The Building That Changed the World Photo

Photographer’s Note

You may say how could this building have changed my life? Well inside this building a system was put into place that revolutionized production. This is Henry Ford's Highland Park plant, his second facility. In this building the modern mass production line was created and fine tuned for the first time in an actual working environment.

In 1913 the continuously moving assembly line was introduced. Model T construction times dropped from 728 minutes to 93 minutes. By 1920 a Model T was being built every minute. This production rate allowed wages of 5 dollars a day, unheard of at the time. Almost overnight the population of this town 5 miles north of Detroit soared. The 1910 census had 4120 people lived in the city of Highland Park. In 1920 the population had boomed to 46,499, a 1000 per cent increase. Ford also kept the city from being swallowed up by an ever expanding Detroit. So this 2 square mile enclave still remains surrounded by Detroit.

The building is also important for its architecture. Designed in 1908 by Albert Kahn (who also designed the Packard Plant ), he created a plan with large, open floors for the efficient placement of machines to suit production needs. The surface was covered in acres of glass to let in as much light and air as possible. It also allowed for never-ending additions as new parts could easily be built and connected in this modular system. The European modernists almost worshipped these buildings. They loved the simple, glass covered, designs and open floor plans. Le Corbusier, especially, learned from these types of buildings and applied that knowledge to his own structures. Fiat's Lingotto in Turin, was also a much more stylized and modernist version of this but was basically the same multi-story mass production line.

I’ll have more to say about this city and facility in future posts.

jhm, carper, ebrakke, niju, Galeota, hojper, Nick70, petertee, Rinie_Hoff, phd94, jhonny_blue, Endy, burdallet, summer89, Georges, harold, mdchachi, nwoehnl, orme, cgrindahl, CVTJan, taivo, Roly, mikee, elihesamian, sn00zie, pulezan, paguru, greghume1, jbweasle, roconnell, rajhema, aralda, benkrut has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

MARIUS (2240) 2004-08-06 13:04 [Comment]

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carper (66108) 2004-08-06 13:10

very good photo Paul,
What a perspective, good lines in the composition, good colours too, very good job

ebrakke (488) 2004-08-06 13:34

Very good note, and nice photo as well, particularly perspective and DOF. The cars seem somewhat flat, have you "stretched" it?

[2] +

Galeota (10334) 2004-08-06 14:24

Very nice angle and POV. The photograph takes its interest from the story of the building. Good journalistic note.

hojper (2830) 2004-08-06 15:12

The title did it. Otherwise I doubt that the thumbnail would have caught my attention. But onece opened it is a nice photo with lots of perspective and colour. Architecturally it is not bad either, and your note really tells an interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

Rinie_Hoff (9334) 2004-08-06 16:51

Hi Paul, very nice perspective,it looks as if it goes on for miles. Is this the same place as where your hunt picture for abandoned building came from?
Very clear and crisp picture, and a beautiful sky The green trees from a very nice contrast with the red bricks.
Your notes are excellent again, and very interesting, thanks very much!

RGatward (19751) 2004-08-07 1:27

Great archi shot, and fascinating note.

phd94 (305) 2004-08-07 2:11

Good journalistic work

jhm (83742) 2004-08-07 3:25

Excellent perspective image, colourful and very nice composition, good work here Paul!

jhonny_blue (4954) 2004-08-07 5:16

Very good picture Paul ! I like the angle and the colours. Congratulations

c_kyr (1810) 2004-08-07 9:08

The first thing that made me look at this photo was its title.
Wonderful explanation note and beautiful capture of the building.
Very good work Paul.
Well done!

Endy (1025) 2004-08-07 9:14

Very good perspective! The red color of building is bright and gives life to this picture.

Nice composition!

burdallet (0) 2004-08-07 11:10

Henri Ford " People can choose the color of their car .. and the color is the black " ..

summer89 (5414) 2004-08-07 11:15

Hi Paul,

Great composition i like the angle,too.

