A kit of parts is ideal for serial production. After all, the parts are made in the factory. With the showroom and workshop for Porsche, this was explicitly the intention. World wide, over a thousand have since been built, in different sizes. The very first one is to be found in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. The one the most nearby in Rotterdam.
Porsche is all about seduction and perfection. That is why the cars do not stand pontifically in a shop window, but are subtly visible through a strip of glass at the bottom of a 12-metre-high façade of stainless steel. The curve in the façade breathes the measured design of the cars. Daylight from above beautifully illuminates the models during the day. A dark floor provides additional effect. The special models are on a stage with sales offices below. This too is a kit of parts.
Besides a showroom and offices, each Porsche Centre contains a garage workshop and a warehouse. The supporting columns are exposed to allow the glass part of the façade to be set back slightly, increasing the temptation to look. The façade and main supporting structure are separate and air ducts are part of the main supporting structure, keeping them out of sight. Since Porsche dealers have to pay for the construction of a centre themselves, cepezed kept construction costs low. Options for sizes, and details about the layout and colour scheme, among others, are included in a manual. The separate components ensure that the building can fit in with the context everywhere.
The design for Porsche was the first larger design for a series. Earlier on, cepezed designed interiors for PTT distribution centres and Primafoon shops, as well as information kiosks and waiting rooms for NS. The kiosks clearly and handsomely show what cepezed means by architecture as an industrial product.
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serial kit of parts: a thousand porsche centers
