Nissan Styling Studio and Technology Center

Nissan Design America commissioned Luce et Studio to design an elegant courtyard for the Nissan Design Group, where the company’s design team could privately showcase its new technologies and concept cars. Zahner worked with partners Wallace Engineering and Turner Construction to produce the courtyard for the campus.

Completed in 2005, the Nissan Styling Studio features a double layered perforated metal skin which has an offset spiral, 30 feet into the sky.  The perforated screen allows light to enter while preventing viewers from peering in from the outside. This was a key aspect of the design, because the courtyard was used to display concept cars that weren’t yet available to the public. The oval shaped space at the Farmington Hills Facility is known as ‘The Egg,’ an exterior courtyard where final prototypes could be viewed in natural daylight.

Developing the Moiré Design as an Architectural Feature

As part of the project’s design development, Zahner produced a mockup for the architects at Luce et Studio. The mockup was manufactured and displayed at the Zahner HQ in Kansas City.