The Salesforce Tower Chicago, located where the north and south branches of the Chicago River converge, has officially opened its doors for business. The building is one of Salesforce’s most sustainable buildings yet. It has achieved LEED v4 Gold Certification for the exterior of the building. It has also achieved LEED v4 Platinum for the interiors, and Zero Carbon Certification. Furthermore, it prides itself in having no on-site use of fossil fuels as it is powered by all-electric systems. It is the first building in Chicago to require Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to quantify the embodied carbon emissions of concrete and steel. This has resulted in a 19% overall reduction in carbon emissions compared to the industry average.
The employee floors have been designed to provide focus spaces. These include libraries focus pods, and areas for team collaboration and connection. Additionally, they have event spaces and communal kitchens. These zones are separated acoustically at opposite ends of the floor to support a neurodiverse population and offer more choices for employees. Throughout the workspaces are a mix of mindfulness rooms, pods of height-adjustable desks, and meeting and training rooms.
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Salesforce’s EVP of Real Estate and Workplace Services, Relina Bulchandani, says the company has long sought to bring its Chicago employees together under one roof, in line with the company’s culture of collaborative work. “Our philosophy is coming to one space, vertically integrated, to make sure there are moments of connection”, said Bulchandani in a statement. “We didn’t want to have offices all over, we wanted to be in one space.”
More on the Salesforce Tower in Chicago
The 57-story building was completed earlier this year after six years of development. It has two of the top floors dedicated ‘Ohana Floors. These are spaces for their employees and guests to enjoy during the day. They are also available for local nonprofits to host fundraising events at night and on weekends at no cost. To date, the company’s ‘Ohana Floors around the world have helped raise more than $108 million for local communities.
