Reinventing the landmark SMUD headquarters was no small feat. Up against a mammoth task of reimagining parts of the 177,000 sq. ft. building, the UCD team wasn’t just up to the challenge—we were ready to show the historic public works headquarters what we could do.
The Challenge
“As any innovator will tell you, the birth of a landmark, while glorious in retrospect, is in reality fraught with anxious, do-or-die moments of truth,” says Hillary Louise Johnson in their article cataloguing the historic Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) initial construction in 1959. A building that introduced Sacramento to its “International Style,” the multi-million dollar renovation took over a year of construction and planning before the UCD team was able to consider the project signed, delivered, and installed. While the UCD team wouldn’t exactly call their portion of the project “fraught with anxious moments of truth,” they would instead call their portion of the landmark re-birth a project awash with opportunities for personal, professional, and industry leading growth.
The Scope
Joining a larger renovation team, UCD partnered with Roebbelen Contracting to design, implement, and deliver a variety of solutions across the five-story building. Working across all five floors, UCD provided:
- 1,200 ft of custom metal baseboard manufactured in our warehouse and installed onsite.
- 40’ Curved Solid Walnut Dias with quartz top
- Mid-century style perimeter wall paneling
- White oak perimeter slating
- Five stories of employee break rooms featuring casework and quartz tops
- Multiple conference rooms accented with in-house manufactured walnut perimeter wall paneling
- Site-wide kitchens with quartz tops
The Solution
In the end, completion of all work on the 60-year-old structure took diligence and a hearty dedication to their craft. At delivery, UCD team’s contacts at SMUD emphasized their appreciation for UCD’s work on making the new headquarter structure a safer, more energy-efficient building that maintained its original charm.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, we at UCD are proud to have helped SMUD’s headquarters carry on their legacy in both architectural excellence and public utility supply.
