Ford Motor Company Vehicle Performance & Electrification Center OWNER: Ford
Motor Company Associates, LLC/Jacobs CONTRACTOR: Stenco Construction DESIGNER: Ghafari
Ford Motor Company’s Vehicle Performance and Electrification Center (VPEC) is a revolutionary research and testing facility situated on a 14-acre campus in Allen Park, where the automaker tests passenger and motorsports vehicles to achieve even greater fuel efficiency and performance. This 210,000 square foot facility includes three attached buildings featuring the most technologically advanced wind tunnel of its kind: capable of speeds of up to 200 mph. It also includes a state of-the-art rolling road system, a traversing measurement system, a cutting-edge frontal area measurement system, and a variety of battery cyclers and environmental chambers, as well as multiple offices and work areas.
TEAMWORK
A critical part of this collaboration was developing the plans for the wind tunnel portion of VPEC. This structure required incredibly tight tolerances – no simple feat for a building constructed out of concrete with a 28-foot-tall
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octagon box-out for the future fan and two double-curved contraction walls at 43 and 47 feet tall. The project team utilized a design-build approach to control the budget and also utilized BIM modeling to eliminate issues in the model environment ahead of construction. Early on in the project, the scope expanded from an original 25,000 square foot wind tunnel facility to include a 185,000 square foot battery lab, other support facilities, new functionalities, and potential future facilities. This scope expansion impacted the original schedule. However, the Stenco design-build team worked closely with Ford Motor Company and the design partners to develop a new set of updated project plans. Lean construction practices were implemented for the project, including onsite preassembly, strategic laydown areas, detailed logistics plans, and just-in-time delivery. These tactics allowed the project to run as efficiently as possible, conserving both time and money.
