Masonry Magazine October 1974 Page. 9
Dramatic night photograph showing the pleasing effect achieved by the sloped brick portion of the facade.
Phillips Swager Associates Building
Peoria, Illinois
Architects: Phillips Swager Associates, A.I.A. Mason Contractor: O. Frank Heinz Construction Co.
Photography: Deverman
The challenge in designing this building, our own, was great in that it was to serve as an identity focus' for a firm involved in giving identity to many buildings every year. It had to be one of our most creative and beautiful ever, or it would be a failure. Satisfactory wouldn't be good enough.
That's how Architect-Designer William J. Voelker of Phillips Swager Associates sums up the thinking that went into the design of the architectural firm's home office. "Another part of the challenge," explains Voelker, "which we feel we solved successfully, was bringing serenity to a site that is really part of a high-intensity traffic intersection (two four lane highways). More specifically, the site is a knoll overlooking the confluence of Illinois Route 88 (Knoxville Avenue) and U.S. Route 150 (War Memorial Drive).
The landscaping surrounds the sculptured masonry block of a building with carefully placed and preserved trees and rolling lawns. It's pretty enough to live or shop in and does in fact include a spacious art display gallery, but which has not been used to this date commercially.
We feel the building is also a fine example of compatibility with the community, for both sides of Route 88 are wooded, sloping and built with fine, expensive suburban homes."
The project emphasized open planning flexibility (with only the conference rooms to be enclosed), a central comprehensive resource center, an entrance art gallery-reception area, staff lunch room, a large main conference room, and building expansion.
The high visibility of this structure from passing autos influenced the sculptured object exterior. The structure of the building is steel and it carries the exterior skin, which is all brick and glass. Standard-size Dark Heights brick was selected after its highly successful application on an earlier project, Spoon River Valley Junior College near Canton, III., which Phillips Swager co-designed. The brick were supplied from Iowa, where they were fired in a traditional bee-hive kiln.
Brick was chosen for reasons of cost, lack of maintenance, durability, scale and color, according to Voelker. The building has won several awards including the Honor