Jabil Corporate Headquarters

Designed by Gensler’s architectural team, Jabil Inc.’s new corporate headquarters in St. Petersburg overlooks Blue Heron Lake. Reflecting the company’s sustainable and collaborative goals, the new building promotes a connection with its natural outdoor surroundings and with colleagues working inside. The curved building showcases an attractive glass exterior complemented by a bright, modern interior.

Jabil’s move into their new headquarters presented a big shift to a more open office environment. Acoustics were a primary concern of the Jabil team, since this would be a new style of working environment. Rockfon offered Gensler a choice of sound-absorbing ceiling panels for Jabil that met the project’s goals for optimized acoustics and modern aesthetics as well as sustainability and employee well-being.

Gensler selected three of Rockfon’s acoustic stone wool ceiling panels to meet the specified requirements for Jabil’s offices: Rockfon Sonar®, Rockfon Tropic® and Rockfon® Hygienic Plus™. Acousti Engineering Company of Florida supplied and installed all of Rockfon’s ceiling systems for Jabil. The project was completed on schedule.

Rebuilding and expanding its former two-story structure, the new facility allowed Jabil to stay at its same location and bring together approximately 2,000 employees who previously had been working at eight different locations.

As part of Jabil’s commitment to continuously “do the right thing in the right way,” sustainability and inclusivity are clear priorities. The company contributes to the achievement of 12 of 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Jabil’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives also are apparent in Jabil’s business practices and leadership where people are encouraged to grow, innovate and be their true selves.

“Ensuring everyone feels safe and heard meant designing a workplace with a good acoustic experience that supports employees’ well-being and allows them to perform at their best,” explained Rockfon’s architectural sales representative, Amy Neumann, IIDA, RID, Allied AIA, CSI.

To optimize acoustics for a productive and comfortable workplace, Neumann and Rockfon’s acoustic specialist, Gary Madaras, PhD, recommend sound-absorbing ceiling panels with an NRC of 0.80 or higher, full-height walls and proper background sound levels. Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) is the metric used to describe the sound absorbing capability of ceiling panels.

Gensler specified Rockfon Tropic with an NRC of 0.85 for the majority of the offices and meeting rooms. In the kitchen, where noisy activities are common, Rockfon Hygienic Plus panels deliver an 0.90 NRC with an easy-to-clean surface. In Jabil’s main multi-purpose conference, where room speech privacy and intelligibility were key expectations, Rockfon Sonar sound-absorbing ceiling panels provide an 0.95 NRC for best-level acoustics.

Maximizing daylight, the smooth white surface of Rockfon acoustic stone wool ceiling panels reflects up to 86 percent of the light into the interior. This helps reduce demand on electric lighting, contributing to the building’s energy efficiency.
Throughout Jabil’s workspaces, Rockfon’s stone wool products also contribute to healthy indoor air quality. All Rockfon’s ceiling panels for Jabil have earned UL® GREENGUARD® Gold certification for low-emissions.

“We were happy to share our knowledge and product solutions to help Jabil and Gensler achieve what the architectural vision and office experience they intended. Our values around sustainability also align at the highest levels as Rockfon is part of ROCKWOOL, which shares a commitment to achieving 10 of the 17 UN SDGs,” added Neumann. “It’s a beautiful project and we’re proud to have contributed to its success.”