The Aspen Group Headquarters

The Aspen Group Headquarters is a relocation from Syracuse, New York to the vibrant Fulton Market neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The location was selected to be a central hub in the United States to serve both their over 500 corporate staff and executives, as well as dentist and dental hygienists providers from around the country. Aspen's design vision was to create a vibrant, fun, and inspiring 200,000 sf headquarters that clearly expressed their culture, identity, and purpose. The new 18 story SOM building located at the gateway of Fulton Market required the program to be vertically stacked on 9 floors, centralizing the main entry floor. This entry floor incudes an atrium with a stadium stair connecting the cafe/barrista space to two training center floors below. Access to exterior terraces were organized adjacent to these 3 amenity floors. The single executive floor is located at the top of the stack with a central boardroom with access to a rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the Chicago skyline. Below the entry and training floors, are five workplace floors providing program layouts of interior offices, workstations aligned along the perimeter glass to allow for daylight and views, and a variety of social and collaboration spaces throughout to provide variety and choice. The Aspen Group is passionate about their story. The design incorporates material selections, digital messaging, and color that reflects both their culture and identity. Central to the entry atrium is a custom light fixture above the stadium stair influenced by the shape of dental floss expressing both the playfulness of their culture, precision of their purpose, and identity of the industry they serve.