Adobe Founders Tower | San José, CA

Project Overview

Adobe’s newest Founders Tower is eighteen stories of office space designed to flexibly house 4,000 hybrid employees. The tower is part of Adobe’s San José headquarters campus and is the fourth tower on the property. The tower has been operating for several years and continues to reach its operational goals.

The entire Adobe campus is known for its green design and sustainability, which was a foundational goal of the project. Founders Tower was the first all-electric building of scale in Silicon Valley, and it has achieved its goal of running 100% on renewable solar and wind energy. With a 50,000 sq. ft. kitchen space, the tower also boasts the largest all-electric commercial kitchen in North America. Founders Tower and the other three buildings on Adobe’s campus are LEED-certified.

Another part of this project was a large art installation on the pedestrian bridge called Creativity Blooms. The bridge connects the new Founders Tower to the existing campus tree-like art has a small footprint on the bridge to allow un-interrupted foot traffic with colorful canopies to provide shade to walkers.

Why CPP

Creating a productive workspace for hybrid teams of the future means building a space that is innovative while and functional. Comfort and sustainability were important in the design of Founders Tower and CPP’s team was able to ensure its success. The CPP team evaluated the wind surrounding the building to provide recommendations for furniture on level seven terraces and around the building to ensure door operability. The team also evaluated wind loads on the proposed art installation to ensure safety for the building and the pedestrian bridge.

The pedestrian bridge drops visitors to Founders Tower off at the main lobby on level seven. Having the main floor of the building not at ground level created a unique opportunity and challenge in the design of the building by having multiple outdoor rooftop terrace areas. CPP provided expert consulting to review the originally specified furniture for these areas and identify items which are likely to be more wind resistant and others which may be problematic in high wind events. CPP worked with the design team to make positive changes such as substitutions and plans for anchors and tethers on furniture pieces that may not be restrained by their own weight.

At eighteen stories tall with doors on three sides, Founders Tower was susceptible to wind-induced door operability concerns. CPP conducted an assessment to identify potential wind-induced door challenges, and to provide recommendations to improve door performance and user experience. The wind tunnel testing found that conventional doors may exceed typical opening and closing force thresholds at several of the main and secondary entrances. CPP was able to provide recommendations to mitigate these problems with minor design changes such as implementing a balance door with vestibule, or a revolving door.

The final tests that CPP performed for this project were wind loading tests around the Creative Blooms art installation. CPP evaluated vertical and horizontal forces for the foliage on each of the eight trees as well as providing guidance on the trunk forces. CPP collected local wind speed and turbulence characteristics in the wind tunnel and combined them with the local climate information, then compared to initial measurements. We determined that the initial measurements were either appropriate or conservative from a wind perspective and gave the clients peace of mind about installing the art.

Overall, CPP provided Adobe with guidance to ensure comfort, safety, and peace of mind when constructing the new addition to their San José headquarters. Employees can enjoy the modern building’s amenities without thinking about things like crosswinds, door operability, or outdoor comfort.