Foster + Partners’ Opens Its Energy Efficient McLaren Production Centre Which is Partially Submerged in a Green Hill

We received news this morning from Inhabitat favorite <a href="http://inhabitat.com/foster-partners-unveil-thames-hub-plan-to-update-britains-energy-transport-infrastructure/" target="_blank">Foster + Partners</a> that their new state of the art facility for McLaren Production Centre has officially opened. Unveiled by <a href="http://inhabitat.com/wwf-90-of-uks-energy-could-come-from-renewable-sources-by-2030/" target="_blank">Prime Minister David Cameron</a> himself, the innovative plant located in England is designed to echo the flow of a production line. The unobtrusive structure sits at the south-west corner of the production campus, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/the-drents-museums-submerged-extension-adds-a-lush-green-public-park-above-ground/" target="_blank">set into the slight incline of a green hill</a>.

McLaren Automotive road cars will call the sprawling 34,500 square meter facility home. Designed to be energy efficient, the building is <a href="http://inhabitat.com/sky-garden-house-is-an-open-and-airy-redesign-from-a-cramped-2-bedroom/" target="_blank">partially submerged</a>, surrounded by earth from a sloping hill.

The production line will benefit from the natural insulation, which keeps the facility cooler in the summer and warm in the humid winters. It also creates a landscape uninterrupted by a giant production warehouse, that gently curves with the natural hills to be almost invisible from the road.

Gardens and trees have also been planted around the site to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/picturesque-green-roofed-aquapark-rises-out-of-the-swiss-alps/" target="_blank">further blend it in with the landscape</a>. The soil that was excavated to construct the building was then replaced around the building and planted with trees.

The building’s roof, which is set at a low height, has an <a href="http://inhabitat.com/crop-circle-esque-green-roof-covers-battle-i-roigs-award-winning-waste-treatment-plant/" target="_blank">integrated rainwater collection system</a>, which feeds the adjacent trees.

Although they have yet to be installed, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/der-spiegel-moves-into-new-green-headquarters-in-hamburgs-hafencity/" target="_blank">photovoltaic panels</a> will line the roof, providing renewable energy to produce the automobiles inside. Fresh air moves around the interior freely and with low-energy through a displacement ventilation system.

The new facility will produce every piece of the McLaren fleet under one roof and once the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/interview-panasonics-haruyuki-ishio-gives-us-the-inside-scoop-about-fujisawa-sustainable-smart-town/" target="_blank">assembly line </a>starts regularly producing, one car will be completed in five days. The new <a href="http://inhabitat.com/incredible-glass-office-gives-employees-a-bugs-eye-view-of-the-forest-floor/" target="_blank">submerged facility</a> is connected to the existing campus through a subterranean walkway designed by Foster + Partners.