Breaking conventional wisdom
Like our approach to designing and building cars, the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) breaks conventional wisdom. Where our precise goals were initially prohibited by preconceived rules and traditions, we worked with our architects to find a McLaren solution.
Perfect proportions
Everything in the MTC is perfectly proportioned, based on a mathematical measurement of 1.8 metres. Windows, doors, partitions, panels – the dimensions are all 1.8 metres or a half, a quarter or a third of 1.8 metres. Ron Dennis, our Chairman, explains: “The reason for this is that the human eye subconsciously sees these ratios and, as a result, no single thing will jump out at you. That’s partly where the elegance of the building lies.”
Wind tunnel
Just a 10% improvement in the balance between a car’s downforce and drag can translate into a one-second improvement in lap time. So our advanced wind tunnel was central to the building’s design and was the first element of the building to be installed. Housed in an acoustically isolated block on the lower level, it allows us to aerodynamically test 60% scale models almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At full throttle, the 4-metre wide, 145-metre long tunnel generates 1,500kw of heat.
Natural air conditioning
We built the five lakes surrounding the MTC to not only help the ecology of the area, but also to play an essential role in our building’s climate control system. The lakes cool the high volumes of hot air produced by our wind tunnel, as well as chill the 6,000 litres of water needed to keep our building cool. The lake water is passed through a natural filtration system of reed beds, then circulated through a network of pipes, keeping the MTC at a constant 21 degrees. The warm water is then naturally cooled and aerated when it cascades down 160 steps back into the formal lake. The lakes are home to carp, herons and swans, while the land around them has attracted dragonflies, crickets, and a very rare species of cuckoo bees.
Working with the environment
The MTC isn’t just built onto the land, it’s physically integrated into it. Sunk into the landscape, it sits only 11 metres above ground level, minimising the building’s impact on the landscape and increasing the building’s security.
From McLaren F1 GT to MTC
With each window panel lining the MTC’s front façade measuring 180cm by 300cm, supporting them was never going to be simple. The wide, cumbersome load-bearing steel supports that would traditionally be used didn’t meet the streamlined look we were striving to achieve. Our heritage provided a solution in the form of our Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GT. Inspired by its rear-wing support struts, our engineers designed 12m-high perforated aluminium wind blades and slim stainless steel tie rods. Precision-cut in the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team’s prototyping department, the elegant supports diffuse the force of the wind across the main building.
Intelligently beautiful lifts
Most lifts have a mechanism that uses lubricated wires, which attract dirt and have to be regularly cleaned. With tubular glass lift shafts, this didn’t seem like a very elegant proposition. So, inspired by the pistons found in car engines, McLaren engineers designed a lift driven by stainless steel rods instead. Accommodating the 31m-long rod underground so close to a 50,000 cubic litre lake was a major engineering challenge in itself.