Architecture
The building was designed by noted architects John Burgee & Philip Johnson, partners influential in postmodern architecture. One Detroit Center was constructed from 1991 to 1993. It houses numerous other tenants, including many prominent Detroit law firms, and other banks. In addition to retail, the building also contains a restaurant.
The building is famous for its postmodern architectural design topped with Flemish-inspired neo-gothic spires which blend architecturally with the city's historic skyline. It is constructed mainly of granite. Sometimes called a "twin gothic structure", for its pairs of spires, it is oriented North-South and East-West (as named on a plaque along the Windsor waterfront park). One Detroit Center won the Award of Excellence for its design in 1996. One Detroit Center replicas have become a souvenir item along with other Detroit skyscrapers.
Project plans for twin tower, Two Detroit Center proposed directly east of the tower were placed indefinitely on hold. Two Detroit Center parking garage was constructed on the site in 2002.
Read more about this topic: One Detroit Center
Famous quotes containing the word architecture:
“I don’t think of form as a kind of architecture. The architecture is the result of the forming. It is the kinesthetic and visual sense of position and wholeness that puts the thing into the realm of art.”
—Roy Lichtenstein (b. 1923)
“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)
“Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider, and should be wise in season and not fetter himself with duties which will embitter his days and spoil him for his proper work.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)