Well done

harold (2271) 2004-08-07 16:16

superbe prise de vue en profondeur avec de trés jolie couleurs trés bien fais pamastro . amitié harold

Georges (11185) 2004-08-08 3:56

Trés bele angle qui met en bonne valeur le sujet presenté.
J'aime bien ce vehicule qui donne du mouvement a la scene.
Bravo c'est bien vu.

nwoehnl (120) 2004-08-08 11:36

Nice one, Paul, and a title that sure raises curiosity and makes visitors click the thumbnail ;-) Very good perspective that fits a lot of the plant into your photo, and fine color contrast. The stitching work is well done, too, and I like how the streetlamps are just about reaching into the frame at the left. Well done.

orme (6746) 2004-08-08 21:28

I like the angle of your shot, Paul, which probably shows us most of this 'long' assembly line building. The note and title are excellent.

cgrindahl (6109) 2004-08-09 17:35

You've done Detroit proud with your many excellent images Paul, including this slice of automobile history. As I've related to you personally, I spent time at the Twin Cities Assembly Plant which was a slightly smaller version of this beauty. Although autos were being built on the production floor these were quite remarkable buildings with light streaming in.

You've chosen a great PoV for this capture, giving us an accurate impression of the largeness of this building. Colors and details are fine. I like that you included a couple of cars to help us with scale. Fine work Paul and great note, as I've come to expect from you. This is TE at its best.

CVTJan (1244) 2004-08-10 3:28

Dear Paul, what a fine detailed history lesson :) Thanks again. Your angle choice shows the dimensions of this building very well. Yours, Jan

taivo (1840) 2004-08-10 7:45

A great shot accompanied by an even better note. The perspective is nice as the lines are converting to a fictiuous point in the point.

cmartos (6086) 2004-08-14 20:42

Yes Paul, I agree, this one has changed the world. Good, very good angle, I like your crop, the lines are strong, the textures are so detailed here. Perfectly corrected geometry too. The sharpness and clarity are also at the top. Interesting also to hear that Le Corbusier learned from style, He's famous in Switzerland, obviously. Thanks for sharing Paul.

mikee (1983) 2004-08-16 2:47

Excellent shot accompanied, as usual, by your interesting and informative note. The structure is as impressive as its history. Great crisp and clear composition with wonderful colors and an impressive perspective. Well done.

elihesamian (26091) 2004-08-17 5:18

Great note,great shot,Paul!
And an admrable perspective,with very beautiful light & sky,I like it alot.a fine composition you managed here.
also,it's very interesting about 1908 when the building is made.
Very nice informative pic,Thanks for posted it,Paul!

sn00zie (2384) 2004-08-22 11:06

very interesting building..

pulezan (767) 2004-09-09 7:16

great prespective, and the lines form an excellent image. good job.
reading your notes is like reading a book. thanks.

paguru (1052) 2004-09-09 13:58

Impressive structure - or is it just your POV and composition? I couldn't tell - but I learned something today, thanks!

premels (2400) 2004-10-03 4:20

One must have felt very small working in there.
The building looks overwhelming in your picture.
The cars add to the sense of (dis)proportion.

jbweasle (9294) 2005-01-20 6:31

Interesting photo - fantastic notes. Well done.

roconnell (327) 2005-03-20 20:54

There is a beauty in the symmetry and repeating patterns of alternating brick and glass that dot most of the industrial Mid-West landscape. Wonderful urban development/design photo. You capture the scale of this plant very well.

rajhema (1867) 2005-11-10 15:16

You comments are valuable. I admire Henry Ford a lot for the revolutionary approach. I've heard about Ford when I was in India and was still in school.

aralda (1240) 2005-11-20 16:13

Wonderful shot/perspective for this subject. Great work Paul! Definitely one of my favorites.
The building goes on and on like a production line, and things move fast.
Raluca

Polonaise (5638) 2006-04-23 19:33

Dear Paul.
Every picture of Detroit in your gallery screams the lungs out: I LOVE THIS CITY (against all odds).
So is every sentence in your notes! I believe, if you were mayor of this city back then, today's downtown of this mogul would certainly look different.
God bless those with soul full of passion.
George

PS: Please, post these pictures you mentoned in your e-mail to my workshop. They're absolutely essential to enrich the story of Michigan Av. As soon as you do, I'll update my note accordingly, emphasize your contribution to the theme.