Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Pioneer Natural Resources was ready for a new facility, but not a new hometown. The growing oil and gas company decided a custom-designed, newly constructed building would best suit its business needs and forward-thinking corporate culture, while bringing together its North Texas employees in one building.

An ideal site was found across the highway from its existing location. Pioneer’s 10-story office complex and accompanying seven-story parking garage anchors the first phase of the new 158-acre Hidden Ridge mixed-use development by KDC. Demonstrating its collaborative, innovative and efficient operations, the 1.1 million-square-foot headquarters recently earned LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Achieving its Goals 

Helping achieve the project’s goals, Corgan designed Pioneer’s building interior to optimize acoustics and light reflectance with Rockfon ceiling systems. The interior design facilitates flexible working and meeting styles, employee interaction and engagement, and provides ready access to nature as part of their everyday work environment.

Austin Commercial began construction on Pioneer’s building in June 2017. Working closely with Austin Commercial, BakerTriangle installed all of the project’s ceiling systems as supplied by ISC Building Materials.

The project was completed after 25 months of construction. Pioneer’s employees moved into their new headquarters at the start of 2020. In March 2020, it was awarded LEED Gold certification.

Commitment to LEED 

Supporting building owners, tenants and design professionals in their commitment to sustainability, the ceiling product attributes contribute to such LEED credit categories as Materials & Resources and indoor environmental quality. Among these features, stone wool ceiling panels and metal suspension systems are manufactured with recycled content.

The white surface of the ceiling panels in Pioneer support natural lighting and energy efficiency by reflecting 85 percent of interior light. Because most stone wool products have been UL Environment’s GreenGuard Gold Certified for low-emitting products, they also contribute to high IEQ and indoor air quality for healthy interiors.

Acoustic comfort is another key attribute recognized by the LEED rating system as benefiting employees’ accuracy, wellness and job satisfaction. With more than 90 percent of an organization’s operating costs linked to employee efficiency, office ceiling systems can have a positive effect on the bottom line. Supporting Pioneer’s environmental and economic objectives, Corgan selected acoustic panels with a high Noise Reduction Coefficient throughout the new offices.

Sound-Absorbing Acoustics

With an NRC of up to 0.95, Rockfon Sonar panels deliver high sound-absorbing performance for Pioneer’s board room, conference rooms, training center and cafeteria. Rockfon Artic was installed in the large open collaboration areas, spacious hallways and active daycare.

“Installing sound-absorbing ceiling panels is step one in our approach to optimized acoustics,” explains the manufacturer’s Acoustics Specialist Gary Madaras, Ph.D. “Step two is to use walls or plenum barriers and floor slabs, where needed, to effectively block sound between rooms. Finally, step three is to ensure that the background sound level is within the desired range. Together, these three steps help to reduce unwanted noise and its negative impact on occupants.”

“Corgan really liked the look of our tile and the performance properties of stone wool,” said Architectural Sales Manager Rob Lutts, CSI, IIDA. “They were concerned about office-to-office noise where the walls did not go to the deck. Dr. Madaras helped explain the Optimized Acoustics approach and product selection options. Based on this information, the designer was able to combine our high NRC ceiling panels with appropriate level of background sound, where needed, to achieve the best sound experience at the best value.”

In addition to the acoustic ceiling system solutions’ contribution to Pioneer’s productive workspace, other sustainable strategies integrated into the new headquarters include: 

The campus was designed to amplify the land’s natural surroundings so employees can enjoy amenities such as an outdoor fitness terrace, soccer pitch, multi-sport court, a half-mile fitness trail and stocked fishing lakes. 

Rainfall and surface runoff water is filtered on-site to improve storm water quality. 

The original mesquite forests were retained, and more than 90 percent of the occupied interior areas have direct views to the outside. 

Of the waste generated from the construction of the headquarters, 98 percent was sorted and recycled. 

The Pioneer headquarters mirrors the continuous improvement and sustainability that is employed in their daily operations.

“We’ve worked very closely with Pioneer to design a building that amplifies the beautiful and natural surroundings of the land, yet is appropriately scaled for Pioneer’s employee-focused culture and modest character,” says Steve Van Amburgh, CEO of KDC.

“We could not be more pleased to say Irving will be our home for another generation,” says Tim Dove, president and CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources. “We conducted an extensive search across North Texas, but nothing compared to this property in terms of value, access and amenities.”

The Results 

Today, Pioneer’s employees can enjoy an on-site fitness center, daycare, wellness center and cafeteria along with the convenient access to the campus retail amenities, the surrounding residential community and a newly added stop on the DART commuter rail service.

Pioneer’s new headquarters was recognized as part of the “Best New Mixed-Use Project” of the year by D CEO’s Commercial Real Estate Awards of Dallas. In addition to calling the building “striking,” it noted: “Hidden Ridge is planned to accommodate 3 million square feet of office space, 80,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel, 1,000 apartments, and a large park.”