December 14, 2016

Wright Heerema Architects Brings New Life to Alliant Credit Union Offices

Wright Heerema Architects completed an interior renovation for Alliant Credit Union’s expanding Rolling Meadows office. The announcement came on the heels of completing two successful interiors projects for Alliant, one of the largest credit unions in the United States.

“We were excited to help Alliant expand its space with a modern workplace designed to attract and retain the top talent in the market,” said Laura Operti, Interior Design Project Manager, Wright Heerema Architects. “Alliant recognizes the importance of creating an engaging and inviting space for their employees.”

Prior to being awarded the expansion space design in Rolling Meadows, Wright Heerema recently completed interior renovation projects on both existing floors of Alliant’s Rolling Meadows office and a total redesign of Alliant’s office at 11545 Touhy Avenue in Chicago. The credit union sought brighter, livelier space and a layout that better supported its work processes and culture.

“Wright Heerema heard our needs for an energizing space that reflects our culture and fosters increased employee collaboration,” said George Rudolph, Alliant’s Senior Vice President of Operations and Technology. “By improving our employees’ work space, we enable them to better serve our Alliant members, which is always our top priority as a business.”

Colorful collaboration

Alliant charged Wright Heerema with the creation of workspaces designed to cater to the collaborative and flexible working style of the millennial generation. One example: Wright Heerema designed a new café lounge at the Rolling Meadows location, in response to Alliant’s desire to encourage socialization among employees. Outfitted with a variety of seating and tables, a kitchen and TV screens, the space is ideal for informal meetings and spur-of-the-moment ideation. The area for the lounge was selected for its proximity to windows offering a view outside of trees and a pond, bringing the outside into the workspace.

A variety of conference rooms in varying sizes are situated throughout the offices to accommodate collaborative work groups. Both in Chicago and Rolling Meadows, the new spaces deliver a bright, lively environment that aims to better support Alliant’s work process and improve employee productivity. Part of fulfilling that mandate was to deliver open plan floors, keeping all offices on the core to take full advantage of the natural light. Full glass front partitions bring natural light into the offices and conference rooms.

The new workspace designs create a new look while leveraging existing architecture and furniture. New carpet, paint and accent lighting brighten and refresh the spaces. Wright Heerema collaborated with Development Solutions, Inc. (DSI) as the contractor at 11454 West Touhy and FCI Construction Inc. as the contractor at 1600 Golf Road. Furniture was selected from Henricksen.