W e’ve covered the Pirelli Tire Building before, highlighting its world-class architectural pedigree and narrow brush with total demolition.
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But we haven’t said anything very specific about its appearance, like the intricacies of its molded concrete, or the shapes of the shadows that tend to pattern across its skin, or the unexpected texture of the metal grates venting out the sides. We haven’t noted the way its dominant grey-beige color lights up under the sun, turning the western facade a yellowish tan in the afternoon, then gold for the day’s final hour, then luminous orange and rose. We haven’t mentioned that, at twilight, its sunken windows take on hues like a sky about to storm, or that, for just one or two minutes right after the sun slips past the horizon, the stilts supporting its upper levels blush a bafflingly deep red.
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That’s what pictures are for.
P.S. To see the above photos in their full, uncropped, uncompressed glory—and in both landscape and portrait formats—check out the email version.
Pirelli Tire Building
450 Sargent Dr, New Haven (map)
Written and photographed by Dan Mims.
