Evaluation

The sense that Land Rover's Design and Engineering Centre is buzzing with activity begins on entering the reception block. This derives from the extensive clear glass cladding over the block's four-storey volume. It also has a sharp sense of business focus. The purposeful buzz stems from the meetings which take place on open floorplates flanking the atrium at all levels.

The first floor of the engineering space has a view over the street through three large voids. These also bring a sense of connection with the centre as a whole to the mezzanine floor above. The quality of space on both these floors is high.

And none of the human quality is diminished by the drama of scale, despite its significance given the long open view down the floorplate. The sound level is comfortable and groups of engineers have control of their lighting. It is more impressive still when compared to the previous industry model of separating teams of engineers in visually discreet workspaces. Their integration within one space has business relevance.

Whilst the dedicated `office wing' is relatively conventional, it comprises pleasant space. Its relevance is in accommodating the business leadership alongside engineers, and in the same complex as the designers. This makes for an effective business headquarters, where the people at the helm can maintain a direct focus on emergent products.

It is the co-location with the design function that therefore makes Land Rover at Gaydon distinct. But the requirements of the design studios and workshops are technically specific. These spaces are anything but generic. This accounts for the variety in design of the centre's component elements. Operation in a business culture of trade secrecy accentuates the sense of compartmentation between the diverse elements. This is a fact of business life, to which the design needed to respond. Land Rover broke boundaries in amalgamating most of the engineers within an integrated open space. It also brought the hitherto separate design studios into a single complex. Further, the centre provides the shared facilities of meeting space, reception area and the iconic street in which staff undertaking separate areas of work can mingle. These are cultural and design successes.