Jaguar Opens its First-ever Signature Design Studio
Custom-built facility in Warwickshire, England, brings entire design team together for the first time in Jaguar’s history.
Jaguar’s designers have long been known as the creators of some of the most beautiful cars in the world. Whether you are talking about the classic standards of the E-Type or the thoroughly modern C-X75, Jaguars are renown for having a distinct beauty and grace to their designs. And now the company’s designers have a new, custom-built studio that combines a staggering level of functionality and state-of-the-art technology befitting of an iconic luxury brand.
Led by Jaguar’s Design Director, Julian Thomson, the new studio in Gaydon–a village located in Warwickshire, England–is the most advanced automotive design center in the world, developed to enhance the creative design process with world-leading technologies. The new facility features a “Heart Space” collaborative hub that will bring together the diverse 280-strong team as it designs future generations of Jaguars. Surrounding the Heart Space are bespoke working environments for the Interior, Exterior and Color and Materials teams, plus Design Visualisation and Design Technical disciplines.
The new studio is 130,000 square feet, which is double the size of the previous studio spaces in Reading. This bucks the trend from some manufacturers to base design studios around the world for more local flavor, such as Acura’s California design studio responsible for the most recent NSX. Having the various designers who oversee the interior, exterior, colors and materials of the latest Jaguars in one location will pay massive dividends, according to Jaguar, with designers better able to collaborate and create a cohesive design.
“Jaguar has a unique heritage as a design-led brand, and this will always to be a central pillar of our DNA,” said Thomson. “The design values and philosophy that were created by Jaguar’s founder, Sir William Lyons, remain the same and this building will allow us to design the very best cars for our customers, far into the future. In the design team, we understand the issues that are facing the automotive industry and can respond accordingly through innovation and creativity.
“The new facility brings the entire design team together in one hugely creative space,” added Thomson. “We truly believe that inspiration comes from interaction and collaboration. Our studio is fitted with the latest technologies but, just as important, is the diversity of human expertise and our passion for Jaguar which helps us design the extraordinary.”
In addition to the new levels of design integration, technology and modeling flexibility were a priority with the new studio. The main design studios–named Studio 3 and Studio 4 after Jaguar’s Le Mans-winning D-Types from 1957 and 1956–are capable of housing up to 20 full-size clay models. These models can be moved inside and outside easily so designers can see the vehicles from many different angles. The models are crafted using custom-made CNC clay milling machines.
In addition, VR plays an increasingly important role in Jaguar Design with digitalisation teams appearing at every stage of the process from sketching through to launch animations. A VR rig enables designers and studio engineers to test ideas in the virtual world much faster and more efficiently than ever before. From the early conceptual stage, the Computer-Aided Surfacing team convert the design sketches into digital 3D models while the in-house Design Visualisation and Animation team works closely with designers and data teams to render and animate the sketches and 3D models.
The new Jaguar Design Studio will place a greater importance on advanced material technologies, too. The Color and Materials team have more space and technology to test new and sustainable resources that continue to demonstrate the heights of luxury and tactility for the next generation of vehicles, while meeting Jaguar’s demanding quality standards.
The Color and Materials team work across both the exterior and interior, playing a vital role in creating each vehicle, from devising new paint colors, to conceptualising the smallest beautiful interior details — the Jaguar print in an E-PACE centre console, for example.