
One of the freedoms of designing an office from new construction is that you have more opportunity to build inherent amenities into the space.
When executed thoughtfully and with architectural savvy, siting a building onto a large piece of land is a gift. It lets architects and designers realize an elevated level of design, and also benefits the buildingâs users in more intuitive ways.
Such was the case with a new project CDI Studio One recently completed for Sheetz, a convenience store giant with a new corporate campus located midway between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, PA.
Founded in 1952 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Sheetz is a family-owned and operated convenience retailer, with more than $7.2 billion in revenue and more than 17,000 employees. The brand operates more than 500 stores throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Maryland and Virginia.
If youâve ever lived or spent some time in an area where Sheetz is a thing, you know that its customers are insanely devoted to the brand. You donât just go to Sheetz like you do other convenience stores; going to Sheetz is an experience.
Its employees feel the same way; the company is rapidly growing and is consistently named among Fortuneâs Best Places to Work.
âSheetz has a mission statement that includes two key things: first, to be authentic, and second, company DNA and understanding who they are,â says Gary Lapera, vice president and principal at CDI Studio One.

Sheetz leadership requested a flexible, collaborative space its company could use to grow into.
âTheyâre a very collaborative group, so we centered on the notion of creating something that was very dynamic and very flexible, that would allow the space to morph as the company grows,â says Mr. Lapera.
Situated on the new corporate campus were two existing protected wetlands. CDI Studio One sited the long axis of the building between those wetlands, allowing for exterior views of the pastoral landscape from most offices.
âThe wetlands were on the southern and northern sides, so we put the building that way to maximize the solar light, and to give employees wonderful views of the fields,â said Mr. Lapera.
âThe buildingâs massing and plan is based on a simple, flexible, rectangular floor plan, reminiscent of the elegant, humble agrarian structures that dot the Western Pennsylvania landscape,â noted the project description.
CDI Studio One designed the entire campus with fluidity and flexibility to accommodate collaboration and growth.
At the heart of the new 115,000 square foot campus is a dining experience conceived as a lodge, an independent pavilion extending into the lawn. The dining lodge features exposed timber columns and a natural stone, gas-burning fireplace against an outside wall. And off the dining lodge is an outdoor terrace with a wood-burning fireplace, used for special events.
âWe didnât want to do a traditional dining room or cafeteria. We had the chance to push the design further into the landscape â something that feels more like it belongs in the landscape.â
This concept of obscuring the boundary between interior and exterior continues into a large, southern facing glazed âinterior porch.â
The idea of the interior porch allows the employees engage with the landscape as they work,â noted Mr. Lapera.
Also on the ground floor are test kitchens, a state of the art data center, training rooms and a host of flexible meeting spaces and collaborative areas.
The second and third floors feature flexible open plan offices, with a mix of private offices and open plan workstations on the perimeter. Conference rooms and common spaces are available near the main stair for convenience. And to accommodate future growth, a mezzanine above the first floor can be put to use.

One of the new headquartersâ standout amenities is a 13,000 square foot day care center located adjacent to the main building. The center is a one-story wood-framed structure with a pitched roof, and inside the entryway are a magnetic message center, family conference room, stroller storage, a large multipurpose room and childrenâs library.
Each of the nine classrooms for children aging from infant to preschool has an exterior door leading to a fenced playground and natural play area.
Sheetz has yet to move into its new space, and photography is limited, but we hear the aesthetics of the office hold true to the Sheetz mission, as well as to the siting and balance of interior/exterior.
âThe aesthetic goal was to be elegant and straightforward. They were very focused on knowing who they were and being authentic to that. We wanted to give them flexibility to grow within that, but not too much flexibility that they lost their character.
âThe ground floor is very glassy, helping with the connectivity to the landscape. We used shading fins on the exterior to give the buildings a lightness, offering a kind of ephemeral solidity. We wanted to blur the lines from inside to outside.â
Another guiding force was the companyâs strong sense of community injected into its branding.
âSheetz is family owned, so we wanted the sense of community to spill from meeting rooms and offices into the hallways and open areas. They have a phenomenal marketing department with such a high degree of innovation that the branding is up at art level. Because of that, they drove most of the branding design.â
Using the siting and exterior architecture to blend benefits more seamlessly into the workplace is smart design. Sheetzâs new campus adds value to the company in the form of inherent benefits coming to employees through thoughtful siting.