High Point Pittsburgh is a proposal for transforming the one-acre rooftop of the 64-story culture and entertainment complex, a downtown first-day attraction, and a world-class visitor center, while demonstrating cutting-edge sustainable design and technologies. is a proposal for transforming the one-acre rooftop of the 64-story U. S. Steel Tower , the largest highest place atop any building on Earth, into a publicly accessible facility that will function as a, awhile demonstrating cutting-edge sustainable design and technologies.

High Point Pittsburgh is the product of a multi-year investigation primarily conducted on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University.

The proposed two-story, glass structure covers the entire roof area, creating over 60,000 square feet of space on two interior levels, including a venue for concerts and other live performances, an art gallery and gift shop, two 30-seat video theaters, along with a restaurant, café, bar, and rooms for private functions. The entire facility is capped by a glass-walled, open-air, rooftop promenade, which offers an incredible 360-degree panorama of Pittsburgh. Check out “Pittsburgh’s loftiest view,” courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

This video provides a 90-second overview of High Point Pittsburgh, the concept that has evolved during the Investigation. You can also tour High Point Pittsburgh via this interactive, virtual simulation.

The U.S. Steel Tower



Standing 841 feet from Grant Street to its roof line, the U. S. Steel Tower has ranked as Pittsburgh’s tallest building since it opened in September 1970. Four decades later, it remains a unique and iconic structure recognized internationally for several aspects of its design and construction. Also significant is the building’s flat, triangular rooftop. Measuring over an acre in area, it closely mimics Pittsburgh’s Point in both outline and orientation.

Most remarkable is the fact that while more than 180 other buildings around the world stand taller than the U. S. Steel Tower, its roof is the largest, highest flat space on top of any building on Earth, the planet’s highest “artificial acre.”

The High Point Pittsburgh Investigation

Centered at The Frank-Ratche STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, this Investigation has conducted a multi-year succession of coordinated projects on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University that has involved more than 400 students and faculty members, as well as valued input and feedback from myriad off-campus experts.

This 11-minute video, The Roof of the World, produced by Len Caric and broadcast on WQED TV, provides further background on both the building and the Investigation.

In the ideal, High Point Pittsburgh will become southwest Pennsylvania’s “highest common denominator,” a high-visibility, self-sustaining facility and important local asset that will advance the area’s regional, national, and international reputation, help to re-define ideas about public/private partnerships, and foster a reevaluation of the potential of high rooftops everywhere.

You can Like and follow the project on Facebook or visit our News page for the latest updates on our progress.

For more information or questions, please email High Point Pittsburgh.