Kia Motors may be South Korea’s oldest car company — it was established in 1944 as a manufacturer of bicycle parts — but traditional thinking is not what makes it an industry leader. The company’s Research and Development Headquarters in Irvine, California, designed by the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), proves Kia’s commitment to design and the U.S. market, where sales have increased by 77 percent since 2008, when the project was completed.
“Both our company’s vision and design philosophy are the context for what Kia wanted to project to our team members and to the public,” explains John Yoon, Kia Motors America vice president and general counsel. Simple, efficient, and environmentally sound, the buildings provide generous space for work in a logically organized campuslike setting.