Zenith HQ 1975-2000 being demolished

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Built in 1975 (started in 74?) - Move-in was in '75 - '76, floor-by floor as the interiors were completed.

It was an unusual building with greater than usual height per story. All electric, with waste heat from the lighting fixtures used as a planned part of winter heating. Ahead of its time: floors were concrete with built in electical run cavities, so electrical power and signal outlets could be placed anywhere by drilling a hole through the floor at the desired point. Whenever space was rearranged, new holes were drilled and the old ones were capped with flush metal caps. One of the most expensive features: Zenith had one of the largest audio anechoic chambers around, built on a separate foundation in the center of the basement. The working "floor" of the chamber was a steel wire mesh at mid height with equal room cavities above and below. With all these precautions, there were still some very low frequency vibrations from traffic on the tollway. Lighting in the building was some of the brightest in any office building, which later became something of an annoyance as more and more work was done on computer monitors.

The building was originally designed to be entirely filled with R&D and have a twin building to the north connected through the lobby. Plans were changed to use the building as both headquarters and R&D, as the Research division was closed in 1975. (Zenith was one of the few TV makers to have a three-tier structure of Research, Advanced Development and Product Development. Only GE outdid this, having a fourth tier of product cost reduction.) The second tower was never built.

The firm I worked at for 33 years, 20 as an Electrician, had the cellular raceways in the concrete floors as stated above and that section was built in 1957, so that concept was around for awhile.
The fourth tier on the GE R&D Product Development structure must've been the busiest because they sure knew how to build products cheap.