The American Institute of Architects (AIA) North Dakota chapter recently presented Shultz + Associates Architects with the Merit Design Award for their design of the Bobcat Company Acceleration Center in Bismarck. Each year, AIA North Dakota holds a design event and presentation that honor exemplary designs of regional firms.

In 2013, Bobcat Company commissioned Shultz + Associates Architects to create a state-of-the-art collaborative office environment equipped with modern devices, tools and software systems that would expedite leading-edge engineering, and product and process development. The $28 million project involved expansion of an existing building to include office and lab space, classrooms and demonstration areas, and both indoor and outdoor machine operation areas.

The Acceleration Center — located within Bismarck, North Dakota’s Northern Plains Commerce Centre — was completed in August 2014 and has two stories and 190,000 square feet under roof, with an additional 22 acres of outside test and product development space. The facility currently houses 175 individuals who are tasked with initial design, prototype engineering, prototype manufacturing, computer simulation and testing of ideas and concepts.

The Acceleration Center is a key engineering facility for all Bobcat® compact equipment distributed globally. It will help serve some of the research and development needs for Doosan heavy equipment in the North American market. Doosan is the parent organization of Bobcat Company.

“We are so proud of the Acceleration Center as a cutting-edge facility, and we are thrilled Shultz + Associates was honored with this award,” said Laura Ness Owens, director of marketing. “This recognition underlines just how state-of-the-art the Acceleration Center is. It represents a new way for us to work and accelerate innovation within our business.”