Description

The Design and Engineering Centre sits mainly on an east-west axis. The internal street is similarly aligned. It commences at the centre of the east-west block, where the office wing, oriented north-south, joins the larger block.

At the western end of the street is the design complex, a square, doughnut-shaped single-storey structure, with the right-angled main studio situated to its south and west. Two smaller studios and a showroom are located to the north of this block, with their north-facing elevation glazed full height towards an external garden for viewing models. In the centre of the design complex is an internal viewing garden. This arrangement of space reflects the design process, which requires rectilinear floorplates, with generous, well-lit areas and volumes for viewing.

The largely open-plan studios are naturally lit and roofed with curving 840mm-deep tubular steel trusses, set at 9m centres. These span wall to wall without intervening columns, providing the necessary space to develop concepts by using full-scale clay and fibreglass mock-ups and models.

At the east end of the design studios, the workshops and street commence. The width of the quadruple volume street was defined by the large vehicles which are moved from the workshops which line it on both sides. The workshops themselves are single storey and approximately 6m clear in height.

Above the workshops to the north of the street, is a void. Above this is the large open plan floor accommodating engineers, with a mezzanine over half of that area, along its northern edge.

The four-storey wing to the north houses the directors' offices and boardroom on the top floor, two floors for teams of some 250 engineers, and ground floor meeting facilities. This wing is joined to the rest of the building by a four-storey, substantially glazed, reception block.