General Motors

Case Study

415.402.0888 | MKThink.com

General Motors Corporation Warren, MI Warren Tech Center Modernization

Back-to-the-Future:

1950s Principles Inform Today’s Vehicle Engineering and Design Integration MARK R. MILLER, AIA, LEED Project Director Mark led the project from initial pitch and conceptualization through design, initially as a director at KMD and subsequently, as principal of MKThink.

CHALLENGE | General

By the 1990s, with additions

Motors needed to modernize

and changes to operations, the

its 680-acre campus and

campus no longer aligned with

4,000,000-sf, 50-year-old

modern design and engineering

Warren, MI design center around

principles. The Warren Tech

Mark continued to advise GM on the Macro Project and led the Design Guidelines, Campus Wayfinding Design, Strategic Plan for the Design Center, and Concept Design for the Visitor Center and Experience.

a fundamentally different

Center needed to evolve to keep

strategy: from Brand Distinction

pace with the technology of the

and regionalism towards global

vehicle engineering industry.

vehicle engineering and design integration. Further challenging

APPROACH | The initial,

the ambition were legacy

3-year leadership of KMD followed

complexities, including a historic

by the 5-year leadership of

campus and building framework,

MKThink, organized a world-class

along with outdated systems

team of architects, engineers, and

infrastructure on an urban scale.

specialists. The multidisciplinary team solicited input from key

CONTEXT | In the early STEVE KELLEY, AIA Project Director Steve led the team that designed the overall Campus Master Plan for the Vehicle Engineering Center.

Owing to his direction of the historic preservation, the campus earned National Historic Landmark distinction.

With funded earned from tax credits for the landmark status, Steve led the restoration of the historic Saarinen curtain walls and the design of the Visitor Center experience.

stakeholders and staff through interviews, town hall meetings,

1950s, Alfred P. Sloan, the

and surveys. The team introduced

legendary Board Chairman of

an analytic framework that

General Motors Corporation,

connected human performance

teamed up with architect

and physical improvements and

Eero Saarinen and landscape

focused on leveraging utilization.

architect Thomas Church to

The framework laid out detailed

create a pioneering vision for

guidelines and principles to

the modern workplace through

coordinate large-scale, multiyear

the integration of design and

construction and renovation that

engineering. The resulting

allowed uninterrupted business

Warren (Michigan) Tech Center,

and engineering operations.

become the most influential, modernist workplace experience of its era.

the IDEAS company for the built environment

415.402.0888 | MKThink.com

General Motors Corporation Warren, MI Warren Tech Center Modernization

PROJECT DATA

STRATEGY | As Project Director of the A/E team, Mark Miller, AIA proposed to reposition the design from “formal

TYPE WORKPLACE LOCATION WARREN, MI DATES 1997 - 2006

design expression and workplace efficiency measures” to a model of “integrated design focused on a high performance workplace and ROI”.

The team pioneered data-driven workplace evaluation processes and space programming methods. These informed a competition-winning strategy that

SIZE 680-acre campus 1.4 million sf renovation 1.0 million sf new construction

SERVICES SCOPE Space Programming Master Planning Design Master Architect Historic Preservation Design Guidelines

consolidated design and engineering efforts into a focused core campus. The revitalized core provided GM with measurable qualitative and quantitative advantages that respected the historic Saaranen-Sloan legacy while extending it to a contemporary workplace experience and campus design.

This meant integrating the stylized and well kept west campus with the industrial, less-tended east campus. A new landscape feature provided the physical link, and the new 10-story, 1,000,000 sf Vehicle Engineering Center (VEC) served as the practical and symbolic anchor.

The VEC was the tallest building north of Detroit and

ANALYTIC FINDINGS • •

•

•

•

$1 billion / 10 year facilities budget to achieve goals Collaboration through consolidation at multiple scales of workplace Realignment of workplace adjacencies by function not department Flexible engineering space adjustable to the pace of products cycles Reintegrating of landscape and environment into physical workplace experience

extended laterally into a new reflection lake that featured an Event Island for corporate and public gatherings.

Detailed design guidelines directed immediate and future construction and renovation. Business plans were developed for each building to correlate capital investment ROI to product-centric and collaborative workplace objectives.

RESULT | The 10-year engagement culminated in the Warren Tech Center, an award-winning, high performance global center. Highlights of the project include: • Flexible building systems that increased collaborative space 35% and condensed individual space 24% •

Modernization of a vehicle engineering center, which employed 10,000 engineers

•

National Historic Landmarks distinction by National Park Service, which enhanced the brand and earned tax credits of $150M+

•

Integration of architecture and site design with product placement, marketing, and branding

•

Branded wayfinding that crowned campus integration

the IDEAS company for the built environment

415.402.0888 | MKThink.com

General Motors Corporation Warren, MI Warren Tech Center Modernization

SLOAN AND SAARINEN LEGACY GM WARREN TECH CENTER, WARREN MI Inspired by vehicles for vehicles, the campus design manifested vehicular movement and optimism for the future of engineering and productivity.

CAMPUS MASTER PLAN A railroad track divided the vehicle engineering center from the corporate offices .

The

project team

bridged this divide with a pedestrian overpass that connects the two sides and a central park that serves as a tribute to the headquarters ’ historic core .

These

design

features introduced a perpendicular axis that unifies the campus in an architectural sense and a business one .

the IDEAS company for the built environment

415.402.0888 | MKThink.com

General Motors Corporation Warren, MI Warren Tech Center Modernization

NEW VEHICLE ENGINEERING CENTER The new 10-story, 1,000,000 sf Vehicle Engineering Center (VEC) served as the practical and symbolic anchor of the renovated

Campus . This VEC was the Detroit and

tallest building north of

extended laterally into a new reflection lake that featured an

Event Island

for

corporate and public gatherings .

VIRTUAL REALITY ‘EGG’ This concept explored and defined the relationship between emerging visual technologies and the workplace

SITE as BRAND EXPRESSION The Lake and Event Island create connections between the formal workplace and exterior experiences, big and small

the IDEAS company for the built environment