Detroit:Reconstructed, 11/29/17 Michigan Consolidated Gas Building Minoru Yamasaki, 1963 Irregular gelatin silver contact print
The architect (World Trade Center, 1973-2001) believed this building should be a civic ornament. Completed in 1963, it rises from a marble platform with a 30 foot high glass enclosed lobby with marble columns and reflecting pool. Giving form and texture to the exterior walls, Yamasaki used precast prestressed concrete panels. Two stories in height, the panels were joined at the center of the windows. These openings are extended hexagons, so designed to emphasize verticality and eliminate the feeling of acrophobia when one is high in the building, even though the glass extends nearly to the floor. (Hawkins Ferry)
Marco Lorenzetti
