Giattina Aycock Architecture Studio Education Projects
HONDA TRAINING FACILITY
The Honda Training Facility’s program called for not only a center for training assembly line workers, but also a building to serve as the architectural gateway to the factory itself. A tall order for its 14-month schedule from client introduction to building occupancy; however, the project opened on time and within budget at $90/sf.
Located in a densely-wooded 20-acre site in rural Alabama, the Training Facility was sited to preserve tall stands of pine and mature hardwoods. A narrow access road winds through the trees capturing a sense of the forest before obliquely revealing the building’s long, low mass anchored into the landscape.
The facility is composed of three discrete volumes: a linear two-story bar of board-formed concrete housing classrooms and offices; a cubic meeting space clad in corrugated steel; and a large rectilinear shop of long-span steel and glass. The three volumes are unified by their relationship to each other and to the site. The concrete bar of classrooms burrows into the hill and connects the upper level main entry to the training area as a literal bridge between theory and practice.
The design was driven with basic materials, simple forms and a respectful attitude toward intervention in the landscape. Preserving site assets and consciously enabling relationships between inside and outside spaces, the architecture allows nature to enter the experience of those involved in the demanding and noisy business of assembling automobiles.
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