The site is on the
shore of the Monongohela River across from downtown Pittsburgh. The Cadillacs
and Chevy’s of the 1950’s (the ones with the big tailfins!) were
chosen to be exhibited in this showroom. Their streamlined and expressive form
provided the inspiration for the architectural vocabulary of the building. These
cars represent America at its most optimistic. Every line says speed and power.
The design was conceived not only as a showroom, but also a temple, or museum
to our national history. The center ‘temple’ volume is of thick
masonry walls in which the insides of the cars, their engines, are displayed.
The galleries explode out from this stable center. They are clad in reflective
aluminum echoing not only the cars, but also the metal-clad industrial and warehouse
buildings that surround the site. The large walls of glass face the river and
downtown. Upon entry into the galleries, the backlit cars are seen in silhouette,
dramatizing their elegant expressive forms.