RENAULT TECHNOCENTRE Guyancourt, France The French automaker Renault celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999. The same year, the company joined in partnership with Nissan, making the automotive group the fourth largest in the world. To survive the tumultuous times in the industry, a new research and development facility was created, named Technocentre, in the village of Guyancourt, outside Paris The Technocentre stands on a vast plot of 150 ha, comprising of three main buildings: L’Avancée for the research and design development, la Ruche as the core of the center, and le Proto, where the prototypes are produced. The enormous facility has a total floor area of 350,000 m2. La Ruche, is a French word for the bee hive. As the name suggests, the facility is an 8- story building that is made of interlocking smaller units in T & H shapes. Around five projects are always in progress at the Centre. Each project team is divided into 6 independent teams, determined by the part of a car. The project teams are placed vertically in the building, in a form of a column. This allows the communication of those working with same part, across different projects. Since the size of a team constantly changes, a flexible workplace is being planned through adopting a module where the floor is divided into workspaces of 19.4 m2, each to be used by 1 to 3 workers. Office furniture is also standardized so that a worker assigned to a new project only needs to move a file cabinet on castors.           Location: Guyancourt, France     Move-In Date: 1995 - 98     Floor Area: total 350,000 m2     Workforce: 8,000     Building Design:     Interior Design:     Interview Date: 1999.6