Snøhetta has unveiled a new Central Campus Building for Ford Motor Company, part of the transformation of its Research & Engineering (R&E) Campus in Dearborn, Michigan. As the result of a 3-year research and planning process, the project was created in collaboration with IBI Group as the Architect of Record, Ghafari as the Engineer of Record, and Arup leading sustainability and engineering.
Supporting Ford’s aspiration to create an environment that allows it to lead the automotive industry into the future of mobility technologies, as well as its new work-from-home model, the Snøhetta project puts in place a Central Campus building. Part of the master plan for the Research & Engineering (R&E) Campus in Dearborn, Michigan, also designed by Snøhetta, the structure is imagined as a “resource that gives employees a place to come together and facilitate the easy flow and circulation of ideas”. In fact, the interconnected and resilient workplace of the future is centered on catalyzing opportunities for health, collaboration, co-location, and product innovation.
The Central Campus Building communicates both the legacy and the future of Ford. Drawing from a rich legacy of consumer and employee trust, the project was designed as a center of excellence in Ford’s hometown. The Center is a renewed commitment to Ford’s employees, creating a people-first workplace that will also prepare the company to reimagine the future of innovation. -- Snøhetta
Bringing together a technologically advanced workplace with productive landscapes, the new Central Campus Building will be a space for approximately 6,400 employees from Ford’s many disciplines, including design and engineering. It will include amenities, offices, design studios, fabrication shops, laboratories, and courtyards as a network to create proximity between people and products, allowing cross-disciplinary teams to work together around a product line within physical and visual proximity. Moreover, it generates functional spaces like design studios and serves as a community asset, placed near Oakwood Boulevard and activated with public amenities to engage the community.
From the Central Campus Building’s interiors to its exterior facades and diverse landscapes, the project was designed to express movement. Freedom of innovation and freedom of movement are interrelated concepts, and the design and engineering of the Central Campus Building combines both. -- Snøhetta
Creating connections across floors, the new workplace will allow for expansion and contraction. Transitioning from a closed to an open campus, the Central Campus Building will create a new public face for Ford opposite notable landmarks such as the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. From plazas and courtyards to paths and gardens, the campus landscapes are each productive. Finally, capturing and managing stormwater on-site links planting areas with stormwater channels and site features to create diversity and seasonality across the full campus.
