The First Facility Management Blog

In October 1995, construction began on The Longaberger Company’s seven-story home office, a replica of the company’s Medium Market Basket and the dream of company founder Dave Longaberger. Construction was completed in December 1997. Founded in 1973, The Longaberger Company makes handcrafted baskets and offers other quality home and lifestyle products, including pottery, wrought iron, and fabric accessories.

Situated on a park-like setting off St. Rt. 16 in Newark, OH (35 miles east of Columbus), the building is visited by thousands each year, including Longaberger home consultants, customers, and many others desiring a closer look at this one-of-a-kind structure.

Since its construction, the Longaberger Home Office has been the subject of numerous print and electronic media stories reaching audiences around the world. Most recently, “Dreaming Big: Building Outside the Box” began airing on The Travel Channel in July 2005; this show (featuring architectural wonders from across the U.S.) includes a segment on the Longaberger Home Office.

Offices are situated around a seven-story, 30,000 sq. ft. atrium filled with natural daylight from the skylight overhead; there are 84 windows on the building’s exterior walls. Two basket handles are attached to the top of the building with copper and wooden rivets replicating those on a Longaberger Basket®; the handles, which weigh about 150 tons, are heated to prevent ice from forming. Longaberger gold-leaf-painted tags (each 25′x7′x3″ and 725 pounds) are attached to both sides of the building.

Longaberger employees designed the exterior and interior of the building, managed the entire project, and constructed more than 50% of the building. NBBJ and Korda Nemeth Engineering administered the design process. Landscape design and installation was coordinated by Bassatt and Associates with an exclusive design that is fully irrigated and includes plant varieties native to Ohio.

Awards
• 1997 Build Ohio Award for new construction, 1998 Build Ohio Award for synthetic plaster system
• National Finalist by American Consulting Engineers Council
• 2002 Grand Award in the industrial or office park category by the Professional Grounds Management Society
• 2002 Grand Award in the commercial project category, Grand Award in the seasonal color category by the Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association.

Building specs:
Property size: 25 acres
Building footage: 180,000 sq. ft.
Building weight: 8,000-9,000 tons
Building capacity: Approx. 500 employees
Cost of project: $30 million
Construction timeline: 2 years, 3 months
Construction type: Steel frame
Exterior finish: Clay stucco
Interior finishes Limestone and marble floors in lobby, cherry woodwork throughout building harvested from Longaberger Golf Club property and milled, sawed, and shaped by Longaberger employees.
Dimensions: 92′ long, 126′ wide at grade, widening to 208′ x 142′ at the roof.

For more on the company and this building, visit this link.

While the world is currently in a sports oriented mindset, it would be remiss to overlook results from one exciting non-Olympic event—the International Tree Climbing Championship—that took place earlier this month. Contestants from all over the world participated in a competition that started as idea back in 1975 (and was dubbed the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Tree Trimmer’s Jamboree).

STIHL Spokesman Mark Chisholm Takes 3rd Place at the International Tree Climbing Championship

Representing Team USA, expert arborist Mark Chisholm of New Jersey (pictured above), the two-time world champion, took his 15th top-five finish. He placed third overall.

One part acrobat, one part expert rope climber, one part tree physiologist, and several parts competitor and thrill seeker, Chisholm works as a professional arborist with his family owned Aspen Tree Expert Company in New Jersey. A STIHL spokesman since 2001, Chisholm travels the world conducting safety and education training on behalf of STIHL among numerous professional groups, most recently in Italy at the annual European Congress of Arboriculture. STIHL manufactures chain saws, which Chisholm uses professionally and personally.

In a field of 37 competitors, which included this year’s champion, Bernd Strasser, Chisholm finished the preliminary competition in overall first place and took the following finishes in advance of the Master’s Challenge: 

• Belayed Speed Climb – Chisholm took 2nd place with a time of 48.87 seconds in this event that tests the contestant’s ability to climb up a predetermined route from the ground to about 60 feet up a tree with a belayed climbing system attached for safety.

• Aerial Rescue – Chisholm finished in 2nd place with a score of 44 points in this timed event that tests the contestant’s ability to climb to and safely lower a 120-pound dummy representing a climber who is unable to descend without assistance.

• Work Climb – Chisholm took 3rd place with a time of 84.015 seconds in the work climb, which tests the contestant’s ability to move about the tree using a tree-climbing rope and saddle to several work stations, where they are given in-tree tasks to complete.

He held his secured footlock world record of 13.8 seconds. 

Chisholm has placed among the top 10 at the ISA’s International Tree Climbing Championship for the past 17 years. He recently won his 16th straight title at the New Jersey Arborist’s Chapter of the ISA’s Tree Climbing Competition – which qualified him for this year’s international competition.

“This competition is always very tough, and I’m proud to be working among the best in the industry here,” said Chisholm. “An event like this does so much to raise awareness for the importance of caring for trees – one of our most important renewable resources.”

In 1997, Fox Network and Pepsi sponsored  a contest for the winner to win a life-size replica of the house from The Simpsons show. It’s not clear if the winner still lives in the 2,200 square foot house, in Henderson, NV. By the looks of the interior, it would probably be a psychedelic experience!

The home was constructed in a development built by Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation.