This production centre in Woking, a city in commuting distance to London, is characterized neither by roaring machines, frantically rotating high-tech robots, nor an unsightly industrial atmosphere, but by serenity and a deliberate quest for unified design. Each year employees of race car manufacturer McLaren Automotive assemble up to 4000 vehicles by hand here – in a setting more akin to a laboratory than a car factory.
Built-ins no higher than 1.60 m, white surfaces, and open or generously glazed work areas (even in the paint shop) provide working conditions in which employees are continually in contact with each other. Concealed pipes, cables and ducts with a variety of connection options for the required equipment make it possible to flexibly arrange the production area.
The focus is directed in equal degree to the product, the building, and the individual: this has to do with the fact that McLaren Production Centre serves not only as production site, but also as marketing instrument with which the company’s high art of engineering and craftsmanship is to be communicated to visitors. That this occurs in a matter-of-fact and discreet manner is illustrated by the building’s immediate surroundings: the expansive, unspoilt landscape is free of fences and »no entry« signs.
Built-ins no higher than 1.60 m, white surfaces, and open or generously glazed work areas (even in the paint shop) provide working conditions in which employees are continually in contact with each other. Concealed pipes, cables and ducts with a variety of connection options for the required equipment make it possible to flexibly arrange the production area.
The focus is directed in equal degree to the product, the building, and the individual: this has to do with the fact that McLaren Production Centre serves not only as production site, but also as marketing instrument with which the company’s high art of engineering and craftsmanship is to be communicated to visitors. That this occurs in a matter-of-fact and discreet manner is illustrated by the building’s immediate surroundings: the expansive, unspoilt landscape is free of fences and »no entry« signs.