Since its founding in 1989 when Craig Sommerfield developed a jig to hide holes in his kitchen cabinets, Kreg Tool has provided tools to help woodworking professionals and novices achieve well-crafted building projects. The company is now synonymous with pocket joinery and is a leading name in woodworking.

From its humble beginnings, the company is now housed in an award-winning headquarters and manufacturing plant in Ankeny, Iowa. The Kreg Tool Headquarters is a two-story, 154,742-square-foot facility on a sustainably managed 25.12-acre campus. 

The complex, designed by Neumann Monson Architects, utilizes steel frame construction with laminated wood decks for the floor and roof assemblies, and a photovoltaic system on the warehouse roof.

The headquarters project has been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The daylit office element consists primarily of open workspace. Between the office and manufacturing/warehouse components is a central spine that includes a ‘marketplace’ that acts as the corporation’s ‘heart’ to connect the office’s ‘head’ and the manufacturing facility’s ‘hands’. The marketplace is designed to foster interaction and create connections. A testing lab, 3D print lab, product engineering fabrication shop, and other support spaces are located next to the office space within the manufacturing facility.

Massive 14’x40’ precast concrete panels create the manufacturing facility’s perimeter and provide a substantial backdrop to the office’s exposed steel structural system that supports glulam wood roof decking above. Employee amenities within the building include a fitness center and an interior open-air courtyard on the 2nd floor. Outside, a walking trail winds around a storm retention pond.

Beyond providing renderings, the team used immersive virtual reality to guide Kreg Tool stakeholders through the building design and solicit their feedback to inform the design and create confidence in the design and decision-making process.