Ford Rouge Center Industrial Redevelopment
Index:

Ford Rouge Center Industrial Redevelopment

Project Overview:

Environmental Storm Water Quality:

Green Roof: 

Energy Reduction:

Environmental Quality for Occupants:

Recycling:

Adaptive Reuse of Buildings:

Landscape Initiatives:

Reduction of Toxicity:

Awards and Certifications received to date:

Energy Reduction: 

Rather than meet the cooling load for the Final Assembly and Body Shop buildings through the use of mechanical equipment sized for peak demand, the chiller component of the project evolved into a sustainable thermal storage chiller that used a 1.3 million gallon storage tank.  Incorporating the water storage tank into the building allowed water within the tank to be cooled at a steady rate that would be drawn against as required.  The high periods of cooling demands were satisfied by thermally stored cool water rather than through the operation of equipment running at peak periods.  As the engineering design moved to a sustainable perspective, it provided a business case that resulted in less equipment with lower capital expenditure and lower energy utilization.

According to Bill Newman of Arcadis-Giffels: “When the decision was made to air temper the Dearborn Truck Plant, the selection of combined chillers and chilled water storage, over the conventional chiller-only system allows for continuous energy savings by base loading the chillers. This means operating them more efficiently around the clock by storing the unused chilled water during off peak hours for use during peak hours.  The Truck Plant’s Campus had a large enough cooling capacity to allow for the economical use of chillers with chilled water storage, thereby saving money not only on the first cost but also on the yearly operating energy and maintenance costs of the system. 

Environmental Quality for Occupants:

The interior environments, the working areas, were just as demanding as systems relating to the exterior.  For sustainability to be viable, provisions were needed for a positive and healthy work environment.  Human comfort issues include the introduction of daylight into large percentage of all building areas including manufacturing spaces.  Day lighting was provided through monitors, skylights and specially placed windows.  A positive sense of open space within a light-filled environment tends to positively impact worker productivity.  The use of non-toxic and low emissive materials and finishes were added to the projects specification.  It was difficult to place a construction life-cycle cost analysis to the “soft” environmental benefits for the occupants.

According to William Kroczolowski of Arcdis Giffels: “At the beginning of the project, whenever presentations were made to the employees about what the new Dearborn Truck Plant might look like, the dominant attitude of the workers was; sure we have heard all of this before, but nothing ever changed. As the scope of the projects progressed from big to small to definitive detail, the attitude of the workers changed as well. Suddenly, they were reading about the new Dearborn Truck Plant in the Ford Rouge Connection, a regularly published magazine about the news and construction happening at their site. The Truck Plant credibility leaped from rumor to Our Future. The employees’ interest in the project increased proportionally. It was during this time frame that Arcadis Giffels started receiving requests from the more experienced employees asking how they might help during the design process. The message received was that Ford Motor Co. had provided their families with a tremendous life style, and as they prepared for their upcoming retirements, they wanted to repay the company in some way. They wanted to leave behind a small legacy of themselves at the Rouge.It was obvious that this was important to them. While not all of their suggestions were feasible, we listened to them all. The ideas that reflected the “Remember and protect the past” goal established early on during this project were incorporated in some way. The Commemorative Wall and Plaza, Powerhouse memorial, Employee Walkway to DTP Assembly, to name a few, all include design elements by employees from memories of their, or their families’ time at the Rouge.

The greatest pleasure an architect can achieve is to see their concepts and ideas transformed into a three dimensional reality. That pleasure is compounded when the users of the building approach the designers, and thank them for what their efforts have accomplished. Again and again, their message is consistent. The “Thank You” being offered is not on their behalf, but on behalf of the future generations of employees who will work at the Dearborn Truck Plant but “won’t have to do it under the same conditions that we had to”.  In some small way, while remembering the past, a foundation has been laid for a solid future. Thirty years from now, one cannot help but wonder what today’s “next generation” of workers will remember of their work life and how it will relate to their predecessors’ recollections.”

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