Ford and Snøhetta Introduce The Henry Ford II World Centre, An Innovative Global Headquarters

The 2.1 million square-foot Central Campus Building serves as a state-of-the-art hub, doubling the capacity of the former headquarters to foster cooperation and innovation.

Garrett Rowland

Ford Motor Company has unveiled its new worldwide headquarters, the Henry Ford II World Centre, situated within the Research & Engineering (R&E) Campus in Dearborn, Michigan. The Central Campus Building, a product of a multi-year cooperation with Snøhetta, serves as the foundation of this innovative workplace, with Snøhetta acting as the main architect, master planner, and landscape architect for the whole campus transformation.

The Central Campus Building encompasses 2.1 million square feet on four levels, intended as a state-of-the-art centre to markedly improve collaboration and product innovation. The new centre significantly increases the capacity of the company's former iconic global nerve centre, the Glass House, which operated for nearly 70 years and will now be sustainably decommissioned.

Garrett Rowland

The building exemplifies a novel idea for a resilient workplace, accommodating Ford's hybrid model with adaptable spaces such as studios and collaborative areas, all organised around technology-enhanced courtyards. The campus change, guided by employee input, will house more than 20,000 employees once completion, include 12 acres of new greenspace, and establish Ford as a prominent, involved neighbour in Dearborn.

Collaborating with Ford on the R&E Campus master plan has been an exceptional opportunity. Few corporations are as intimately connected to the history and identity of a location as Ford is to Dearborn. “From the outset, Ford adopted a collaborative approach that allowed us to create not merely a new headquarters, but a campus that embodies the company’s heritage and ambitious vision for the future,” stated Craig Dykers, Founding Partner of Snøhetta. The initiative enhances the cultural fabric of the region while establishing a workplace that respects Ford's legacy as a mobility leader and positions it for success in a swiftly changing, technology-oriented future.