Rotisserie chickens and design secrets

It is expected that some of this cooperation will take place in relation to food.

The new headquarters includes a 160,000-square-foot dining area with eight “kitchen concepts” that will feature rotating menus as well as in-house dining options like pizza, a $6 whole roast chicken, delicious desserts, and a juice bar complete with an herb garden.

“We have guests coming from all over the world, so we wanted to make sure we designed our menus to reflect that diversity,” said Grant Vella, executive chef of the new headquarters. “We wanted to do something different and push the boundaries of dining at work.”

Beyond the kitchens and dining areas, plants and outdoor spaces are intended to make the campus more walkable compared to the automaker’s previous facility that was largely closed off to streets and parking lots.

“This headquarters is the cornerstone of our campus redevelopment, but there has been a tremendous amount of work we have done throughout the campus to really connect it and make it more walkable for our employees,” Dobleski said, pointing to several amenities and areas, including the testing track and the 18-acre “Horsepower Park,” which surrounds the building.

Inside the building are six courtyards, including a double courtyard located in the center of the company’s new design studios to allow designers to take products outside to view them outdoors in natural light. These designer courtyards are exclusive areas that can only be viewed from the surrounding private studios.

Most four-story buildings feature outdoor natural light from exterior glass walls as well as skylights and other window areas.

In addition to creating a more walkable outdoor campus, Ford wants employees to use purposefully designed stairs instead of the elevators and escalators that are the primary means of transportation at its 12-story headquarters.

Each staircase in the building, especially in the 14 different access areas, is prominent and meant to be attractive to use, said Craig Dekkers, co-founder of Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta that worked on the building.

“Obviously people don’t naturally want to climb stairs, so you have to design it very carefully so that people feel good about using stairs,” he said. “Part of the trick is that when you get on one flight, you don’t necessarily see the next flight, so it’s kind of a flight.”

The stairs within the building’s main lobby are very wide and feature seating areas alongside the low-rise stairs. There is also a café in a large area above the main lobby.

The café overlooks a white artwork containing composite parts, one of several notable pieces of art that Ford has purchased or curated for the new facility. Others are photos or drawings of vehicles, while some are simply non-automotive pieces of art.

Within the company’s design operations are large studios equipped with advanced clay milling machines, a spacious showroom that will serve as a state-of-the-art dome, and a 64-foot screen displaying virtual evaluations and tests.

What employees won’t see much is the company’s logo, the familiar blue oval that surrounds the name “Ford.” There will be a huge blue oval Ford logo on the outside of the building but not on its interior. Unless you look closely.

On some exterior glass walls, like the company’s own design processes, there is a glass pattern featuring oval shapes accompanied by hidden numbers representing Ford patents.

Ford declined to discuss the capital spent to build its new headquarters and design center, which was part of a previously announced $1 billion transformation of the campus that began under former CEO Jim Hackett, who previously led furniture company Steelcase.

Here’s a look inside the new global headquarters: