Our client is a leading furnishings manufacturer and household name. Before RSRF, they were having major problems with cell signal at their new headquarters location. They had just begun construction on two buildings: a 5-story office building and an adjacent showroom/innovation center. They immediately noticed a weak signal throughout the facility, with the most noticeable issues being inside the buildings. Particularly in the office space, the signal was quite poor and they had trouble making calls at all on AT&T or Verizon. As they prepared for move-in and had more inspectors and contractors in their building, the problem only became more pronounced.
The issue ultimately came down to the buildings themselves and the construction materials that were used. The showroom/innovation center was formerly a GM production plant. As such, the buildings were constructed with a ton of dense materials like concrete, steel, and metal. All of this can interfere with cellular signal.
The new buildings were constructed with Low-E glass that was tinted with charcoal. This glass is extremely popular in office spaces because it lowers heat and glare inside the space itself. However, the charcoal blocks a lot of the cell phone signal and acts as a wall for radio frequencies.
The unique structure of the showroom also led to significant signal challenges. While the office space had a fairly straightforward layout - with standard ceiling heights, a drop ceiling, and other usual features - the showroom did not. Instead, it had a mix of really high ceilings, wide-open areas with no ceiling at all, and office space. This is the kind of complex space that can have serious signal issues, so the solution needed to be flexible and we needed to take the unique structure into account.
