Honda's Future Designs are Hidden in Plain Sight

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Washington DC September 14, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that keeping prying eyes and spy photographers away from future vehicles is paramount for vehicle designers and product planners. And no company plays it closer to the vest than Honda. So why did Honda install its North American advanced design studio amid a heavily-trafficked stretch of retail storefronts in the bustling suburb of Pasadena?

According to Automotive News, the studio, which opened in 2007, is one of three urban advanced design centers Honda has around the world. The only indication of what goes on inside the street-level storefront space are two small window decals.

To keep the drawings and clay models secret from the outside world, studio architect George Yu created an 8-foot-tall "cocoon" of 99 undulating acrylic panels that surround the work space, leaving a 3-foot gap between the cocoon and the historical brick building's wall of exterior windows.

For designers it's a 10-second walk to a retail district teeming with cutting-edge retail stores that provide them with inspiration. The most difficult thing about the studio's location is transporting scale models to American Honda Motor Co.'s headquarters in Torrance, Calif. The new secret designs are shrouded under a cover, and usually late at night are clandestinely brought out to an unmarked delivery vehicle for shipment down the 405 to waiting Honda Execs in Torrence.