Barry Isett Headquarters

Barry Isett and Associates (BIA) is a leading regional multi-discipline engineering firm founded in Lehigh Valley, PA in 1977. With a nearly 100-person staff, the firm had outgrown the founder’s family farmhouse office and looked to design and build a new headquarters on a five-acre property in South Whitehall, PA. BIA selected MKSD for this important legacy project that would re-imagine a progressive and collaborative working environment that is culture-based.

The design of the new building exemplifies the BIA company values, based on people being their most important asset and their commitment to quality. The new one-story 20,000 square-foot building is programmatically divided into three parts: A main collaboration hub that houses reception, conference rooms, the company kitchen and lunch commons, and a flexible ‘town triangle’ that opens onto a covered outdoor gathering space. The other two parts of the building are the ‘work’ wings. One is dedicated to ‘in the field’ focused engineering services and the other is dedicated to ‘in office’ focused engineering. Each is designed specifically for the needs of those departments and in the spirit of collaboration.

The design of the building takes architectural language from the original farmhouse and re-imagines it into a modern office building. The organizational plan concept is translated 3-dimensionally into a composition of three connected sloped roof forms. The building is fully integrated into the surrounding landscape which is designed to be low maintenance and complement the enduring nature of the building and reflect the BIA culture.