FCSA – West Building Wins “Best in Class, Commercial” at the 2021 Brick in Architecture Awards
Clark & Enersen, along with mason contractor Jeff MacTaggart Masonry, recently won a Best in Class, Commercial Award at the 2021 Brick in Architecture Awards for the Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA) – West Building in Omaha, Neb. The judges panel consisted of architects from Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Texas who reviewed more than 138 submissions across a wide range of categories, including commercial, higher education, PK-12, historic renovation, international, paving and landscaping, and single-family and multi-family residential. Each category had a Gold, Silver, and Bronze winner in addition to one project earning the highest achievement of Best in Class. This marks the third time that a Clark & Enersen and FCSA project has won the Best in Class Award in the Commercial category.
The West Building is the third addition to FCSA’s corporate campus. Its east façade borrows its angular form from the nearby Hell Creek, and the entire exterior further builds on the first two buildings use of masonry to represent FCSA’s agricultural service area. With two brick colors set at varying depths, the façade depicts an abstract view of the Midwest landscape taken from the vantage point of a drone, referencing precision agriculture technologies widely used in the industry today. The brick provides an ever-changing pattern of shadows throughout the day.
As one nears the entrance, the brick work creates a rolling pattern to mimic the experience of looking down corn rows in perspective as one passes by. This is accomplished by rotating the brick horizontally in a repeating, offset pattern. The brick façade then folds back to reveal the building entrance. The fold was created by corbelling the brick out to meet the angular fold of the upper façade.
Congratulations to FCSA and Jeff MacTaggart Masonry on the Best in Show win, and thank you to the Brick Industry Association for honoring our firm with this award.
To learn more about the FCSA, West Building, and to see examples of other Clark & Enersen’s in this market, please visit the dedicated project page and our Corporate page.
