© Wikimedia Commons / Jonik

The AIA recently published a reprint from the National Associates Committee journal Forward by author Wellington Reiter, FAIA. The hot topic essay goes into great detail discussing how three U.S. cities – Detroit, Phoenix, and New Orleans – are serving as examples of the impacts of adverse planning and general continuation of unsustainable behavior.  While in times past these cities have flourished, and grew on the assumption that the trend would continue inevitably, they are sharp reminders of the consequences of naivety in regards to long term sustainability. More after the break. read more »

Courtesy of the Broad Art Museum

In 2007, Zaha Hadid won an international design competition for the Broad Art Museum on the campus of Michigan State University. The 4000 m2 building, which is donated by alumnus Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe, will provide ample space for large art installations and galleries dedicated to “international contemporary culture and ideas through art.”  The design takes cues from the surrounding topography as the volume seeks to extend and emphasize existing circulatory and visual connections.  Manifested in a series of pleats, the building’s abstracted connections create linear perpsective lines that change are the vistor moves past and through the building, “creating great curiosity yet never fully revealing its content,” explained Hadid. Ground breaking began in March of 2010, and now, construction is nearing completion on the project, which is slated to open in April of this year.

Check out more construction photos, along with the competition proposal renderings, after the break. read more »

© Jim Haefner

Architects: SmithGroupJJR
Location: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA
Contractor: Frank Rewold & Son, Inc.
Project Size: Collections Addition – 31,200 GSF
Construction Completion: November 2011
Project Design: Paul Urbanek, AIA, LEED AP, ice president and project designer
Project Team: Paul Urbanek, AIA, LEED AP – project designer; Kevin Shultis, AIA, LEED AP – project manager; Ryan Smith, AIA, LEED AP – project architect; Darin Daguanno, AIA, LEED AP; Terry Guitar, AIA, LEED AP; Frank Muehlenbein; Frank Weber, AIA; Mark Goyette; Ben Motyl; Tom O’Connor, FAIA; Jared Lawrence, AIA, CDT; Andrew Dunlap, AIA, CDT, LEED AP; Meredith Steckling, AIA, CDT, LEED Green Associate; Jerry Carter
Photographs: Jim Haefner, Courtesy of SmithGroupJJR

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© PLY Architecture

Architects: PLY Architecture
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Design and Construction: Karl Daubmann, Craig Borum(Principals) Shannon Burke (Design); Scott LaPorte, Matt Deiner, Marsall Prado, Alexis Coir, Mike Ezban (Construction)
Project Area: 1000 sqf
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: PLY Architecture

   
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© PLY Architecture

Architects: PLY Architecture
Location: University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Project Team: Karl Daubmann & John Marshall assisted by Ngoc Thy Phan & Alex Timmer
Structural Advisor: Andy Greco, SDI Additional
Construction help provided by: Peggy Chong, Jessica Mattson, Katie Santer, Dwight Song, Alex Watanabe
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: PLY Architecture

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Courtesy of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan

From October 26-30, 2011, the community is invited to the Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) Great Hall to explore the 2011 Detroit Canstruction® Design/Build exhibit. Giant sculptures made completely of canned food will be on display highlighting the event’s theme – “You can’t spell food without the D.”

Thousands of vegetable, soup and other canned goods will be used to create unique works of art built by teams of local architects, designers, engineers, contractors and students. Detroit Canstructionâ will help raise awareness about hunger issues while nourishing families in need. All cans used in the exhibits will be donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan (Gleaners). More information on the event after the break. read more »

© Jeff Garland Photography

Architects: Jeff Jordan Architects LLC
Location: Roscommon, Michigan, USA
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 4,800 sqf
Photographs: Jeff Garland Photography

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© Gensler

The 12th-busiest airport in the United States, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) serves as a global gateway to Metro Detroit. Opened as a model of post 9/11 terminal design, the airport’s new North Terminal is enhancing DTW’s status as one of the most modern and efficient airports in the world. Gensler designed the terminal to meet the dynamic needs of today’s travelers. The 26-gate, 824,000-square-foot terminal met stringent budget requirements, and establishes new benchmarks for value-conscious airport facilities. A tremendous time saver for travelers, the terminal’s linear design will also create a faster, more efficient path for taxiing aircraft that will save fuel and reduce environmental emissions. More images and information about DTW’s North Terminal after the break.

Architect: Gensler
Location: Romulus, Michigan, United States
Project Area: 850,000 gross square feet
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Gensler

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Courtesy of Dwell

Referred to as one of Meier’s best works, the Douglas House hovers over the shores of Lake Michigan placed upon a steep slope over the water almost as if it is floating amongst the trees.   The Douglas House was designed for clients Jim and Jean Douglas and was completed in 1973 after a three year construction period (1971-1973).   Meier furnished the home with furniture designed by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and himself, and it needed no ornamentation other than the nature it was designed around.

As is typical of Meier buildings, the house is completely white made with reinforced concrete and glass except for two steel pipes that extend from the chimney up to the roof, framing views at the entry level. Taking the natural surroundings into consideration during the construction, the house was positioned to remove as few trees as possible.

Featured in Dwell’s latest edition (out this week!), the full article can be found following the break.

