Last night, while giving some friends a tour of downtown Detroit, I experienced the newly renovated Renaissance Center for the first time since the completion of construction.  Suprisingly, the building no longer feels like an unnavigable fortress.  Here are some excerpts from a recent press release:

DETROIT (07 January 2005) – The General Motors Renaissance Center Jefferson Avenue Plaza, Pavilion and Lobby opened its “new doors” to the public…

The new entry plaza, pavilion and lobby reconnect the Renaissance Center to downtown Detroit at Jefferson Avenue. The original fortress-like concrete berms fronting Jefferson Avenue were removed in 2003 to make way for a pedestrian-friendly open plaza. The new plaza is marked with extensive landscaping and green area including red oak and honey locust trees, flagpoles, exterior accent lighting, and a granite staircase that leads up to the 45 feet high, and nearly 100 feet long, glass ellipsoidal pavilion entrance composed of stainless steel, glass and marble. Nighttime lighting is employed to illuminate the plaza and the pavilion.

“The design is outstanding and the timing of this opening is perfect as we prepare to welcome thousands of guests from around the world to the 2005 North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center,” said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. “This is one more major asset for downtown Detroit that shows that the city is alive with activities and growth.”

Here is the link to John Gallagher’s (Detroit Free Press Architecture Columnist) review of the Ren Cen: The RenCen Renaissance.

Happily, General Motors Corp., which bought the building in 1996, is nearing the end of its eight-year, $500-million remake of the RenCen, and the money has been well spent. Transforming so singular a work of dominant architecture wasn’t easy (rather, say, like trying to change the mind of the late Henry Ford II, the RenCen’s original sponsor), but GM’s chosen architect, Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has accomplished about as much as possible without tearing down and starting over.

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