Office Building 2

View Office Building 2 on the Capitol Campus Map.

Office Building 2 is the largest office building on Capitol Campus, covering more than 407,000 square feet. It incorporates a 300-seat auditorium, a cafeteria, and enough office space for 1,500 state employees.

It is reportedly the first state governmental building in the U.S. to use an open-concept office space design. Its 300-foot-long by 60-foot-wide spaces have no walls or individual offices. To offset noise and echoes in the large spaces, crews installed a system to transmit “white noise” throughout the building.

History

Plans for the construction of Office Building 2 surfaced in 1967. The state wanted a new building to house agency employees formerly located at 22 different locations.

In March 1972, the State Capitol Committee approved Richardson Associates, the architectural firm that designed the Highway Administration Building (now the Transportation Building), to proceed with designing the new office building.

Richardson Associates designed using color, texture, and scale like their recently completed Highway Administration Building. The main similarity between the two designs was the concept of two long wings connected by a cross wing, forming the shape of the letter H.

In 1974, the State Capitol Committee received funds from the state Legislature to begin construction. The building opened in 1975, and the Department of Social & Health Services has occupied it since then.