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It's an architectural showcase on 900 acres in a Detroit suburb, designed by two of the 20th century's premier architects. Its style and grace long have been extolled as a fitting place for technological visions to spring into reality.

But the General Motors Technical Center might have wound up a no-nonsense affair designed by engineers rather than visionaries.

The Tech Center, which opened in 1956, was to be the home of GM's technical innovation, and the company first thought GM's engineers should design their new home themselves.

But Harley Earl, GM's master stylist, argued that that the birthplace of grand ideas deserved a setting that was beautiful as well as functional. He advocated hiring "an architect of stature," and Chairman Alfred Sloan agreed.

Board member Lammot DuPont had to be convinced that "dressing up the place" wouldn't cost a lot more and wouldn't get in the way of the center's serious engineering mission, Sloan would write later.

The architects of stature were Eero Saarinen and his father, Eliel, who had moved to the United States from Finland in 1923. Eero Saarinen designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis in 1947.

The Saarinens submitted plans in July 1945, but GM's expansion for the postwar automotive boom delayed construction until 1949.

Today the center is widely respected as an architectural masterpiece. It was recognized by the American Institute of Architects in 1986 as the most outstanding architectural project of its era. In 1990, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For the rest of the story, read Automotive News' GM 100th anniversary edition, How General Motors Changed the World, on Sept. 15. For information about the special edition, go to www.autonews.com/gm100.