Docomomo US Tour Day 2024: Corporate Campuses
General Motors Technical Center at 68: History and Preservation
Saturday, October 19, 2024 | 10:00am-4:30pm EDT
Virtual via Zoom
In-Person at Cranbrook
Morning Lectures (In Person or Virtual)
$25 for Adults; $10 for Full-time Students
Free for Cranbrook Students (register by emailing center@cranbrook.edu)
Afternoon Tours
$35 for Adults; $10 for Full-time Students
Cranbrook Art Museum
39221 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Presented by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research and Docomomo US/Michigan in collaboration with the General Motors Design Archive & Special Collections as part of Docomomo US Tour Day 2024: Corporate Campuses.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM AT CRANBROOK
General Motors Technical Center, dedicated in 1956 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014, is an icon of midcentury design and the prototype of the modern American corporate campus. Located in Warren, the complex was the first major project by celebrated Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen (1910 - 1961). Eero's design of the GM Technical Center was meticulously planned and crafted as a total work of art, much like Cranbrook's campus where he grew up and started his career at the side of his father, Eliel Saarinen. Eero's collaborators on the GM project included many of the era's most celebrated artists and designers, including Harry Bertoia, Alexander Calder, Alexander Girard, Maija Grotell, Florence Knoll, Ruth Adler Schnee, and Marianne Strengell.
This reassessment of GM Technical Center's history and its continued stewardship by General Motors will feature morning talks at Cranbrook Art Museum and afternoon tours on the Cranbrook campus. Tour participants will see GM Technical Center furnishings and objects in the Cranbrook Art Museum Collections Wing vault and drawings and ephemera related to Eero Saarinen and his Technical Center collaborators in the Cranbrook Archives Reading Room. The walking tour also explores Eero Saarinen's design contributions in furniture, gates, and ornament at Cranbrook while highlighting lessons the younger Saarinen and other midcentury modern designers gleaned from Eliel Saarinen's masterpiece.
Program and Schedule
10:00am - 12:00pm
Lectures at Cranbrook Art Museum deSalle Auditorium
Welcome and Introductions
Gregory Wittkopp, Director, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, and Deborah Kawsky, President, Docomomo US/Michigan
Eero Saarinen: Before and After GM
Kevin Adkisson, Curator, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
General Motors Technical Center at 68: History and Future
Natalie Morath, Lead Archivist and Curator, GM Design Archive & Special Collections
Alexander Calder Water Ballet Fountain Restoration
Ron Rader Jr., Manager DFO Capital Projects, General Motors Design
Cadillac House: Transforming the Central Restaurant
Andrew Barton, Lead Creative Designer, GM Design Architecture & Experience Studio
12:30pm-1:45pm
2:30pm-3:45pm
Eero Saarinen-focused Tours
Cranbrook Archives Reading Room
Cranbrook Art Museum Collections Wing Plaza Vault
Cranbrook Academy of Art Grounds
Cranbrook School for Boys Quadrangle, South Lobby, and Dining Hall
Tour Leaders
Kevin Adkisson, Curator, and Deborah Rice, Head Archivist, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research and Bridget Bartal, MillerKnoll Curatorial Fellow, Cranbrook Art Museum.
All tour guests will visit each site and hear from all experts
1:15pm - 4:45pm*
Special Tour of General Motors Technical Center
THIS TOUR IS SOLD OUT
This additional tour is for Docomomo US/Michigan members led by Natalie Morath, Lead Archivist and Curator, GM Design Archive & Special Collections. This tour departs from Cranbrook Art Museum on a Cranbrook Schools bus at 1:15pm sharp. Participants must ride the bus and may not drive their own vehicles. To learn more and register for this tour, which includes the morning lectures, please visit Docomomo US/Michigan. As the time between lectures and tours is limited, there is a box lunch option for tour participants.
*This tour is not included in the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research event fee. For more information on the GM Tour, contact docomomo.mi@gmail.com.
About the Speakers
Kevin Adkisson assists in the preservation, interpretation, and programming across the many buildings and treasures of Cranbrook as Curator for the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. Known for his popular lectures on architecture, art, design, and education history, Kevin has a BA in Architecture from Yale and an MA from the University of Delaware's Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, with a thesis examining the role of postmodernism in shopping mall architecture. Previously, he worked for Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York and at Kent Bloomer Studio in New Haven. Kevin served as the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research's Collections Fellow from August 2016 to June 2019, and as Associate Curator from July 2019 to August 2021.
Natalie Morath is the Lead Archivist and Curator at the General Motors Design Archive & Special Collections where she has been a leader in GM's efforts to document, preserve and promote its design heritage for almost 10 years. As a curator, she has collaborated with and supported Cranbrook Art Museum, the V & A in London, Guggenheim Bilbao, the National Museum of African American History & Culture, the Automotive Hall of Fame, the Savoy Museum, and Pratt Manhattan Gallery on exhibitions featuring the work of GM designers. She also serves as the subject matter expert for the National Historic Landmark GM Technical Center campus. Finally, she helps lead the current art and exhibition program within GM Design, fostering the creativity and talents of the current generation of designers and sculptors outside the realm of automotive design. Natalie holds a Masters in Information Science from Wayne State University and a BA in History of Art from the University of Michigan.
