space amenities with housing, work, and entertainment.
The mixed-use building embodies the overall concept for Pinnacle Village and is a first for Northwest Arkansas. The design approach embraces sustainability, healthy living, and well-being in a light filled workspace. The 6 story, 166,000 sf building includes ground level retail with 5 levels of office space above it. Flexibility of use is built-in to encourage a wide variety of work settings. The building will support an active lifestyle by providing enclosed bike storage areas and in-office shower facilities. A dedicated bike trail connecting to the Razorback Greenway will bisect Pinnacle Village’s central park and the mixed-use building linking it with the rest of Northwest Arkansas. Creating a built environment that focuses on occupant well-being works hand in hand with the concept of whole health.
The sustainable attributes of the mixed-use building start with the mass timber structural system. It naturally cuts down on the overall embodied energy of the project and will provide a synergy with other mass timber developments in Northwest Arkansas such as the University of Arkansas Library Storage Building by MBL. The award-winning design was the first CLT project in Arkansas and middle America. The floor structure and interior partitions will use cross-laminated timber (CLT). CLT is a system of alternating layers of sustainably harvested boards glued together to create a panel similar in concept to plywood. This assembly is very stable with a high structural capacity. The construction time will be reduced by up to 35% compared to conventional structures gaining considerable cost savings. Mass timber weighs less than other structural framing systems thus reducing the foundation loads and footing requirements.
Exposed CLT will bring a sense of warmth to the interior as natural finishes complement the daylit spaces. Natural light and ventilation are a prerequisite for a healthy and sustainable work environment. To supplement the HVAC system, occupants will have access to operable windows. Both daylight and fresh air are major contributors to the well-being of a building’s occupants. Air systems with high rating MERV and HEPA filters can be used to remove potentially contaminated air from any given area.
The flexibility of the office space offers people a variety of work settings. Studies have shown that workers are most satisfied when they can choose how and where they work. The building will provide areas for the typical desk set up, but also include outdoor balconies surrounded by vegetation, conference rooms opening to the exterior, small breakout rooms, and places for personal reflection.
The types of interior finishes will be considered to control contaminants. Doors will be operated with touchless technology either built into the hardware or an app on a personal device. Automatic doors and voice-controlled elevators will become more common in new buildings. In the office of the future, even beverage stations will include touchless controls and app-based payment options. Easy to clean material selection in combination with sanitation stations placed near building entries and on each floor next to elevators and stairs work together to control the infiltration of contaminants.