On the heels of its most profitable quarter in history, the iconic Ford Motor Company, synonmous with popularizing the automobile, announced plans to invest $4.5 billion in electric vehicles to reshape its fleet. That's simply where the industry is headed. Similar logic informed another big shift from a Ford; in this case, the Ford Foundation based in New York City. The global philanthropic giant founded by Henry and Edsel Ford, which boasts $12.4 billion in assets, has decided to radically reshape its iconic Manhattan headquarters, built in 1968 and designed by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, to, in the words of current president Darren Walker, be less "hierarchical, off-putting and top-down." While the renovation will alter a landmark, the move to make the monumental space space more open is, simply, a prime indication of where office design is headed.
Filed under: