The new Porsche Showroom in Doncaster was a project of passion for Techne Architecture + Interior Design’s director, Nick Travers, and it shows in every detail of the design. Travers who is a long time car enthusiast, wanted to create a space that truly captured the quality and prestige of the Porsche brand.
“The architectural design of the facility responds to the Porsche brand, its remarkable cars and the high standard of service that is offered in their dealerships. The core values of the company are expressed through the design of their dealerships with a key focus on tradition, originality and authenticity.”
Demonstrating their versatility as a practice, Techne took a pared back approach to their latest project in order to create a sleek and sophisticated design that allowed the product to be the main attraction.
During the early stages of the project it became obvious that due to the limited size constraints of the site, conventional methods would not suffice. Techne responded with an innovative solution, proposing a vertical dealership that spread the project across four levels, making it unique to your typical car dealerships. Each floor has a specialist function and is seamlessly integrated using a series of multilevel car lifts. This stacked configuration also works strategically to give the building a greater street presence and the expansive gable ends are put to good use by housing illuminated signage.
The ground level is entirely dedicated to the showroom. Here, Techne has utilised a neutral colour scheme with a minimal materials palette to allow the cars on display to become the main design feature. Extensive consideration was given to the lighting design to strategically emphasize the colours, contours and details of the vehicles. Consistent illumination of the showroom is achieved with overlapping spotlights to avoid any dark spots.
“Strategically placed spotlighting works to underline the exclusivity of the cars in the way the reflected light sparkles on the surfaces,” explains Travers.
Moving up through the building, the first floor consists of a double height workshop and a series of offices that look out onto the showroom from a mezzanine level, while the final roof top level is used to house vehicles while they wait to hit the showroom floor.
The most striking design element is the floating glazed void that marks the main entrance to the building and helps to visually connect the multiple levels. The curved face of the volume, clad in Alucabond, is a signature element to the corporate identity of Porsche dealerships globally.
“Porsche sets a high standard in its own industry through being one of the leaders in creating a dynamic driving experience and this needs to be reflected in the dealership design. We strive to create an exclusive and unique experience for its customers at the retail level.”
