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:
“In short, the building becomes a theatrical demonstration of its functional ideal. In this romanticism, High-Tech architecture is, of course, no different in spirit—if totally different in form—from all the romantic architecture of the past.”
—Dan Cruickshank (b. 1949)
“Polarized light showed the secret architecture of bodies; and when the second-sight of the mind is opened, now one color or form or gesture, and now another, has a pungency, as if a more interior ray had been emitted, disclosing its deep holdings in the frame of things.”
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“Defaced ruins of architecture and statuary, like the wrinkles of decrepitude of a once beautiful woman, only make one regret that one did not see them when they were enchanting.”
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