Not Just a Dining Center, But a Dining Epicenter

WINNER: BECTON DICKINSON & CO.

ENTRY: CORPORATE CAMPUS CENTER

THE BIG IDEA: How do you create community, encourage collaboration and communicate that the organization is “a great company to work for” in a sprawling corporate campus?

At Becton Dickinson's global headquarters complex in Franklin Lakes, NJ, the solution was to design and build a centrally located campus locus that would bring together two separate building populations into one unique space, one where the common dining center is also the community epicenter. This community-building function is what college campuses often assign to their student unions. However, in a corporate community like at BD, where the extracurriculars that characterize academic communities are absent, it is dining that reigns supreme as the cohesion builder.

And supreme is a good word to describe the new BD campus center, which rose from the “great lawn” that previously separated the two existing buildings on the wooded 140-acre campus. In the dining center that is the building's hub, the energy radiates from the sharp colors and accents of the design and the open spaces of the floorplan. A 228-seat atrium is augmented by two outdoor terraces as well as other seating around the building — 650 seats in all. Meanwhile, the menu, developed and served by contract company Flik International, offers variety to meet different tastes as well as quality and freshness. Flik also operates a coffee bar on the premises that encourages meeting and collaboration in an informal setting.

The center also hosts large gatherings like conferences and special events, provides departmental meeting space and offers amenities like dry cleaning and banking.

PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS:

Michael F. Diker
director of site operations

Anthony Albanese
manager of projects & facility operations

Karen Kinney
facilities design manager

Liz Fichtel
manager of food services

Gilbane Building Co.
Edward Stevenson (senior project manager), Kim Eng, Damon Piontkowski

Post & Grossbard
Henry Grossbard (principal), Cody Hicks

RMJM Hillier
Barbara A. Hillier (principal), Peggy Kehrer

Flik International
Bill Chodan (vice president of culinary operations), Adam Freed (vice president of creative development), Paula Schaire (director of marketing and design), Paul Pontarelli (corporate executive chef), Christopher Craven (district manager), Heidi DeBoer (foodservice director)