What happens when you throw a long-time car enthusiast into a design project with arguably one of the most prestigious automotive brands in the world?

The answer is the all-new vertical Porsche Dealership in Doncaster.

Technē Architecture + Interior Design’s director, Nick Travers, wanted to create a space that genuinely captured the quality and sentiment of the Porsche brand.

A true passion project for Travers, he says that the architectural design of the facility is in direct response to the brand, its remarkable cars and the high standard of service that is offered in their dealerships.

 “The core values of the company are expressed through the design of their dealerships with a key focus on tradition, originality and authenticity,” he says.

Technē takes a more pared back approach to the showroom’s design, opting instead to allow the product to take centre stage.

With limited size constraints, made apparent during the planning stages, Technē discovered that conventional methods of design would not suffice.

Instead, they adopted an outside-of-the-box approach, proposing a unique vertical dealership that spreads the project across four dynamic levels; resulting in a greater street presence and gable ends that are put to good use by housing illuminated signage.

The ground floor is dedicated solely to the showroom, and utilizes a neutral colour palette and creative lighting concepts to accentuate and emphasise the colours, contours and details of the vehicles.

The first floor showcases a double height workshop and a series of offices that look onto the showroom from a mezzanine level, while the final roof top level is used to house vehicles while they wait to hit the showroom floor.

During the day, both the showroom and workshop are illuminated as much as possible using natural light coming in from skylights, viewing slots, light slots and windows. To give the cars more dimension, a direct narrow beam with a floodlight effect is utilised to evenly illuminate the showroom space.

“Strategically placed spotlighting works to underline the exclusivity of the cars in a way the reflected light sparkles on the surfaces,” explains Travers.

When evening sets in, and natural lighting becomes scarce, exterior lighting is switched on and consistent illumination is achieved with overlapping spotlights to avoid dark zones.

One of the more striking design elements on this project is the floating glazed void that marks the main entrance to the building, visually connecting the four levels.

The curved face of the volume, clad in Alucabond, is a signature element to the corporate identity of Porsche dealerships globally.

PRODUCTS

FLOOR TILES
Artedomus, Porsche Boxstone in Dark Grey: 450x450mm, semi matte finish
Artedomus, Asiago in Grey: 200x200x12mm, semi matte finish
Artedomus, Fiandre Asiago Porsche carwash Grey: 200x200x12mm, semi matte finish

CARPET
Tsar Carpet, Porsche 1800 Dark Grey
Tsar Carpet, Silky Seal Taupe Grey

ENTRANCE MAT
TGSI, Series C-wide inserts

EXTERIOR WALLS, TILES & CLADDING
Alucobond, 4mm Silver Metallic Panel: 1200x3500mm, finished with black silicon joins
Artedomus, Nuances White: 300x300x10mm, matte finish matching grout
Artedomus, Nuances Mid Grey: 300x300x10mm, matte finish
Artedomus, Nuances black: 300x300x10mm, matte finish
Lysaught, Spandek Wall Cladding, finished in black/grey

CEILINGS
CSR, OWA metal tile: 600x1200x26mm, finished in aluminium white RAL 9006
CSR, Perforated Luxalon Clip In System: 600x1200mm, concealed slimline grid finish
CSR, OWA Acoustic Sinfonia: 600x1200mm, concealed slimline finish