Story

General Dynamics invited FTCH to design a new collaboration facility for their Land Systems Division in fall 2009. The campus includes the main office and research and development facility. At 13,000 sf, this facility represents a small fraction of the total building area it was designed within, which was several hundred thousand square feet. However, the significance of this facility to the futures of General Dynamics, Southeast Michigan, and the United States is much greater than the project size would suggest. This importance stems from what happens inside this facility.

This new facility serves two primary purposes. First, it is the front door for visitors to General Dynamic’s facilities in Michigan. Second, this facility is the nexus for new ideas between their design team members and those outside the firm. It is a creative collaboration center providing space to formulate ideas, develop collaborative design concepts, and ultimately, construct and test design.

The design and construction of this facility embodies the notion of collaborative creativity. This project’s role is well beyond the notion of providing adequate space for the activities that will take place in it. This facility was truly meant to bring out creative thinking, in particular, hightech thinking. In addition, the facility provides extensive flexibility that will promote free thinking and allow for rapid changes in thinking, developing, and testing. General Dynamics Land Systems decided to proceed with an additional phase for the MC2 facility. FTCH was exclusively asked to design the new phase.