K & L Gates Center

Place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Location: Intersection Of Wood Street, Sixrth Avenue, and Liberty Avenue

The K &L Gates Center, now named after the international law firm that is the building's major tenant, has previously been known as One Oliver Plaza, FreeMarkets Center, and Ariba Center. Completed in 1968, it was the tallest construction in the city during that decade. Currently, at 511 feet, it is the 9th tallest building in Pittsburgh.

People have asked me if this is what the building "really" looks like. Well, yes and no! This is the true structure of the building and the deep orange metal beams do look like this. However, the building's windows are made of mirrorlike glass panels which reflect the sky. Thus, the windows of the building would appear grey from November through March (a little Pittsburgh joke, you folks that live here know what I mean) and bluish throughout the rest of the year. Rather than have the windows appear grey, the photograph of the building was combined with an underlying texture to give the image more color and depth.