Dome

View looking up at the base of an office tower, showing skylights; "To understand the Renaissance Center, you have to understand the basic situation of Detroit when we started the project. The first time I went, at the request of Mr. Ford, I stayed at the Pontchartrain Hotel. I got out of a taxi, and as I was checking in I was told to not walk on the streets. If I left the hotel, I had to take a taxi to go to a restaurant and when I came out of the restaurant I had to take a taxi back. This was the circumstance in which we found ourselves."  --  John Portman, quoted in Diamondstein, 1985, p. 217. "I've been criticized for turning my back on the city and building these great interior spaces, or building a plastic environment so that people don't have to go out to the streets. That criticism is beyond belief. It's like saying you shouldn't build these great spaces in a city even of the people enjoy it ... a city is a great and glorious thing. A city can stand great interior spaces as well as great exterior spaces; it's an orchestration of all kinds of environments that adds variety and interest and excitement to a city."  John Portman, quoted in Mullen, 1985, p. 180.