Volkswagen Group of America U.S. Headquarters

2200, Ferdinand Porsche Drive, Herndon, VA, United States

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Volkswagen Group of America U.S. Headquarters

2200, Ferdinand Porsche Drive, Herndon, VA, United States

YEAR

2008

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

When Volkswagen called upon VOA to design their new U.S. Headquarters, the first directive they gave the VOA design team was to insist they not visit VW’s former headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. Instead, Volkswagen asked the VOA team to travel to Germany to tour the world headquarters of Volkswagen and Audi to get a true sense of their identity, which was not represented in the design of their Auburn Hills location. The visit to Wolfsburg left the VOA design team with a deeper appreciation for Volkswagen’s global identity, and the utmost importance the design of their new offices will play in conveying that identity to a new audience.
Volkswagen selected Herndon, Virginia, as the location of their new U.S. Headquarters for its proximity to one of VW’s largest U.S. customer bases; the pool of talented professionals located in the greater Washington DC area; and for the chance to re-establish its image in a region representative of the United States as a whole. The client selected a recently constructed 6-story building highly visible along the adjacent Dulles Toll Road. At 186,000 square feet, the building met Volkswagen’s space needs, and the location provided the opportunity to be close to a major international airport for travel to and from Germany and other Volkswagen locations. The building is also located near a residential and commercial development that meets the development density requirements set forth in the Sustainable Sites category.
From the outset, VOA worked closely with Volkswagen to create a unique design representative of their new culture, to enable them to attract top caliber talent to their new facility while providing a platform for their brand. The interior of the existing building was dramatically changed, including the creation of a new central interconnecting staircase between the second and sixth floors. Known as the “connector”, this staircase was designed to promote interaction between the various departments while visually and physically connecting all of the floors above the ground level. The stair, which when viewed from above can be seen as a representation of the client’s logo, also acts as a vertical exhibition space allowing for a multimedia display of brands.
In moving from a more traditional private office environment at their former Detroit space toward a more open, collaborative workplace culture, Volkswagen and VOA emphasized open workstations with minimal private offices located on the interior, to allow maximum daylight to enter. Walls for break areas and interior offices were selected to be glass, to further bring daylight into the center of the building. Coffee break lounges and teaming rooms are included on every floor. The result is a more engaging work environment with maximum daylighting, reduced energy requirements, and a highly efficient floor plan.