Northwestern University Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center

Evanston, USA

Photo © Neil Alexander Photography

Architects: Davis Brody Bond

Location: Evanston, USA
Year: 2005

Northwestern University’s Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center is the focal point of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science’s initiatives in design education. The facility provides resources for interdisciplinary, undergraduate engineering education. The building was programmed and designed to eliminate traditional departmental boundaries to focus on the integration of spaces for the Mechanical, Civil, and Biomedical Engineering Departments and the consolidated Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Departments. The state-of-the-art facility houses a centralized student machine shop, rapid prototyping facilities, biomedical/chemical engineering labs, a mechatronics lab, a CAD/CAM lab, studio classrooms, design fabrication and assembly spaces, a lecture hall, an automobile testing section and project display areas. Team meeting rooms and study space support collaboration, interdisciplinary work and an increasing reliance on information technology. A sky-lit glass-walled atrium interconnects floors visually and further encourages team-based learning.