portfolio : tech centers

BorgWarner
Creating a new corporate culture is an immense task. We benchmarked creative environments, progressive technologies and unique methodologies. But how do you bring the dream to be embraced by all your employees? We developed a design process which engaged every person at some level of dialogue, and then had them help us develop building concepts that expressed the culture to everyone. By living the dream they became a part of it.

A program that helped define a new corporate culture. Finding a site that would make a special place to support that culture. A budget that was immovable. Benchmarking nationwide. Assessing every piece of equipment with their engineers, every piece of furniture with their staff. Respecting every individual’s creative capability. Making a place for getting innovations to market faster, better and cheaper. Making new facilities to support their business and marketing goals – their vision of the future. That’s what BorgWarner called Value. That’s what Studio B delivered.

Comfort was essential in the new culture. Comfort in being oriented while moving from one place to another—Meeting people, exchanging new ideas. Comfort knowing your prototypes are right at hand. That your customer prefers meetings at your office. Comfort that the team has open communications -- but total privacy is only a few steps away.

They dreamed of combining three separate divisions—merging three complex cultures and bringing innovations faster, better and cheaper to their customers. We gave them all that and more. A place for teamwork, sharing, shaping new ideas. A place animated by light, infused with a blend of meeting and private space. A place celebrating technology, innovation and new ideas.

A.P.I
When Automotive Products, Inc. brought their proprietary finishing methods, manufacturing and engineering to North America they needed land, room to expand, a developer, a landlord, and someone to protect their dollars at every turn.  Studio B delivered the entire package and saved them over $1.5 million in “typical” commissions along the way. True value and a success story for everyone involved.

Behr
This German supplier of paint application systems needed new research/development/production space and room to expand with future success.  We helped them prioritize their needs, budgets and schedules; negotiated a flexible land deal; cut through the red tape; downsized the land purchase and planned for all future expansion needs to be built without interruption.  We met all their needs. On budget.  On time.

Calsonic
They dreamed of a place for business that spoke of their native land and of their adopted home. A Japanese/American company that celebrates both cultures and builds on the strengths of each while committing to the spirit and challenge of individual creativity. The result was another award-winning building, on time and under budget.

The site was already purchased. It fit 60,000 square feet just fine. But after hiring Studio B it became clear their true needs were 103,000 square feet. Variances to make it fit would take an extra four months. We finalized the design and worked the approval process simultaneously. A calculated risk that paid big dividends. The facility was occupied just ten months after final city approvals. Under budget. On time.

They had $10 million budgeted for 70,000 SF. We delivered 103,000 SF for under nine! They had $1.2 million for furniture. We gave them furniture and a complete customized artwork program for ten percent less! They wanted fewer columns in their labs. We clear spanned it for total flexibility! They wanted to express both their American and Japanese cultures. We celebrated them through our designs! Studio B delivered value!

Comfort was brought to Calsonic with great natural and artificial lighting. With a clear sense of orientation from anywhere in the workplace. With comfortable greeting and meeting spaces. With a layout that ensures security of their customers’ work and their own trade secrets. Comfort brought by adapting Feng Shui principles and native Japanese design elements. It looks good, it feels nice, it fits right.

The distinction Studio B provided this tier-one auto supplier in their North American technical center is stated eloquently by the jury that conferred a Michigan Honor Award on our design. “The jury was impressed by the almost sacred qualities of this exquisite interior. The melding of two cultural styles, the subtle interweaving of the currents of nature, the sympathy among the materials used, the multiple uses of natural light, from filtered to direct to reflected, all combine to make an environment that seems at once to anchor you in this place and transport you to another world. It is simultaneously inventive and inevitable.”

Carlo
This diverse corporate enterprise required facilities for a half-dozen companies with centralized executive control.  After years of growing pains, the owner’s demanded comfort at every corner, at every workstation.  Lighting, materials, details, views and vistas—everything was geared to provide comfort along with all the tools to get the job done.

Durr
This German environmental company wanted a distinct image that conveyed their technological prowess and their “green” sensitivities.  We tucked the building along a stream, with natural grasses brushing its edges.  We made the storm water retention pond into a reflecting pool along the entry path to a striking, crowned lobby rotunda.  We infused the interior with natural light from an intricate skylight over a gracious central open staircase.  Then we offset the entire composition on the site to maximize views and vistas from within and without.

Fibercraft
When this automotive design house needed to triple in size they had a five-month window of opportunity.  We seized it for them—securing an existing building shell and a development partner to finance the deal and act as landlord.  We then fast-tracked the design of over 80,000 square feet of office & meeting space, wood and clay model studios, and intensive CAD/CAM capability.  All delivered and occupied three weeks early!

Kuka
When they brought their proven technologies in making automated assembly lines to North America, this German company needed lots of flexibility. We put robotic subassembly areas and the main assembly modules in the same structural bays.  Thirty-five feet under the hook of 20 ton cranes spanning 100 feet and traveling 800 feet in length.  Column free areas allowed much greater diversity in their logistics and for less cost than conventional framing. 

They needed to be able to expand in the future without a minute of downtime in their operations.  We added a third floor and extended all three bays, four years later, without a hitch due to flexibility in our initial design and detailing of structure, infrastructure, shipping areas and systems modularity. A success story for Studio B and for KUKA.

Marposs
This privately held international provider of sophisticated measurement equipment wanted distinction at every corner of their North American headquarters.  We selected a site with a grassy hill for a distinctive placement of the building. Classic details of wood, glass and ceramics bring some of their Bolognese heritage into their interiors.  And natural lighting enlivens their exhibit, display, presentation and public spaces.

Simpson
We brought comfort to the minds of over 150 employees that agreed to relocate over 100 miles from a rural setting to the suburban edges of Metro Detroit.  We brought comfort by having all the right tools -- right where they need them--to get the job done better and faster.  We brought comfort with a single space for all employees to gather in at once, with a shop whose noise did not disrupt neighboring engineers, in a cafeteria with an outdoor patio and barbeque, in an artwork program which helped meld Simpson products, customers and production facilities from across the continent into the common new place they could all call “home”.