Rio Tinto Minerals (RTM) is the world’s largest producer of salt, boron and talc. In 2007 RTM selected Greenwood Village, Colorado as the location for the new corporate headquarters, merging the existing subsidiaries of US Borax (Valencia, CA) and Luzenac America (Centennial, CO). OZ Architecture was hired to design the new facility utilizing elements of the RTM Global Workplace Standards in creating a new corporate identity for RTM.
The relocation site, a 100,000 SF existing speculative office building provided multiple challenges. The first challenge was the blend of significantly different business cultures into a new, energetic, international environment. It was key that this environment reflect the corporate mission, including collaboration, as well as the strong, corporate sustainable values. Second, the new facility also included the relocation of both the existing talc lab in Colorado and the borate lab from California.
OZ worked closely with RTM on the design and layout of integrating these functions into one, working 20,000 SF Research & Development lab. The project was designed and constructed under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® New Construction and is LEED® Silver Certified.
