DECEMBER 2014 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \
67
M
arvels spring from Bal Seal Engineering. Its
products are unique, patented, canted coil
springs – its products are all around us, and
we use them every day. They are in the con-
nectors between hoses and nozzles that we use to fill
our cars with fuel. They are in surgically implanted
medical devices approved and regulated by the FDA,
to keep our hearts beating, or to deliver regularly dosed
medications. They are in aircraft that allow us to travel
or patrol the skies. They are in sub-sea connectors, allow-
ing data to travel across oceans. They are in satellites used
to explore the universe, or deliver Twitter chat. They are
literally everywhere around us.
These springs were invented in California shortly after
World War II in a surplus metal Quonset that fostered a
sense of shared purpose and camaraderie. In it everyone experienced the
need to move themselves and their equipment around for new projects.
They overheard every conversation, and they shared the same open space
with the same kind of furniture. From these experiences were distilled
principles that informed every decision that was made about Bal Seal En-
gineering’s new facility:
flexibility, transparency, equality.
In the midst of an epic economic downturn, with a surplus of build-
ing inventory, why build new? Tours of existing, available manufactur-
ing properties in Colorado Springs showed buildings with floor plates too
small, ceiling heights too low, and bays too inflexible to meet the compa-
ny’s needs and incorporate its principles. Bal Seal had to build new.
As design started, the owner and architect consulted a commercial
broker, who was asked to imagine an ideal manufacturing building. The
reply offered wisdom: provide a high-volume space as wide open and
column-free as possible, with an ability to compartmentalize it for future
condominium re-sale or multitenant lease, and install at least two bays of
traditional dock. The principle of
flexibility t
hat was such an important
part of Bal Seal’s beginning was affirmed.
Flexibility,
Transparency,
Equality:
Changing the Game at
Bal Seal Engineering
Gregory M.
Friesen, FAIA
Principal
and Director
of Design,
CSNA
Architects
