Ford Campus Background

 

The Ford Motor Company corporate campus is located about 10 miles west of Detroit in the city of Dearborn. Ford first began purchasing property here along the Rouge River in 1915, but it was not until 1917, with the impetus of World War I, that they completed the first structure to produce eagle boats for the war effort. Countless additions later, the Rouge complex, now referred to as the Ford Rouge Center, is still operational and is itself an exemplar of adaptive reuse. The expansion of production at the Rouge anchored Ford in Dearborn, where the company would continue to expand its campus, especially after World War II.  

 

Albert Kahn designed most of these early Rouge constructions. Kahn was beyond prolific in his partnership with Ford, designing hundreds of other buildings in Dearborn, around the country, and internationally. While his work can be found around the world, Kahn is recognized as the preeminent Detroit industrial architect of his time. His work in Detroit is also quite varied as he designed several factories (not just for Ford), public buildings, schools, and private homes, including the home of Edsel and Eleanor Ford. He worked very closely with Henry Ford on many of the commissions he completed on behalf of the Company, with the Ford Engineering Laboratory as one of the most notable.

The Ford Engineering Laboratory and The Human Bridge

 

This year marks the centennial of the Ford Engineering Laboratory’s (FEL) construction. Over the last century the historic structure underwent several additions and redesigns to keep up with shifting uses for the space. When completed, the Dearborn Engineering Laboratory, as it was first referred to, housed all that was necessary to design and test the entire vehicle. Upon opening, FEL was considered one of the largest open office spaces of its time. The main workspace is essentially one large room. The openness lent itself to adaptive reuse over the years as new buildings were added to the Ford Dearborn campus and the Company relocated business functions.

 

On the façade of the building, it reads:

Mankind passes from the old to the new on a human bridge formed by those who labor in the three principle arts – agriculture – manufacture – transportation.

 “The Human Bridge” is also the title of a film produced by Ford in 1949, which begins with a close up of FEL’s façade and this same Beaux-Art relief. The moving image lays out the incredibly involved process of creating a vehicle from the design stage all the way to rolling off the line and onto the streets. We see images of stylists in FEL’s open space adjusting elements of the initial design, modelers piling on and deftly shaving away clay, hunched designers sharing space in a sea of drafting tables, and experimental engineers lowering an engine. The model that rolls off at the end is the 1949 Super Deluxe, one of Ford’s first passenger cars produced after World War II. The Super Deluxe eventually finds itself sharing the road with its much older counterpart: the Model T. In an unintentionally comic move, it swiftly passes the old timer, with both drivers giving one another a friendly wave.

 

At the time this was meant to demonstrate the modernization of the processes, some of which Ford had revolutionized, that went into vehicle production. The passing of the torch from team to team appears almost as an endless cycle, made up of countless workers and their streamlined cooperation. While a bit on the nose, this same concept of the human bridge is ever-apparent in the life of the Ford Engineering Laboratory and its extended reuse.

 

The History of Renovation and Adaptation 

 

In the mid 1950’s, one of the first major transformations occurred when designers moved out of FEL to the newer Research and Engineering Center across the street. This meant outfitting the space to support engineers more fully, eventually changing the name to Engine and Electrical Engineering (EEE), or “Triple E,” and even later Powertrain Operations and Engine Engineering (POEE). Construction began in the fall of 1954 to add 156,800 square feet to provide additional shop and office space, and the exciting introduction of air conditioning.

 

Decades later, another major renovation began in 1978 to more fully modernize the aging laboratory. Renovations continued thereafter by adding drop ceilings and various cubicle designs and arrangements, until the building was finally decommissioned for the foreseeable future in 2007.

 

FEL remained empty until 2015 when the Campus Renovation project resurrected the building. Engineers from other areas on campus moved back to the appropriately renamed Ford Engineering Laboratory. During this renovation the center of the building became the Ford Archives. In a space that was formerly a courtyard, the construction team created a modern archival space. The purpose-built, climate-controlled stacks include three miles of rolling shelves and three coolers for photo negatives, film, and video. Appropriately, the historic building is now home to the Company’s history and team of archivists.

Current Renovations

 

Few understand the work it takes to alter a building that was designed to last, even when bringing it closer to its original state. Of course, this is a testament to Albert Kahn and his design. The construction team was able to consult historic architectural drawings and other archival sources to better understand the foundation of FEL. Even with these sources there were still some revelations along the way.

 

Coincidentally the renovation efforts revealed, all at once, past iterations of the space. During demolition, workers uncovered bright orange paint, while in other areas a powder blue presented itself, likely from an even earlier design.

 

Uncovering the original vaulted steel ceiling, long hidden by the ten-foot drop ceiling, was one of the greater renovation tasks for the crew. Five monitors, also steel but similar in structure to those one would commonly recognize on a barn, run along the middle of the building parallel to the central walkway. Once they removed the drop ceiling this uncovered four of the monitors, more than doubling the clearance at 26 feet.

 

After the construction team removed the drop ceiling, they were also able to install new skylights at the building’s center, as shown in the renderings below. During a previous renovation in the late 1970’s most of the former skylights had been removed. The natural light that stylists and engineers would have worked under some 75 years ago has finally returned. 

 

Removing drywall that surrounded columns throughout the central area revealed long-hidden intact metalwork. After removing layers of paint and media blasting the metal with steel pellets, the columns were sealed to preserve the design work. On one of the columns Henry Ford and several associates marked their heights, this too will be preserved and included in the space for employees to view.

Employees’ use of the space was also top of mind in the interior redesign. Acoustic paneling, strategically carpeted areas, and soft seating will prevent an unworkable and loud office environment. There will be conference, huddle, and focus rooms throughout the building, as well as a 24/7 market, coffee bar, and a mother’s room.

 

The adaptation of the space honors its original design, while also future-proofing the building so that it can continue to be reused in whatever capacity. The way engineers or other Ford employees may use the various individual spaces or collaboration areas might look much different from the teams of designers and engineers from “The Human Bridge.” They will be able to move inside and outside the space as their projects demand, while fundamentally so much of this work remains the same. This fall, the Ford Engineering Laboratory is bringing back creative collaboration in a space that pioneered it.

 

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About the Author

 

Shelby Long is an Audiovisual Archivist with The Winthrop Group, contracted at the Ford Motor Company Archives. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Kalamazoo College and her M.S.I. in Archives and Digital Curation from the University of Michigan School of Information. She has been in her current position for three years working within the audiovisual collection, as well as researching and presenting on the history of Ford. Before her role at Ford, she researched and wrote about digital preservation and research support for libraries, archives, and museums.