ALLOUEZ - For almost eight decades, Somerville Architects & Engineers designed buildings for everyone from the Green Bay Packers to University of Wisconsin System campuses to Bellin Health's new clinic in Ashwaubenon.
If you use Riverside Drive, you probably already noticed construction of one of the employee-owned firm's most-recent buildings in Allouez. It's for a client the staff of 47 knows pretty well: Themselves.
The design and engineering firm founded in Green Bay in 1946 broke ground in late July on its new $12 million headquarters in the 2100 block of Riverside Drive. The 1.4-acre site slopes down from Riverside Drive to the Fox River Trail and the new building will give employees views of the Fox River and Lambeau Field, one of the company's earlier projects.
Somerville's new office building's foundation and footings should begin to rise from the site soon, said Matt Schachtner, Somerville’s president.
“We were looking for an asset for our team, for the community. Not just a real estate asset, but a wonderful building to work in,” Schachtner said. “We have a lot of glass, a lot of natural light and oriented the building to make it a pleasant space.”
‘We have two front doors’
The new building incorporates traditional and contemporary designs and will be composed of natural stone, brick and metal panels. It's oriented on the site to maximize the volume of natural light and heat but also to minimize glare from the sun.
It will feature an elevated outdoor terrace for employees, indoor parking, and appealing facades that face both Riverside Drive and the Fox River Trail.
“We have two front doors,” Schachtner said. “Especially on this building, both facades will directly address the village on one side and the river on the other.”
A ‘showcase’ property in Allouez 10 years in the making
The foundation for July’s groundbreaking ceremony actually dates back a decade.
Somerville purchased the 1.4-acre property in 2014 with the intent to build a new home for its operations. The firm, which does work for a variety of clients but specializes in education and health care buildings, has leased space on Riverside Drive for decades and wanted to stay there for the foreseeable future.
"This gives Somerville an opportunity to showcase our work in our own space. We've been doing it for decades and decades, but to be able to showcase our architects', engineers', and designers' work in a space we designed is great," said Josh Bernhardt, who works in business development for Somerville.
Schachtner said the company knew it wanted to design a building to wow employees, clients and the community, so they spent the last decade saving funds and waiting for the right time.
“It really gives us a front door to showcase what we can do,” Schachtner said. “It underscores our commitment to our community.”
The wait proved worth it in the form of a shorter construction timeline than many, similar projects have seen recently. Immel Construction expects to complete the building by July 2025, roughly a year after work began.
Somerville expects the new office will attract business and workers
Somerville currently employs 47 people, but the new building features enough space for 60 people as the company eyes future growth.
The new space aims to make an impression on potential clients and the community as well as on architects, engineers and designers Somerville needs to hire and retain to continue to grow. Schachtner said competition for staff, especially architectural engineers, remains fierce.
And with the staff all working from the office rather than remotely, "we figured we might as well create a really awesome space to work in," he said.
Yes, Somerville designed Lambeau Field
When city leaders in 1955 wanted to build a new home for the Green Bay Packers, the city hired John E. Somerville to execute their vision of a 30,000-seat, easily expandable stadium, according to the company's history.
Two years later, on Sept. 29, 1957, the Somerville-designed City Stadium, now called Lambeau Field, hosted its first football game. Fittingly, the Packers beat the Chicago Bears, 21-17 with 32,000-plus fans in attendance.
Shortly after Lambeau opened, Brown County would select Somerville's design for another project near Lambeau: the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena, which opened in November 1958.
Somerville would also be hired to design two more expansions of Lambeau, one in the early 1970s that boosted capacity above 56,000.
And beginning in 1999, John Somerville's son, Jack, began to work with the Packers on another expansion of the football stadium. In collaboration with another firm, Somerville in 2000 would design an addition to Lambeau Field that includes team offices, food service spaces, mechanical systems, locker rooms, restrooms and indoor spaces for year-round activities. We now call it the Lambeau Field Atrium.
"As architects of the original Lambeau Field and die-hard Packers fans, we have not only a professional but personal interest in preserving Lambeau," Jack Somerville was quoted as saying in the July 10, 1999, edition of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 orjbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
