Susan Skarsgard goes back to the future of GM Tech Center

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Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft like to think they conceived the idea of a corporate campus. However, in 1956 when the General Motors Technical Center in Warren opened, it was arguably the first corporation in the United States to centralize its design and product development in one location.

Not only was the Tech Center concept an expensive proposition, but General Motors also took the risk of engaging the then 38-year-old Eero Saarinen as the lead architect. Of course, Saarinen would go on to become one of most influential architects and furniture designers of the 20th century, but at the time, he had never taken on a project of this scope.

“Where Today Meets Tomorrow: Eero Saarinen and the General Motors Technical Center,” written by Susan Skarsgard, takes readers on a journey back in time to examine the concept, design and construction of the GM Tech Center and what today is still considered an architectural model.

She writes about how leading up to the appointment of Saarinen, there was an internal dispute about hiring an untested architect. Initially, corporate leaders leaned toward Albert Kahn, who designed GM’s Detroit corporate headquarters and numerous other GM facilities.

Skarsgard started as a designer for General Motors specializing in car emblems and type design and jumped at the opportunity to become the founder and first director of the GM Design Archive and Special Collections — a post she held until her recent retirement.

The author has an intriguing background outside of her GM career and is known internationally for her calligraphy, artist’s books and original lettering design.

Skarsgard said she made the choice of researching and writing the book, rather than designing it, after working on the Tech Center’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2006.

For that, Skarsgard opted for a one-of-a-kind artist’s book replete with mechanical pop-ups. Ten years later it would serve as the inspiration for her to take on the daunting project of writing a book on the GM Tech Center, a paean to Modernism. 

“The project indirectly led to a big change in my career,” Skarsgard said.

The book shows Saarinen left no design element on the campus to chance, applying his design skills right down to the silverware to be used in the executive dining room. Some of the Saarinen design elements such as the “tea cup” desk in a lobby, the “wall of water” and the Alexander Calder sculpture have been included in other modern design books. Skarsgard’s collection of photographs feature never-before-seen elements, such as sketches for the dome-shaped aluminum clad Styling Auditorium.

The reason the vast majority of the campus’ futuristic design elements have never been seen is the campus is off-limits to the public in order to guard its top-secret design work. During planning for the Tech Center, GM purposely decided on a 183-acre, out-of-the-way farm to locate its corporate campus. The campus now sprawls over 813 acres.

Skarsgard starts the book with a concise, well-written chapter on the history of General Motors and its corporate leaders. It’s just enough to give readers not familiar with the history of the auto industry in Michigan an understanding of how the corporation grew.

Skarsgard writes in the book that Saarinen may have been influenced by the GM Futurama Exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair, which attracted an estimated 5 million visitors and was designed by noted designer Norman Bel Geddes. Saarinen had worked as a draftsman on the project for Geddes.

The book’s chapter on Saarinen is heavily illustrated with sketches and design illustrations and is worth lingering over.  For instance, it shows how Saarinen created individual designs for each of the five different lobbies to create a distinctive look. Dominating each lobby is a spectacular staircase which ranged in design from cantilevered to spiral.

The dedication of the Tech Center in  1956 was such a big deal that it has its own chapter. The week-long dedication included a National Broadcasting Co. TV special hosted by Dave Garroway and was broadcasted by radio and TV star Arthur Godfrey. However, they were overshadowed in history by President Dwight Eisenhower’s keynote speech at dedication cermony May 16, 1956. Despite that, the real focus became the incredible structures and their groundbreaking designs.

Saarinen had utilized the services of top flight designers like Florence Knoll, Alexander Girard and Harry Bertoia to blend all the design elements into one cohesive statement.   

In the closing of her outstanding book, Skarsgard writes, “An awareness of the architectural significance of this campus is a value that has been handed down from one generation of its inhabitants to the next.”

She said she is proud to have been a part in creating the Tech Center’s archives.

“When we started we had 100 design sketches and today that number exceeds 20,000 and growing,” Skarsgard said. “It was a huge amount of information to winnow down.”

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