Albert kahn industrial architect and planner known for his designs of american automobile factories.
Albert kahn ford factory design open floor plan.
With the rise of factory architecture and the rapid rate of growth in the industrial sector research for new solutions for production space was required.
In his time he was considered the world s foremost industrial architect and the father of modern factory design kahn s father a rabbi brought his family to the united states in 1881.
The highland park ford plant was designed by albert kahn associates in 1908 and was opened in 1910.
Kahn a prussian immigrant to detroit opened his firm in 1895 and quickly gained a reputation for his factory designs which utilized reinforced concrete instead of wooden structural.
Kahn s first factory for the ford motor company was the highland park plant in 1909.
The traditional factory plans proved inadequate in providing the flexibility and safety needed for the new management of labor albert kahn.
Kahn then used this technology in his designs for the palms apartments 1903 and the packard automotive plant 1905 the first use of reinforced concrete in automotive factory design in the country.
Ford automotive production had previously taken place at the ford piquette avenue plant where the first model ts were built the highland park ford plant was approximately 4 miles 6 4 km northwest of the original dodge brothers factory who were subcontractors for ford producing.
Reinforced concrete enabled kahn to design large.
Kahn s discussions with ford inspired him to develop factory floor plans that would accommodate both changes in production technology and the easy flow of products and materials throughout the factory space.