The Inter-Industry Conference of Auto Collision Repair (I‑CAR) is an international, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing technical-education programs related to collision repair.
Its new free-standing headquarters facility includes classroom and training spaces, a computer room and mail room, storage areas, and office space for executive, administration, and marketing staff. The facility is sited to accommodate a future 15,000-square-foot addition.
Special Design Feature
An on-site conference center required two distinct entrances to the building: the “main” entrance and a secure entry for use after normal business hours (for I-CAR-sponsored meetings and training sessions). This dual function is also expressed on the interior of the facility through the ability to isolate the more-public conference center from the rest of the building.
Design/Construction Challenge
The organization wanted a flexible, expandable building. That flexibility, however, needed to be balanced with the need for private offices, noisy workrooms, and a separate meeting center that could be isolated from the rest of the facility. A partially exposed structure interior that could accommodate both traditional “hard” offices and open-plan areas with floating “ceiling clouds” helped I-CAR achieve desired flexibility.
