Built 1949 Designated NHL August 25, 2014 Opened 1949 Added to NRHP 27 March 2000 Awards Twenty-five Year Award | NRHP Reference # 00000224 Area 243 ha Architectural style International Style Architect Eero Saarinen | |
 | ||
Location Bounded by 12 Mile, Mound and Chicago Rds, and Van Dyke Ave., Warren, Michigan Address GM Tech Center Rd, Warren, MI 48092, USA Similar TWA Flight Center, Cranbrook Educational Community, Renaissance Center, Old Courthouse, Kresge Auditorium | ||
The GM Technical Center is a General Motors facility in Warren, Michigan. The campus has been the center of the company's engineering effort since its inauguration in 1956. In 2000 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; fourteen years later it was designated a National Historic Landmark.
The "Tech Center" was designed by architect Eero Saarinen, with construction beginning in 1949. The campus was completed in 1955 and ceremonially opened by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 16, 1956. The facility cost the company approximately US$100 million at the time. The American Institute of Architects honored it in 1986 as the most outstanding architectural project of its era.
The "Tech Center" is a 710-acre campus located in Warren, Michigan. The Technical Center includes 38 buildings and can house over 21,000 employees. The campus is bounded by Van Dyke Avenue on the east, by Mound Road on the west, by Chicago Road on the north, and by 12 Mile Road on the south. The site offers an advanced technology business atmosphere emphasizing flexibility, efficiency, innovation, quality, safety, and security. It includes 11 miles (18 km) of roads and 1.1 miles (1.8 km) of tunnels, 2 water towers as well as 2 lakes one of which is at least 22-acre (89,000 m2). The lakes are used for as emergency fire reservoirs in the event of a catastrophic fire. Fire safety has been a priority at GM since the largest industrial fire in history occurred on August 12, 1953 at the GM Hydramatic plant Plymouth Road, in Livonia, Michigan.
People affiliated with the site include Larry Burns, vice president of R&D and strategic planning, and Alan Taub, executive director of R&D.