A CAR FACTORY IN THE CENTRE OF TOWN
SINCE 2001 “DIE GLÄSERNE MANUFAKTUR” has been the production site for volkswagen’s PHAETON model.
Volkswagen combined the construction of the factory and its idea of a new luxury class car, manufactured with the aim of linking innovative automobile construction to the traditional values of manufactories, while making a communicative event out of the building’s open transparent architecture.
“Die Gläserne Manufaktur” was built, not in an industrial area on the outskirts of Dresden, but in the heart of the city on the Elbe River, just a ten minutes’ walk from the historic centre and directly on the land of the Great Garden (Großer Garten). In an article for the magazine art Das Kunstmagazin, 04/2002 Peter M. Bode, himself surprised, came to the realisation that “the establishment of Dresden’s Volkswagen factory in the middle of the city is a first. For decades, the principle of modernity coming from the offices of the city planners considered living and manufacturing side by side as being incompatible with one another.”
Admittedly, the idea of building a vehicle production site made out of glass in the middle of Dresden can be considered bold. However, it can also be considered a successful statement of the connection of technology and culture, of a modern environment of production and adventure. As such, the entire assembly of the Phaeton is made into a public spectacle. “'Die Gläserne Manufaktur' is an example of the demands of today’s knowledge society in which we require open working environments for networked processes. Rethinking the concept of work – this is what 'Die Gläserne Manufaktur' has made reality” says the architect of “Die Gläserne Manufaktur”, Prof. Gunther Henn.
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