GENERAL MOTORS TECHNICAL CENTER, DETROIT

<table><tr><td>Designer</td><td>Eero Saarinen and Associates. Architects; Smith, Hinchman and Grylla, Architect-Engineers</td></tr><tr><td>Date</td><td>Completed 1954</td></tr></table>

Above. Plan of General Motors Technical Center.
Right. The distances within the site are scaled
to the automobile.

A square mile north of Detroit is the site of the General Motors Technical Center, one of the first large-scale campuses for industrial research and management in the Outer City. The combination of a rectilinear and a concentric pattern is a basic feature of this design. A rectilinear plan is often monotonous, but in this case the careful spacing of structures around the central lake, with parking and services on the sides not facing the lake, has yielded a result of unusual sophistication. It is difficult to exaggerate the influence of this center upon later developments. The standards it set have been a challenge and an inspiration to almost every major research and industrial complex that followed.

Central to the design is the enormous rectangular lake, six feet deep and just over a third of a mile long. All distances within the site are scaled to the automobile. One hesitates to attempt a walk, even between neighboring buildings. The horizontal spread of the buildings is a major determinant of the surface scale. The only strongly vertical elements are an elliptical watertank upon a slender tower 138 feet high, fountains playing in the lake, and chimney stacks.

Five major building groups serve the following functions: research, process development, engineering, styling, and service and technical administration. Most of the buildings are huge roofed spaces with elaborate piped services, such as gas, water and oxygen.

The architecture is simple: metal panels with porcelainized enamel surfaces have been placed over rectangular frames of structural steel. Only one building is not rectilinear. This is the auditorium, a circular shape that immediately attracts the eye with its contrast.

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The architecture is simple: metal panels with porcelainized enamel surfaces have been placed over rectangular frames of structural steel. Only one building is not rectilinear. This is the auditorium; a circular shape that immediately attracts the eye with its contrast.

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