Through a long-standing relationship with SCE&G to complete multiple elements of an overall site Master Plan at the VC Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, SC, GMK Associates was retained in 2012 to provide architectural and engineering design for a new commercial office building at the site. The objective of this office building was to replace multiple existing office spaces that had become obsolete. SCE&G also desired to establish a defining facility on site that better reflected the professional and technical environment of the nuclear station. Construction of the building was completed in 2013.

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The building program consists of 160,000 square feet of Class B office space for up to 600 employees that now serves as the corporate headquarters for the Nuclear Station and brings diverse departments together under one roof into a well day-lit and collaboratively shared space. The building houses executive offices, general office space, meeting and communal spaces, a dining hall, and a wellness center with training equipment and locker rooms. Other specific features of the design include built-in video conferencing capabilities, an in-house plant Technical Support Center, and a records vault.

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The building structure is three stories, with two stories above grade, and one story below grade. The structure serves as a new edifice (where one did not exist before) that clearly announces itself as the new central corporate hub and the “front door” to operations at the site. The exterior skin is primarily an insulated glass curtain wall system with accents of aluminum composite panels and face brick. The glass curtain wall system or “transparent skin” floats above the ground plane in a very light presence. In essence, the entire building is a window, expressed against a secondary brick monolith. A full 99% of all building occupants now have access to daylight, as well as panoramic views of the three existing nuclear power plants surrounding the building.