Standing from afar or even just across the street, it was difficult to see and appreciate the level of detail that there was in the brick, stone and iron work that was a part of the elegant design and craftsmanship of the old Ford Motor Company plants. The closer you got, however, the articulation of the masonry and metal began to reveal itself and you could really begin to appreciate this industrial age architecture for what it was.
The detailing of the building exterior was exciting, but the notion of a loft law school in this spacious building was getting everyone stoked. Other repurposed Ford assembly plants provided inspiration for the creative things that could be done with this one in Oklahoma City. We began to assess the existing Fred Jones Manufacturing plant from both an architectural and engineering perspective. We explored what remnants there were of previous mechanical and electrical systems. Fire protection piping and sprinkler heads had been introduced at a later date and were in place. We needed to get a handle on the structural design and load bearing capacities.
We began to assess the scale and configuration of the building so that we could begin to apply a test fit of the OCU School of Law space requirements. We were ready to initiate the programmatic process of fitting building to needs.
We began to look at the location of the Fred Jones Manufacturing building in relation to the Oklahoma City University campus and downtown Oklahoma City. There were a lot of relationships and opportunities that began to reveal themselves. Our exploration and analysis carried us forward.
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Design Matters 