Ten years ago mate Rimac he had no idea that the newly formed company that would bear his name would end up supplying Porsche and Hyundai, becoming synonymous with another Accident of Richard Hammond, or grow so fast that it would have to build a new $ 238 million campus for 2,500 employees outside the Croatian capital, Zagreb. Rimac has gone from struggling to pay employees to a shining example of new Croatian industry and now plans to build a factory that matches its reputation.
(The full revelation: Rimac invited me to join a Teams call to talk about their new headquarters project last week. Some of the quotes from this interview have been edited for clarity. Mate Rimac seemed to be a very clean boy.)
Mate Rimac, now aware that his company represents an important part of his country’s future economy, carefully explained the approach to building a new headquarters through a video call last week. The new headquarters couldn’t just be a nasty cuboid with a logo slammed into a corner.
“We work day and night. We work our asses. I want people to be able to use every little moment they have between meetings or when they need to breathe or anything to enjoy their time. To not go crazy just be in the office all day. I think it’s right to spend time in nature, ”Rimac said in the call.
This means that it will come with a fairly traditional factory, to paint and assemble Rimac electric and supercharger batteries. But the company also has much more planned for the space.
For young executives, the new company was to be a place where employees and their families could make use of and interact with them, rather than a place to look at and admire it from afar, or a building to see l as a product.
“For example, McLaren, I have a lot of respect for the company and they have a fantastic campus. But it’s designed so that people don’t make a fuss about it, ”Rimac added,“ We want to design something around people, give them the best place to work and [Architects 3LHD] I understood everything in terms of requirements, and so on. They didn’t try to make a monument for themselves, but actually something that would work for the company. And it looked beautiful. I think it was the right choice. “
In terms of design, the Croatian architecture firm 3LHD got the job done, but it wasn’t an easy trip for the local guys. Rimac assembled a huge team to make sure that whoever got the most suitable job would be the project and the local area.
“We did an international competition. I would say there were some of the best architects in the world. Of the big world I didn’t think some crusaders would be the best. But we did it pretty professionally. We had a jury. Marta was one of the members of the jury. But we also had a jury with independent members, like the construction people, to say it’s feasible to build or cost. We had people from the city. “
“We are trying to do something bigger here, not just to build our company. But I also try to be patriotic all the way and attract other companies to come here. Unfortunately, there is very, very little foreign investment that is not related to tourism. “
The performances make the new HQ look like a utopian compound from other countries, like something taken from a Mass Effect game. Some features are worth mentioning specifically: to begin with, the company’s test track will be publicly accessible, according to Rimac, “There are [test] clue. Perhaps a key thing is that it is fully integrated with nature and open to the public. It will probably be the only automotive R&D facility that does not close, because we, as a company, are very, very open ”.
By the way, this track has a special corner: “One of these corners is called a mandatory drifting corner. So when you pass it, you have to drift. You he can not go through it normally “.
Rimac will also try to get sheep and geese to live on campus as well, as apparently the architecture firm determined they were suitable for staying in “nature”. This without a fence could get out of hand.
Human guests visiting one night will be accommodated in one of the on-site rooms. Except it’s not really a room, but rather an apartment in the woods. “It’s like, glamping, let’s say,” Rimac quips. Although it’s probably not the type of glamping that involves a chemical toilet on a wicker shed.
While pets may not be welcome indoors, employee laying will be more than welcome in kindergarten.
Rimac has no plans to leave the new location when more space is needed. He said that if the need arises, there will be more standard and small sites built to accommodate the production of batteries and motors, but that the new campus will be the firm’s long-term home. Much of Rimac’s appeal was about the importance of supporting the local and national community.
There is not much industry in Croatia outside of hotels, tourism and hospitality. Rimac hopes the new facilities will attract more business and attention to the country and help the nation’s public relations.
Rimac’s proposed factory, and the current one, is a great thing: “When there is a foreign visit, a kind of high-level state visit, they go to the government and take them to our company. Even now, when there is no campus. What can they show them? We are the showcase of the industry, of the country. Therefore, it will have a much greater impact on students and universities, visitors and the overall profile of Croatia. “
Rimac did not know that his company would be here ten years ago, but he had hope: “There is a Facebook status I wrote eight years ago in 2012 or the 13th. I was cycling through this 15th century castle. I said, ‘I have this crazy dream, which makes no sense, and the chances of making it a reality are zero percent. But why not build the production plant next to the castle and have a few offices in the castle and things like that? I didn’t think we would rise to a level like we are today. But the same idea stuck in my head and we kept working on it. So now this is the campus project. ”
Although the castle no longer officially affects the company’s basic plan for the headquarters, the land behind this supposed castle is the area where Rimac is making its new home. That crazy dream came true and now Rimac will have the castle to see during lunch breaks.