Reinforced concrete enabled kahn to design large.
Albert kahn ford factory design open floor plan.
To design the new center building the fisher brothers turned to albert kahn who was already a superstar in the field of commercial and industrial architecture.
Kahn a prussian immigrant to detroit opened his firm in 1895 and quickly gained a reputation for his factory designs which utilized reinforced concrete instead of wooden structural.
With the rise of factory architecture and the rapid rate of growth in the industrial sector research for new solutions for production space was required.
Kahn s first factory for the ford motor company was the highland park plant in 1909.
Ford automotive production had previously taken place at the ford piquette avenue plant where the first model ts were built the highland park ford plant was approximately 4 miles 6 4 km northwest of the original dodge brothers factory who were subcontractors for ford producing.
Kahn s discussions with ford inspired him to develop factory floor plans that would accommodate both changes in production technology and the easy flow of products and materials throughout the factory space.
Kahn then used this technology in his designs for the palms apartments 1903 and the packard automotive plant 1905 the first use of reinforced concrete in automotive factory design in the country.
The traditional factory plans proved inadequate in providing the flexibility and safety needed for the new management of labor albert kahn.
Albert kahn industrial architect and planner known for his designs of american automobile factories.
Architect of ford 1993 p.