Postwar corporate campuses were an important proving ground for architects to demonstrate the core principles of modernist design: that form should follow function, and that the honest expression of building materials should put their inherent qualities on display. Because corporate campuses in this era were also seen as rural oases, set apart from their urban high-rise counterparts on large plots of land, landscape design played an essential role in the expression of place. In many cases, the architectural expression of a modernist corporate campus required that it borrow some drama from its surrounding landscape. And, in some cases, this meant bringing the outside in. 

In this article, we examine three different modernist corporate campuses that feature true collaborations between architects and landscape architects. A key landscape design figure in the modernist era was Hideo Sasaki, who made a name for himself during the mid- to late 1950’s by collaborating with some of the most notable architects of the time. His collaborations spanned many different project types and scales, from single family residential to civic buildings and plazas to corporate campuses. Sasaki’s practice endures today; the firm he created still practices across the country and the globe and remains centered on its mission to integrate expertise across disciplines to achieve better design outcomes. 

The ideals of an integrated design practice were shared among many prominent architects and designers in the modernist movement, including Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll, and Ralph Rapson. Many met in academic settings, primarily while at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, establishing shared design principles and relationships that would spawn future collaborations among them. And when it came to selecting a landscape design partner, Hideo Sasaki was highly sought after for his collaborative spirit and design approach that seamlessly integrated nature with built form. 

Sasaki's relationships with his architecture peers also had roots in academia, most notably while he was Dean of Landscape Architecture at Harvard and Pietro Belluschi was Dean of Architecture at MIT. Sasaki's friendship with Belluschi led to collaborations with SOM (which acquired Belluschi's practice in 1951) and more specifically, with Bruce Graham in the late 1950's to design a new headquarters for The Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

For the design concept at Upjohn, Hideo appears to have drawn inspiration from his earlier experience working with Ralph Rapson on a concept home for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) House Design Competition. Prior to that, Rapson had become known for his Case Study House #4, also known as "The Greenbelt House," whose inward facing design created an internal atrium space for smaller, urban lots where the surrounding landscape did not provide much natural amenity. The competition entry that Rapson and Sasaki collaborated on for NAHB further built on this theme, taking second place in the national division and first in one of the regional divisions. 

At Upjohn, the challenge was to transform seven acres of flat, barren, former farmland into a more awe-inspiring landscape setting for a new corporate campus. Sasaki's response was to create a scaled-up version of Rapson's "greenbelt house" concept with a series of dramatic external and internal courtyards linking together various parts of the building, and together forming a green spine that flowed through the building and extending out on either side. Each space, similar in scale and materiality but different in form and function, are fully embraced by the architectural design of the buildings. Floating islands, reflecting pools, rock gardens, and paved courtyards were linked together by the main pedestrian flow through the building. The end result was iconic – a complete design where landscape and buildings worked together in a choreographed dance between inside and out. 

Sasaki also had two notable collaborations during this time with Eero Saarinen: the first at Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey, and the second at John Deere in Moline, Illinois. At Bell Labs, we again see the "greenbelt" concept at a monumental scale, with a dramatic landscape transect running perpendicular to the secretive, industrial archetypal laboratory building, creating a massive central atrium at their intersection. A broad ellipse surrounds Saarinen's building, and on one side the landscape features formal retention ponds with a long tapered lawn terminating at the main entrance with a water tower whose form is inspired by that of a transistor – a nod to the work being done inside the building. On the other side of the ellipse, naturally shaped ponds are sculpted into the natural topography, transitioning to the existing woodlands below. The juxtapositions between natural and manmade elements, and between formal geometries and natural elements, create tensions that are resolved by the mass laboratory building as a transitional element as the landscape passes through its central atrium and transforms between one side and the other. 

Around the same time that Sasaki and Saarinen were collaborating on Bell Labs, they began working on John Deere’s headquarters in Illinois. The main building design includes an exoskeleton made of corten steel, one of the first major uses of this building material. Keeping with modernist principles of truth in materials, the patina that has developed on the building over the years continues to add beauty and character. And again, we see in the campus design Sasaki playing with the intersection between his grand landscape vision and an iconic piece of architecture. The site topography was designed so that landscape views can be enjoyed on all four sides of the building, while surface parking and access roads are hidden behind berms. The massive steel structure of the building allows for glass curtain walls to touch down lightly at the ground level and create an open flow between outside spaces and those within the building. This interplay is most evident where the curvilinear pond edges come into direct contact with the main building, creating the sense that the architecture is part of the landscape – neither the buildings nor the landscape could not exist as successfully in isolation from one another. 

These three examples of modernist corporate campuses were all generated in a relatively short period of time. Today, John Deere is perhaps the most widely known of the three, perhaps because it's the only one of the three still inhabited by its original occupants. Upjohn was demolished by Pfizer in 2007, while Bell Labs was saved from destruction that same year and later converted into Bell Works in 2016, a mixed-use space that includes office, entertainment, and food and beverage establishments. Aside from the design legacy these projects have left behind, we can also celebrate the concept of collaboration that led to their creation: when architects and landscape architects work together as equals, the power of place is amplified.

About the Author

James Miner, AICP, is Sasaki’s Chief Executive Officer. Over the past decade he has helped guide the strategic evolution of the firm. Key efforts have included rebranding the firm to elevate our collaborative and inclusive approach to design, renewing our commitment to being active members of the Boston design community, growing our commercial architecture and interior design practice, establishing a firm-wide research grant program, and adding new expertise around technology, fabrication, and digital design. James is also Chair of the Sasaki Foundation Advisory Council, which brings together leaders across sectors from Greater Boston to help shape the work of the Sasaki Foundation. The Foundation connects young people to design mentorship and resources and has awarded $385,000 in grants to groups interested in pursuing focused research initiatives that foster diversity and equity in the design field.

As a licensed planner, James’s portfolio of work at Sasaki spans all scales and includes urban infill projects, corporate campuses, new communities, strategic land development, and regional planning. James also has significant experience planning for colleges and universities.

James holds a master of urban planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a bachelor of science in art and design from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an active member of the American Planning Association.