General Motors celebrated the opening of its new advanced design studio in Pasadena on Thursday, May 28.
The new campus spans 148,000 square feet and expands GM’s ability for full-size clay modeling, fabrication and immersive digital collaboration. The 100 team members on the campus will focus on GM’s conceptual designs to build future models.
The new design center builds on Pasadena’s status as a major hub for technology and innovation, with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ArtCenter College of Design and the California Institute of Technology all located in the city.
GM has had design locations in Southern California since the 1980s.
Bryan Nesbitt, vice president of global design at GM and an ArtCenter alumnus, said the design center is part of GM’s commitment to Southern California and the city of Pasadena.
“I have fond memories running up Linda Vista, running up the hill to that beautiful architecture,” he said. “The big point is getting young creatives a chance to shine is one of the most rewarding parts of this job, and that’s important to this campus.”
The campus will bolster GM’s collaboration with ArtCenter and help the company continue recruiting from the school, said Brian Smith, design director at GM Advanced Design California.
“We just did a really in-depth sponsor project with them, with three different disciplines at ArtCenter together as a group project, and had a great result, great response,” Smith said in an interview. “We’re going to continue to do that, and we like to be influenced by the technology, the aerospace, JPL up the road – we’ve actually hired aerospace engineers to be part of our team. So there’s a lot here to draw from, and we want to be a part of it.”
GM’s first design director, Harley Earl, was born in Los Angeles, designed custom cars for movie actors and went on to invent clay modeling, a practice still used in the new center. Earl’s Southern California origins are memorialized in a footnote on the building’s foundation.
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo and Councilmember Gene Masuda, who represents the area, attended the opening.
“Here in this space, you are going to design the best automobiles, not in the world, but in the universe,” Gordo said. “If you want to be a part of the small group of people that design some of the most beautiful automobiles and are responsible for some of the greatest design in the world, we say go to ArtCenter College of Design. … And now we have the great honor and privilege, thanks to GM, to say we are now the center of automobile design.”
Masuda lauded the company’s commitment to collaborating with ArtCenter and increasing jobs for local Pasadena residents.
Neil Watson, a creative sculptor at the studio, said the studio’s full-size clay modeling allows for efficient collaboration between all departments at the studio. Because the clay modeling is automated, designers can translate data seamlessly from analysis to the design and reduce human error, he added.
GM revealed its new GMC Hummer X concept, an electric pickup and SUV concept designed to explore future innovations. During the presentation, the screen gave way to the two electric vehicles driving onto turntables for the audience to explore the design.
The new Hummer X concept, which will not be driven on the road anytime soon, was designed with replaceable materials that can be recycled from a process involving flexible fabrication and laser cutting, Smith said. The vehicle is also meant to build community, with owners able to modify and collaborate on how they want their vehicle configured.
Interior designer Sam Kenny, who designed the Hummer X concept, said the studio’s technology enabled his team to make “community, configurability, sustainability and capability” central to every aspect of the design.
“It’s a culmination of really what a studio like this is about: ground-up thinking, reimagining from the ground up how you might design and assemble a vehicle,” he said.
Sam Mulick is a correspondent with the Southern California News Group.