Tomorrow's manufacturing facilities : the design of a car assembly plant for the 21st century

Abstract

Spatial reorganization of production conditions (resulting from technical progress in the field of fabrication), on both, a large and a small scale, implies that an important effort from industrial companies has been made to develop new concepts for the working environment. Many companies, such as IBM, Renault or Olivetti, have already invested large amount of money and research time in the definition of their future factories, involving architects, sociologists, economists, etc. As a consequence, new and different requirements have been formulated that have to be considered by architects and engineers in charge of the design. Flexibility, and a deep concern about protecting future design possibilities, in order to make the best adaptation to the market, lead these thoughts. Because a car assembly plant involves a wide range of different techniques, in the production area, and allows the definition of building and design criteria for the construction industry, it has been chosen as a case study. The present thesis analyzes the existing models and their problems, determines a direction for solutions, and explores a new structural modular system, as a step towards new approaches for design and construction. The design proposal shows an example of a displacesable building, with the same duration cycle as the manufactured product, and minimum damaging consequences for the site.