If you found yourself in the Mojave Desert at midnight, it would probably be very dark. The all-enveloping blackness of that uninhabited landscape is what electric-car company Lucid would like its customers to think of, among other iconic California locales. “Mojave” is one of the manufacturer’s five destination-inspired palettes for interior colors, materials, and finishes. Striving for the luxury status of a Mercedes-Benz or BMW, the company’s brand identity channels both California’s natural beauty and its Silicon Valley smarts. To convey this duality, Lucid hired Gensler to design a model showroom and reception area at its headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In a highly collaborative process, the Gensler team worked with their clients—who, as industrial designers, were similarly sensitized to the quality of materials, space, and light—to create the desired “envelope to showcase the cars,” says firm design director Katie Buchanan. “The space needed to be quiet in response to the objects and feel like a natural extension of Lucid’s brand.” According to Derek Jenkins, senior vice president of design and brand at Lucid, they had to fight the temptation to go to either extreme: a more rustic environment or a super-futuristic, Blade Runner atmosphere. “But we wanted to make sure that the space would age well, and, in my experience, that usually requires a lot of restraint,” says Jenkins. Instead, they strove for a minimal palette of materials that had just enough warmth.
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