Ron Rader Jr. is a consummate student of design evolution and the built environment. He received his formal education at Lawrence Technological University with a degree in Architecture. Ron has been employed in architecture-related fields for over 30 years; having worked at two of the larger firms in the Detroit area. He has been graced with the opportunity to work for General Motors for 23 years, based primarily at the Warren Technical Center. Much of his career has been dedicated to working in historic preservation of the Saarinen Design Center, newly constructed Design West Building, GM Performance Center, and, most recently, the restoration of the Calder Water Ballet Fountain. Ron also manages a cross-functional team handling Capital Projects for the Design Fabrication organization.
Additional Information
WHEN YOU ARRIVE
Free parking is available at Cranbrook Art Museum. Overflow parking is available a short distance away at the Cranbrook Institute of Science Parking Deck.
TOURS
The Eero Saarinen-focused Tours will be approximately two hours long and will include walking across the campus and several short flights of stairs. While Cranbrook Art Museum has ADA-accessible entrances, Cranbrook School does not.
PHOTOGRAPHY
No photography or recording is permitted in the lectures. Photography is permitted on the tours for personal use only. No special equipment or tripods may be brought on the tours.
COATS AND BAGS
Only small wallets and handheld cameras are permitted on the tours. Please leave all backpacks, purses, camera bags, camera equipment, and other cumbersome items in vehicles. This policy was created for the security and protection of the items in the Collections Vault, Cranbrook Archives, and Cranbrook School.
REFUND POLICY
Tickets are non-refundable. Your ticket may be transferred to another participant for the lectures and /or tour on the same day and time as the original ticket.
SERVICE ANIMAL POLICY
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research is glad to accommodate vistors accompanied by service animals, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on tours of the buildings and spaces of the Cranbrook campus. Under the ADA, a "service animal" is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person's disability. Regretfully, we cannot accommodate visitors accompanied by emotional support animals or pets. Visitors who will be accompanied by service animals are welcome to call the Center at 248-645-3307 in advance of their scheduled tour so that we may address any questions or concerns.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For additional information on the Center and its programs, email center@cranbrook.edu or call (248) 645-3307.
ABOUT CRANBROOK CENTER FOR COLLECTIONS AND RESEARCH
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research reveals the Cranbrook story and offers intellectual and experiential engagement with its legacy. By sustaining and interpreting the community's unparalleled landscape, architecture, collections, and archives, the Center provides memorable educational experiences and meaningful research opportunities for regional, national, and international audiences.
ABOUT DOCOMOMO US
Founded in the United States in 1995, Docomomo US is a non-profit organization led by a national Board of Directors and staff that represents a union of regional chapters that share its members' knowledge of and enthusiasm for modern architecture and design. Committed to the principle that modern design merits the attention and preservation received by earlier periods, Docomomo maintains a continuous and constructive dialogue with national, state, and local preservation authorities and organizations as well as with building owners, developers, and designers in many disciplines. Their discussions with designing architects are based on the conviction that creative design and preservation go hand in hand. Designers are often consolidating, rehabilitating, and adding to the old; preservation architects are often devising creative ways to conserve it. Docomomo US promotes the exchange of knowledge about this important legacy which extends from the planned city and the iconic monument to the house next door. For more information on the Michigan Chapter, visit Docomomo US/Michigan.
ABOUT GENERAL MOTORS DESIGN ARCHIVE & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
The GM Design Archive & Special Collections (GMDASC) formed in 2009 to document the history of the automotive and industrial design process at General Motors. GMDASC's mission is to preserve GM's design heritage, inspire their colleagues and educate their community. As the official repository supporting this mission, GMDASC manages and provides access to a rich and detailed record of the disparate activities carried out by GM Design since its inception in 1927 as well as preserving the heritage of the GM Technical Center campus.
Photo Credits (From Top to Bottom)
Header photo: General Motors Technical Center, Styling (Design) Administration Building, Lobby. Photography by James Haefner; Courtesy General Motors Design Archive & Special Collections.
Eero Saarinen and Florence Schust Knoll, 1956. Photography by Scott Hyde for Knoll International; Courtesy Cranbrook Archives.
General Motors Technical Center, Research Administration Building, Central Staircase. Photography by James Haefner; Courtesy General Motors Design Archive & Special Collections.
Bird's Eye View of Proposed General Motors Technical Center, Saarinen Saarinen and Associates, 1949; Delineated by S. Glen Paulsen. Courtesy Cranbrook Archives.
Kevin Adkisson. Photography by Sophie Russell-Jeffrey, CAA '25; Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Photos of Natalie Morath and Ron Rader Jr. Photography Courtesy General Motors Design Archive & Special Collections.
General Motors Styling Auditorium (Design Dome). Photography by James Haefner; Courtesy General Motors Design Archive & Special Collections.