Guide Reveals High-Tech 'Stealth' Design Approach for New Tech Center
22 November 1999
Guide Corporation Reveals High-Tech 'Stealth' Design Approach for New Tech Center
Stealth Bomber Design, Black Rooms Focus on Lighting Technology
PENDLETON, Ind., Nov. 19 -- Guide Corporation unveiled plans
today for its new high-tech, state-of-the-art $15-million Technology and
Customer Center today in Pendleton, Ind., 20 miles north of Indianapolis.
Viewed from the air, the two-story, 120,000-square-foot structure will be
shaped in an extended "W" configuration that resembles a U.S. Air Force
Stealth bomber.
The Center's extended "W" design better represents the advanced technology
incorporated in automotive lighting systems than conventional, straight-line
building designs would have permitted.
Bordering I-69 and State Route 38, the Technology and Customer Center will
have two fronts. The main entrance "front" will face west. It will feature
three flag poles for the United States, Indiana and Guide Corporation flags,
and a large multi-dimensional red-and-black sculptured Guide corporate logo.
The highway "front" of the building, facing eastward to the heavily
traveled I-69 north-south corridor, will be the employee plaza. Highly
visible to interstate traffic, the plaza will be built in patterned concrete
and landscaped with trees and shrubbery. Three large retaining ponds will be
landscaped to enhance the site appearance from I-69.
Formed in November 1998 following a spin-off by General Motors, Guide
Corporation is the largest independent Tier One supplier of exterior lighting
systems for automotive OEMs in North America. The company traces its history
to 1906 when it was founded in Cleveland as The Guide Motor Lamp Manufacturing
Company. It produced the world's first successful automobile electric
headlamp in 1908.
The Technology and Customer Center will house Guide's engineering, design,
research and development personnel as well as test labs, customer-service, and
executive offices when it opens in May 2000. Between 400 and 500 employees
will be transferred to the Center from other Guide locations.
Designed by Lamson & Condon, Inc., of Indianapolis, the Technology and
Customer Center will feature gray-tinted glass combined with white gray-
accented metal panels that sweep both stories of the building fronts. The
building evokes the sleek, streamlined automobile designs envisioned for the
21st century.
Black Room Technology
More than 40,000 square feet of the building's 70,000-square-foot first
level will be devoted to engineering laboratory and research-and-development
purposes. Laboratory and R&D spaces will be located in the Center's north and
south wings. Each wing will be served with loading docks to ease loading and
unloading of heavy test equipment.
Prominent in the south wing's laboratory area will be three large black
rooms for testing headlamps and tail light assemblies. Occupying 9,000 square
feet of floor space, the three black rooms will have three matte black walls,
ceilings and floors; the fourth wall will be white.
The black rooms will accommodate 60-, 80- and 100-foot-long light tubes
outfitted with state-of-the-art photometry goniometers. Designed purely for
light testing and evaluation, the rooms will be minimally furnished.
A fourth black room will be located in the south wing's garage. Specially
equipped automobiles or trucks can be driven into the garage for on-car
lighting systems testing.
Lighting systems will also undergo testing in industry-accredited
laboratories like the vibration and wet rooms. Lined with special noise-
abatement materials, the vibration room will house the test equipment that
subjects automotive lighting to on- and off-road vibration and durability
simulations.
Headlamps and tail lights will be tested in wet and dry conditions and
extreme temperature variations in the Center's computer-controlled
environmental chamber.
The north wing will be devoted to product-and-process research and
development. It will include equipment for painting, aluminizing, and
processing and evaluation of materials, new finishes and coatings, and
warranty analysis.
Jeffrey Mickel, senior vice president and chief engineer at Guide
Corporation, said the new Center will be a North American showcase for
innovative automotive lighting technology. "This will be one of the most
advanced engineering design and R&D facilities for automotive lighting in the
world," Mickel added. "The Center enables Guide Corporation to expand and
consolidate our engineering capabilities under one roof in a state-of-the-art
facility."
Entrance and Lobby Design
The focal point of the two-story lobby will be a monumental staircase that
leads to the executive offices and customer conference room on the second
floor. A large display system will showcase Guide Corporation's automotive
lighting products from the first electric headlamp produced in 1908 to
lighting systems to be employed on new vehicle models in the coming century.
Adhering to the overall light theme governing the building's design, a
pyramid-shaped skylight will allow diffused natural daylight to stream in and
illuminate the lobby and entrance areas.
Rooftop mechanical locations will be shielded and symmetrically spaced to
present a smooth, uninterrupted view of the building from passing vehicles.
Site land clearing for the Center began in late October. The Indiana
Department of Commerce provided the Town of Pendleton with a $300,000
Industrial Development Grant Fund (IDGF) to support the infrastructure of the
Technology and Customer Center. In addition, Commerce provided Guide
Corporation with a $55,000 Training 2000 grant to support new employee
training.
"Guide Corporation is an excellent company, and we're happy that it
selected Indiana for its new Technology and Customer Center," said Indiana Lt.
Gov. Joe Kernan, who leads the state's economic development efforts. "This
proves yet again that Indiana is in a competitive position for economic
development. We're sure that Guide Corporation will have a successful future
in Pendleton."
Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc., of Indianapolis, is site developer for
the Technology and Customer Center project. Lamson & Condon Architectural
Design, Inc., of Indianapolis, is designing the Center. General contractor
for the project is Indianapolis-based Jungclaus-Campbell Company.
Guide Corporation is currently headquartered in Anderson, Ind. It has
more than 3,600 employees, and is one of the world's largest designers and
producers of exterior automotive lighting systems for OEMs. Guide has plants
in Anderson, Ind., Monroe, La., and a new manufacturing facility under
construction in Monterrey, N.L., Mexico.
The company has sales offices in Madison Heights, Mich., and Tokyo, Japan,
as well as joint-venture operations in South Korea, India and Poland.