• by Tanya Gazdik , August 1, 2023

An architecture firm with deep ties to the U.S. Detroit Three automotive industry has been chosen by Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast. 

Albert Kahn Associates will lead the architectural design and engineering for the company's first North American factory, which is the first electric vehicle manufacturing facility in North Carolina, as well as the largest economic development initiative in the state's history.

The plant occupies 1,800 acres and is divided into five main production areas, including a body shop, general assembly, press shop, paint shop and an energy center.

The factory, VinFast’s first electric vehicle factory outside of Vietnam, initially will focus on building VinFast’s VF 7, VF 8 and VF 9 electric vehicles with an expected production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year.

General Motors’ longtime Detroit headquarters was also designed by the Albert Kahn Associates’ founder and namesake. Kahn also famously designed industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. Construction on the Dearborn, Michigan faculty near Detroit began in 1917. When it was completed in 1928, it was the largest integrated factory in the world. 

The architect also is responsible for one of the first concrete auto plant as a result of his 1905 design for the Packard Motor Car Company's Building No. 10, also in Detroit.