"The building is one of the purest 'high technology' architectural statements in Montgomery County, a product both of the work that went on there and the aesthetic intention of its designer," wrote University of Maryland architecture professors Isabelle Gournay and Mary Corbin Sies in a letter nominating the building for inclusion on the county's Master Plan for Historic Preservation.

In addressing the county Historic Preservation Commission during a meeting last week, Gournay added: "It is the most identified and best designed of all government buildings along Interstate 270."

Bethesda-based LCOR currently owns the COMSAT building and its 230-acre campus. The company has filed a request to rezone the property and demolish the laboratory, according to Gwen Wright, historian with the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission. The Montgomery County Council voted Feb. 1 to change the zoning on 24 outlying acres to allow condominiums and townhouses.

The HPC has received numerous letters opposing the demolition and supporting historic designation, including one from 25 professors at the University of Maryland School of Architecture and one from the designer of the building, noted architect Cesar Pelli.

"My personal interests aside," Pelli wrote, "... I feel the nearsightedness of short-term gains from commercial development do not outweigh the permanent loss of such a distinguished example of this style of architecture in Montgomery County," Pelli wrote.

The COMSAT building is one of the earliest works by Pelli, who designed National Airport as well as what was the tallest building in the world when it opened in 1998 -- Petronas Towers in Malaysia.

It has an aluminum and glass exterior and is organized internally along a central spine with wings. The building's most significant façade is along I-270, professor Gournay told the commission.

Native trees were used on the grounds to give the impression the building is a "machine in the garden" she added.

Gournay used a slide show of photographs of the inside and outside of the building to illustrate her testimony.

Pelli experimented with design ideas at COMSAT that he honed on later buildings. Looking at it now shows the model for National Airport, Gournay said.

"The COMSAT building by Cesar Pelli has inspired many of the architects educated at the local universities and Montgomery College," Michael Poness, president of the Potomac Valley Chapter of Maryland of the American Institute of Architects, told the commission. "It is fair to say that the COMSAT building is used again and again as one of the finest examples of high technology modern architecture in our area."

COMSAT sold the building and campus to LCOR seven years ago. Lockheed-Martin bought COMSAT in 2000 and began dismantling the company.

The 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan envisioned a mix of employment and residential uses on the 230-acre property if COMSAT ceased operation.

The Clarksburg Civic Association supports preserving the building and finding an innovative use for it, such as a library, shops or planetarium, wrote president Paul Majewski.

Kathie Hulley, chair of the association's planning committee, said, "This may be the first time that the community is asking for a deviation [from the master plan], but deviations have been sought by developers and have been accommodated with discussion and goodwill."

The Historic Preservation Commission will hear from its staff, LCOR and anyone else wishing to testify during a hearing March 9.