In 2025, JLG Architects reunited its two downtown Fargo offices on the 7th floor of the 19-story RDO Tower, creating an outward-focused workplace around 360-degrees of skyline. Guided by the firm’s construction management team and specialists from JLG’s Workplace and Sustainability Studios, the project was driven by four key goals: Elevate the Client Experience; Create a Thriving, Inclusive, and Human-Centered Workplace; Embrace Neurodiversity and Individual Well-Being; and Design for Positive Performance. The vision was to establish a welcoming, healthy, and home-like destination that brings people together by choice, not obligation.
To shape the design, JLG conducted interoffice studies to identify both individual and collective physical and emotional needs. The result is a flexible, neuroinclusive environment where employee-owners can move freely or settle into one of four sensory-sensitive zones, each informed by solar and acoustic studies to optimize workstation placement for varying levels of noise, heat, and daylight. These zones stem from an acoustically treated core and offer both permanent and free-address workstations, as well as a variety of collaboration, gathering, and private spaces — including a mother’s room, respite room, and ADA-accessible and gender-neutral private stalls.
JLG’s community culture is fostered through casual connections in the open kitchen, café-style lounge, and glass-enclosed conference room with a movable NanaWall system. The design meets rigorous environmental certification standards, prioritizing healthy materials, water use reduction, recycling stations, indoor air quality, and energy-efficient systems. Here, hundreds of living plants are integrated throughout to reduce stress, support focus, and strengthen the connection between people and the natural environment. The result is a transformative workplace that enhances well-being, sets the pace for a vibrant, thriving culture, and delivers a meaningful environmental message that respects the region’s valued resources.