National Headquarters | Tradeline, Inc.

The corporate headquarters of American Family Insurance in Madison, Wis., encompasses 1.3 million sf and is situated on a gently rolling, 465-acre wooded campus. Visitors may see blue heron, geese, wild turkeys and deer around the beautifully landscaped storm water retention pond. The 3,500 people working on the campus enjoy the walking and running path that circles the pond all year round.

The most recent phase of the headquarters complex, completed in 2000, includes a 506,000-sf freestanding addition that encompasses office, meeting and support space, as well as structured parking for 1,800 vehicles. The building contains offices and conference space and is connected to the 840,000-sf headquarters building by a pedestrian bridge and tunnel. Designed with the company’s future growth in mind, the new building can accommodate an additional 1,800 employees.

The freestanding office addition echoes the design of the existing facility, which is comprised of simple, strong geometry expressed in modest, enduring materials. It includes buff-colored brick and Midwestern-quarried stone trim that recalls the tradition of masonry construction and is reminiscent of a campus or academic environment.

In 2000, the corporate headquarters received the Design Award for Excellence from the Wisconsin Chapter - American Society of Landscape Architects (WASLA).

Project Information

Building Owner:

American Family Insurance Group

Building Location:

Madison, WI UNITED STATES

Project Type:

New Construction,Expansion

Principal Building Function:

National headquarters facility including office and administration, central data center and mail processing center.

Project Delivery Method:

Fast Track

Project Timeline

Apr 1989	Planning Start
May 1989	Design Start
Nov 1989	Construction Start
Aug 2000	Completion
Last known status: Completed

Construction Cost:

$151,400,000

Cost Per Sq. Ft:

$235

About These Cost Figures

Building Information

Project Includes:

Auditorium
Customer Support
Data Center
Headquarters
Office

Total GSF:

1,346,000

Building Services:

Hot and cold water, satellite receiving, emergency generation, sprinkler system and security systems.

Project Team

Architect

Flad Architects

Builder

M. A. Mortenson

Consultant - Accoustical

Yerges Acoustics Consulting

Consultant - Site

Hofmeister Engineering & Surveying

Consultant - Site

HNTB (Howard Needles Tammen & Bergendoff)

Consultant - Traffic Engineer

HNTB (Howard Needles Tammen & Bergendoff)

Consultant - Vibration

Yerges Acoustics Consulting

Engineer - MEP

Affiliated Engineers Inc. (AEI)

Engineer - Civil

Hofmeister Engineering & Surveying

Engineer - Mechanical

Durrant Engineers, Inc.

Landscape Architect

Land Design Studio

Profile Created 02/02/2007

Last Updated 02/23/2007

About the Reported Cost Figures

The cost figures reported are supplied by the firms that submitted these projects for publication, which in most cases are the designers or builders. Whereas these sources are intimately familiar with their projects, they may not be fully aware of the owners' finally-realized and recorded costs. In some cases, costs are truly and completely accounted for, and in others they represent a near approximation of the final costs. Costs have not been adjusted for year of construction, nor has any attempt been made to make regional cost adjustments.

Further, costs are not comparable on any kind of detailed standard costing model. Hence, it is possible for the cost of one building to include a steam boiler, while the cost of a comparable building might not include the boiler, if steam is being supplied from an already existing campus grid. Or, in another case, a building might include excess boiler capacity to supply steam to another building. Some submittals include fees or unusual site improvements as part of the construction costs, which others do not.

Fig. 1

Exterior

Fig. 2

Stairway

Fig. 3

Lounge

Fig. 4

Exterior