Ford Assembly Building, Richmond, Calif.

Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects, Berkeley, Calif.

1 MIN READ

Designed in 1931 for Henry Ford by Albert Kahn, the 525,000-square-foot Ford Assembly Building on the San Francisco Bay waterfront sat fallow for many years. The restoration and preservation of this crumbling but historic structure transformed the space into a mixed-use, multitenant facility that now accommodates industrial, office, and retail spaces.

Jury: “This renovated facility has improved the region by saving an older building and its embodied energy.”

Client: “The design is elegant. It derives important lessons from the original architect, Albert Kahn, while at the same time refreshing and modernizing that design. And we were able to build it out at a fraction of the cost of a new structure. The building became immediately 100 percent leased and the tenants love their spaces.” —Eddie Orton, Orton Development

2011 Institute Honor Awards for Architecture

Jury
David Miller, FAIA, (chair) The Miller Hull Partnership
Ashley Clark, Assoc. AIA, LandDesign
Curtis Fentress, FAIA, Fentress Architects
T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA, Harboe Architect
David Neuman, FAIA, University of Virginia
Louis Pounders, FAIA, ANF Architects
Sarah Snodgrass, AIAS Representative, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Allison Williams, FAIA, Perkins+Will
Jennifer Yoos, AIA, VJAA

Ford Assembly Building, Richmond, Calif.
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About the Author

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson has been a contributing editor with ARCHITECT since 2008. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Co.Design, and CityLab among many other publications.

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