Structures for the Senses

dōTERRA is a company founded in 2008 that sources essential oil products from all over the world and uses those oils to improve the lives of their customers. Located in Pleasant Grove, Utah, Phases I and II have been recently completed and include 260,000 square feet enclosed in six separate, interconnected structures varying from one to four stories. These structures are tied together with a curved circulation spine and a shared four-story atrium.

The project’s 20-acre site enhances and engages the natural environment, which is commensurate with dōTERRA’s founding principle of the restorative properties of nature. An existing sinkhole was improved with water features, recirculating ponds, and native plantings, and is now classified as a wetlands area available for use by all local residents. The site design features hundreds of linear feet of a dry stack sandstone wall that was locally sourced from Brown’s Canyon near Kamas, Utah. This “plinth wall” separates the pedestrian spaces, which have more formal landscaping than the trails and paths of the wetlands, and also allowed the design team to raise the elevation of the buildings, mitigating the shallow water table and allowing for a sloped auditorium. Water features and plazas are incorporated into the site design between each of the buildings to allow visual connections between the building occupants and the beauty of nature. Additionally, the building is oriented to maximize access to daylight and views of the surrounding mountain vistas, of which the primary focal point is Mt. Timpanogos.

With a high water table and most of the site being in marshy wetlands, a grid work of over 500 aggregate piers was used to improve the soils under each of the structural footings. These piers are 20” in diameter and extend to a depth of 22 feet.