Aug 21 - From the Top of the REN CEN and some inside it

Our tour took us to the top of the Ren Cen, about 800' above the ground level. 

First image has a bit of Ann in it but a lot of the Detroit River. Near the ledge (but in the river) is the Detroit Princess boat that has been in other images. The Hart Plaza is just to the right of the ledge. The Circular building is Cobo Hall, the rectangular building behind it is the Cobo Convention Center.


The second image has some of the older towers of Detroit's financial district. The red building seen in the middle window is the Guardian Building noted earlier. The one next to it is One Detroit Center which was built in the early 1990s and is the foremost Neo Gothic office building in the US. It is sometimes called the Twin Gothic because of the two towers (both are made of granite). It is 43 stories and occupied by law offices and Comerica financial corporation.

The third and fourth images show Martin on a huge chair that was made for a single comedy skit on Saturday Night Live. In the skit, Lilly Tomlin played a little girl and to make her look little, the chair was made big. The Marriott Corporation bought the chair in the 1990s and moved it to the bar at the top of the Ren Cen.

The 5th image is not actually taken at the top of the Ren Cen but at the 3rd floor level. It shows an example of how GM has been making the building less austere. When GM bought it, the floor had bare grey structural concrete all over the place. GM has put things like murals on the walls to soften it (they still have a ways to go).

The 6th image (its from the Internet) is of the Borealis. This is a glass sculpture in the North lobby of the Ren Cen (that is the side facing the street entrance). There are two walls both about 50 feet long with glass panels that tilt at incrementally different angles to create a 'wave' effect (installed in the Ren Cen in 2006).

The panels are over 20' high. Each panel is 4" thick and 12" wide. There are about 2000 panels each of which weighs about 50,000 pounds. The creator is Danny Lane who was born in Illinois but at the time of this post lives in England. The seventh image is from an article in a magazine.