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Photo by Janelle - http://www.flickr.com/photos/janelle/

The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, design by architect Alden Dow himself, masterfully incorporates work and domestic life in an interwoven fabric with the natural world. Using patented “Unit Blocks” the structure is given a sense of organicism and scale. A winding circulation serves to both separate programs within the home and add organic interest to the plan. read more »

© Constantine George Pappas AIA Architecture/Planning

Architect: Constantine George Pappas AIA Architecture/Planning
Location: Troy, Michigan, United States
General Contractor: The Dailey Co.
Project Year: 2008
Photography: Constantine George Pappas AIA Architecture/Planning

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© David Rose

Architect: Constantine George Pappas AIA Architecture/ Planning
Location: Rochester, Michigan, United States
General Contractor: Frank Rewold and Sons, Inc.
Project Area: 21,000 gross sq ft
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: David Rose

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Courtesy of Detroit Collaborative Design Center

RecoveryPark is a collaborative effort of neighborhoods, policymakers and designers that will include urban farming, education, commercial and housing development in Detroit, Michigan. SHAR, Inc. (Self Help Addiction Rehabilitation) teamed up with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture to create a community design process to develop land-use proposals and speculate on what a resuscitated urban environment might look like.

Read on for more after the break.

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© Justin Machonachie Photography

Architects: inFORM studio
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Project year: 2008
Photographs: James Haefner Photography, Justin Machonachie Photography

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© Curt Clayton

Architects: Lord, Aeck & Sargent
Location: Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA
Client: Eastern Michigan University
Civil engineer and landscape architects: Beckett & Raeder (Ann Arbor, Mich. Office)
MEP/FP engineer: Peter Basso Associates (Troy, Mich. office)
Structural engineer: Robert Darvas Associates (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Construction manager: Christman/Dumas (a joint venture of The Christman Company and Dumas Concepts in Building (EMU field office)
Program manager: AECOM (Detroit office) – program manager
Project area: 80,000 sqf
Project year: 2010 (phase 1) 2011 – 2012 (phase 2)
Photographs: Curt Clayton

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© Justin Maconochie

Architects: SHW Group
Location: Mount Pleasant, MI, USA
Principal-in-Charge: Janice Suchan
Project Manager: Jen Durham
Principal Designer; Tod Stevens
Programmer/Planner: Dave Rose
Project Architect: Mickey Walsh
Mechanical Engineer: Rich Corona
Electrical Engineer: Jeff Walenciak
Structural Engineer: Tom Baier
Landscape Architect: Beckett and Raeder
Civil Engineering: Wilcox Professional Services
Technology: The Sextant Group
Associate Engineer: ARUP
Project area: 146,000 sqm
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Justin Maconochie

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‘Detroit by Design’, a symposium and exhibition hosted by the AIA Detroit Urban Priorities Committee, will welcome the architecture and design community to study the unique and challenged urban infrastructure of Detroit through three key issues: urban centers, transportation, urban agriculture over the next three months.  This month ‘Detroit by Design’ will address the topic of transportation with an exhibit on April 5th and discussions on April 13th.  All exhibits and symposiums will be held at the Detroit Public Library and are free and open to public.  Further details of ‘Detroit by Design’ following the break.

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© Flickr: The Javelina

When Dale Morgan and Norman Silk spotted a “For Sale” sign in front of a contemporary home in the Palmer Woods neighborhood of Detroit it was just what they were looking for, so they snatched it up. Little did they know that they had just stumbled into buying a true Frank Lloyd Wright designed home, known as the Turkel House.

To answer the question you are all asking yourselves, how could they not have known, it turns out that 25 years of disrepair, long periods of vacancy and changing owners hands combined with years of deferred maintenance and overgrown vegetation can hide a FLW design quite well.

More following the break.

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Courtesy of Garrison Architects

Garrison Architects approaches projects through a process of extensive research that responds to the current economic, cultural, technical and environmental challenges. The firm integrates this critical approach with a highly refined modernist aesthetic. The Koby Cottage exemplifies this process. The recipient of a New York AIA Architecture Merit Award, Koby Cottage is a guesthouse for families visiting their children at Starr Commonwealth, a nonprofit organization in Michigan that counsels troubled teens. The cottage allows families to come together in a private domestic setting surrounded by nature.

Project description, video, images, and drawings after the break.

Architect: Garrison Architects
Location: Albion, Michigan, USA
Project Area: 1100 sqf
Photographs: Courtesy of Garrison Architects

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© Jeremy Bittermann

Allied Works Architecture was founded in 1994 by Brad Cloepfil and has grown to 50 employees with offices in New York City and Portland, Oregon. They have designed buildings for the arts, creative workspaces, residences, education buildings, and urban designs. Receiving numerous awards for their designs, including a National AIA Honor Award for the University of Michigan Museum of Art.  Allied Works Architecture were among the five finalists for the Musée National des Beaux Arts du Québec, check out their proposal here. In 2009 they were selected to design the National Music Center in Calgary.

We will be featuring a handful of designs by Allied Works Architecture over the next few weeks, and decided to start with their award winning University of Michigan Museum of Art located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The building more than doubles the program and collection spaces of the original museum while restoring the Alumni Memorial Hall. The addition occupies one of the last buildable sites on the historic campus, completing the primary public facade of the university.

More photographs, drawings and project description following the break.

Architects: Allied Works Architecture
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Associate Architects: Integrated Design Solutions
Project Team: Brad Cloepfil (principal), Thomas Robinson (project lead), Chelsea Grassinger (project architect) Allied Works Architecture, Paul Stachowiak (principal, Richard Newlin (associate sr. architect) Integrated Design Solutions
Project Management: University Architect’s Office, University of Michigan
Contractor: SKANSKA
Structural Engineer: KPFF
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing & Fire: ARUP and Integrated Design Solutions
Lighting/Daylighting: ARUP Lighting
Curtain Wall: RA Heintges
Exhibition Design: Allied Works Architecture
Graphics and Signage: Pentagram
Project Area: 40,362 sqf (existing), 53,452 sqf (new)
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Jeremy Bittermann, Richard Barnes

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