Updating GM’s Design Dome brings auto future forward

WARREN, Mich.—Many of the most famous and iconic cars and trucks every built rolled through the Design Dome at General Motors’ Tech Center in Warren. After nearly 60 years’ service, the futuristic, silver-domed building just got its first renovation, adding new technologies to display generations of vehicles to come.

If the auto industry ever gets around to building the flying cars we’ve all been waiting for, the odds are GM’s future leaders will sign off on it in the Design Dome.

The Design Dome was the brainchild of legendary GM design chief Harley Earl. He wanted a secret, enclosed room where the company’s leaders could evaluate designs and decide which vehicles to build.

From the 1957 Chevy Bel Air to the ‘63 split-window Corvette Stingray, the 2002 Cadillac CTS and 2011 Chevy Volt, virtually every vehicle GM has built since the 1956 model year cleared the last hurdle before production in the Design Dome, current design chief Ed Welburn says.

“The Design Dome is a holy place for our designers,” Welburn told me recently in his office—the same office Harley Earl occupied when the Tech Center opened in the 1950s. Welburn’s west-facing windows look out at the Dome, a silver hemisphere that looks as advanced today as the day it opened in 1955.

“Some of our designers have tears in their eyes the first time they step inside the Design Dome,” Welburn said. “The history of events, vehicle reveals and reviews in this building is amazing. It’s been host to (U.S.) presidents and to meetings where we plan and present the future of an entire brand.”

The building’s round interior, domed roof and indirect light combine to create a space that reproduces what it’s like to see a car or truck outdoors in natural light. A walled courtyard attached to the building provides a secure space for outdoor viewing.

The Design Dome changed how the auto industry approaches design. It was the first of its kind, but every major automaker now has a building or a room like it to evaluate future vehicles. Before GM created the template, executives might sign off on projects that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars based on a quick walk around a prototype in the executive garage.

I’ve attended new-vehicle presentations in many automakers’ facilities. Even before the renovation, the Design Dome was the best. The light and visual perspective it provides feels natural. Some of the other buildings and rooms are disorienting, even headache

Despite that, “lighting was a challenge from Day 1,” in the Dome, Welburn said. “Sound was tricky, too.” Among other things, the domed building famously plays acoustic tricks. A whispered comment across the huge room may sound like it was spoken in your ear.

“We basically rewired the whole building,” in the 18-month renovation completed earlier this year, Welburn said. “We can dial in warmer or cooler light; we can redirect the lights remotely.” People used to have to climb a scaffolding to adjust each light individually, far above the floor.

The advanced new LED lights reduce energy consumption 95 percent and produce far less heat than the old incandescent bulbs. That leads to lower air conditioning costs.

The whole lighting system can be adjusted from an iPad.

“Lighting is the No. 1 key to showing vehicles to their best advantage,” Welburn said.

Screens for video projections now drop from the ceiling, replacing old stand-up screens that were manually installed, adjusted and removed when they were needed.

A new projection system can project images on the curved ceiling. The images can be anything from an image of the sky to the logos of GM’s brands or colors to set a mood.

In addition to executive reviews of proposed vehicles, the Design Dome hosts charity events and internal meetings. The building also has a couple of conference rooms.

Some scenes from the film “Transformers: Age of Extinction” were shot in the Design Dome. Welburn’s stunning mid-century modern office overlooking the Dome doubled as the office of Kelsey Grammer’s CIA character in the film.

GM also renovated the Dome’s outdoor patio. A stand of trees that had grown old since being planted to provide visual variety and scale in the 1950s were removed and replaced with new trees.

GM’s design staff was attached to the trees, which like the Dome had framed the presentation of their best work for decades. The dying trees were harvested and the wood was given to a few designers who used it to produce artwork—including an electric guitar whose body recalls the 2015 Corvette Stingray’s badge and a stunning wood-framed bicycle.

Some of those works are on display in GM Design headquarters, next door to the Design Dome.

GM DESIGN DOME RENOVATION

Design Dome opened in 1955 This is the first major renovation Updates done in 2013 and 2014 New LED lights iPad controlled lighting New wiring Roll-down screens in ceiling Christie Cinema projectors Four Meyers Sound Labs 650P High Power 2X18-inch subwoofers, each with 620-watt amps