Buckner Companies Home Office

Graham, NC

Project Summary

Buckner Companies, a North Carolina-based steel erector, created a headquarters that highlights their past projects and exposes the building’s structure. It is composed of salvaged structural pieces of projects that have been recovered and stored by Buckner over the last 62 years. Examples include the conference room, which was built from girders recovered from a renovation of Clemson University’s Littlejohn Coliseum, as well as a connecting bridge originally erected by Buckner in 1972 on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill that was re-erected to connect the new and existing buildings. Stewart provided structural engineering and construction administration services.

The landscaping was designed and constructed by one of Buckner’s employees. The pavers are a combination of concrete pavers and steel plate pavers, some of which were taken from their "boneyard." The red components around the windows are exposed steel channels from Buckner’s "boneyard" and provide the support of the windows. The red fins at the top of the windows are part of the custom seats for the glulam roof beams.

The stairway up to the conference room is hung at the mid-landing with two of Buckner’s old crane pendants. The tall steel shape with Buckner’s logo on it is a portion of the steel girder from Clemson University. The steel frame in the distance is the lower half of a lateral frame. The table next to the chairs is one of Buckner’s old crane sheaves/hook blocks.
The landscaping was designed and constructed by one of Buckner’s employees. The pavers are a combination of concrete pavers and steel plate pavers, some of which were taken from their "boneyard." The red components around the windows are exposed steel channels from Buckner’s "boneyard" and provide the support of the windows. The red fins at the top of the windows are part of the custom seats for the glulam roof beams.
The 15-ton, 58-foot long bridge was rescued from UNC-Chapel Hill, where Buckner first installed it 30 years ago. The bridge and its pylons became the connector between Buckner’s new building and their existing offices.