From Model T to Modern Medicine
Wexford Science + Technology / University of Pittsburgh, The Assembly
Laboratories and Research
When Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, it changed the world—transforming manufacturing, revolutionizing mobility, and accelerating the United States into modernity. Today, we are again on the cusp of a revolution of similar scale and impact, this time fueled by biomedical research and breakthroughs in personalized medicine. The accomplishments of the last century and the opportunities of the future are colliding at The Assembly, where the transformation of Pittsburgh’s historic Ford Motor Plant into a center for scientific research is indicative of a new era of innovation in the Steel City.
Once a bustling center of activity, the Ford Motor Plant was one of 31 across the country where Model Ts were mass assembled, sold out of a showroom, and subsequently serviced all in one building. As with much of America’s stock of industrial architecture however, the plant stopped producing cars by midcentury. Meanwhile, the surrounding Bloomfield neighborhood has continued to evolve as University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the Hillman Cancer Center moved in.
These unique conditions attracted the attention of Wexford Science & Technology, a developer exclusively focused on partnering with universities and academic medical centers to create mixed-use, amenity-rich knowledge communities. In collaboration with University of Pittsburgh and ZGF, Wexford seized the opportunity to transform the underutilized industrial remnant into a hub for discovery and entrepreneurial activity.
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Square Feet
524,366
Completion date
2021
Project Component
Architecture services
Interior design and space planning
Laboratory planning
Certifications
LEED Gold®
Shipped by rail to Pittsburgh, Model T kits were offloaded in the Ford Motor plant's vertical crane shed prior to assembly. Up to 40 Model Ts were assembled daily in Pittsburgh through 1932. Images courtesy of The Henry Ford.
Designed for cutting-edge cancer and immunology research, the building consolidates academic researchers and private industry tenants into one central location to inspire partnership and innovation.
Along Center Avenue sits a new public entryway, welcoming users into a warm and colorful lobby that unites the rehabilitated Ford Motor Plant with a new addition.
Much like Ford’s vision for an all-in-one building, the transformed plant assembles all the pieces of a typical innovation district within one city block. In addition to efficient and flexible laboratories for University of Pittsburgh immunotherapy researchers, the project features leasable space for industry partners and entrepreneurs, as well as proximity to research collaborators at UPMC. Generous amenity, retail, and conferencing space help attract top talent while serving tenants and the surrounding community alike.
A new laboratory tower and 325-car parking facility has been inserted adjacent to the Ford Plant. Clad in precast terracotta, the new addition complements the brick plant in materiality, form, and industrial character while remaining architecturally distinct. A landscaped terrace between the plant and the new tower connects the two volumes but visually demarcates the old and new structures.
The Ford Plant’s upper levels have been adapted to house research laboratories. With offices and write-up stations along the perimeter and labs at the center, the planning solution allows for easy access and transparency between work environments.
The success of this adaptive use project lies in its balance of great creativity and great restraint. The design sensitively rehabilitated the eight-story Ford plant while leaving many of its original architectural details intact. The plant’s vertical crane shed—a distinct architectural element where rail cars once entered the building to offload auto components—has been restored and transformed into an atrium for collaboration and social functions. Imbued with authentic character, the original corner showroom has been reinvented as community-serving retail.
One of the plant’s most distinctive spaces, the vertical crane shed sits adjacent to rail tracks and once allowed train cars to offload raw auto components directly into the plant.
The crane shed has been reimagined as a collaboration zone and event amenity for scientists and their research partners.
The transformation of the Model T showroom into market retail preserves many of the original design elements, from the octagonal columns to the showroom windows, infusing the space with authenticity and character.
Through the transformation of a historic resource, ZGF helped our clients create a novel environment where advanced research and leading-edge ideas can meet the resources and business acumen to cross the chasm to market-viability. The Assembly offers a fitting new role for a structure, which once embodied the disruptive technologies brought forth by Henry Ford, to provide the backdrop for tomorrow’s scientific breakthroughs.
“Buildings like [The Assembly] really are the lifeblood of communities. They provide jobs for those in the neighborhood and distribute innovations."
Thomas Osha, Senior Vice President, Innovation and Economic Development, Wexford Science & Technology
Paying homage to the building’s history, digitally restored antique photos of the original Ford plant are interwoven throughout the facility.
When it opened over a century ago, the Ford plant epitomized American innovation. Today, the adaptive reuse of this historic relic into a center for biomedical research presents a case study in how industrial architecture can be revitalized for tomorrow’s economy.
The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation, Medical Research Laboratory 1
Science Center / Wexford Science + Technology, uCity Square Master Plan
Adaptive Reuse: A Winning Sustainability Strategy
The University of Texas at Arlington, Science and Engineering Innovation and Research Building
