Architect William McDonough claims he first heard about Ford Motor Co.'s $2-billion makeover of its River Rouge production plant in Dearborn, Mich., on May 4, 1999, the same day that Ford CEO William Clay Ford Jr. called a press conference to announce that McDonough would lead the design team. Picking McDonough, a wry Charlottesville, Va.-based iconoclast who preaches environmentally benign, sustainable design, was a bold move for the automaker. McDonough believes in not only fundamentally altering buildings, but also changing the way things are made, to make the planet a better place.

River Rouge is Ford's flagship plant, where Henry Ford bought 2,000 acres nearly a century ago to implement his vision of streamlining mass production. By the1930s the Rouge had grown into the world's leading automobile manufacturing center. Parts and supplies moved within the complex on more than 100 miles of railroad track. At its peak, the work force numbered more than 100,000.