Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 6:32 PMWhat a little sunset can do
Among other things, it makes the MGM Grand Casino Hotel (Hamilton Anderson Assoc. and SmithGroup) -- a building ArchBlogger's conflicted about, seeing both positive and negative -- shimmer like a gemstone.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 5:10 PMIsolated structures on M32
This would be M32 up north, west of Gaylord and west of US131.
ArchBlogger's always loved the 15 miles or so between 131 and East Jordan. The winding, two-lane road turns surprisingly hilly, even for northern Michigan, and passes a number of itsy-bitsy crossroads with cool old vernacular buildings, as well as a couple modest-but-intriguing cemeteries.
In particular, A.B. likes the abandoned structure immediately below -- longtime readers will recognize his affection for poignant abandonment -- as well as the old schoolhouse at the bottom, which obviously is still in good shape.
Right across the blacktop county road from the schoolhouse is a fieldstone church of considerable charm, also below.
Slumped but not yet beaten, this weathered shed still seems to yearn to move forward.
An exercise in classic simplicity -- a onetime schoolhouse, by the looks of it, that probably used to serve the scattered farm population between mighty Elmira and East Jordan.
ArchBlogger's always been a complete sucker for almost anything built of fieldstone. But this modest little church has always struck him every time he's driven past.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 6:00 PMDon't tear down the Michigan Central Depot -- light it up!
Here's a modest proposal: We shouldn't tear Detroit's old train station down, as our perpetually misguided City Council (and -- ahem! -- another Detroit newspaper) wants. Instead, somebody should illuminate the great tower at night.
Yes, yes. ArchBlogger knows.
It's a wreck. We should be ashamed. Outsiders will just snicker at our dilapidation.
Rubbish. The train station is a towering icon, our very own Coliseum which, it's worth noting, Rome has been lighting up like a torch for decades.
Tearing the train station down would accomplish nothing apart from robbing the Detroit skyline of drama. Anyone who thinks some big development is going to move in there is just whistling "Dixie." Rather, we ought to softly light the upper stories to add a romantic beacon to the cityscape after dark.
ArchBlogger isn't talking glaring lights, here. Nobody wants to highlight the shattered windows. Instead, any illumination should be soft and silvery -- a shimmering landmark, not a torch.
Not only would it be breathtaking at night, if properly illuminated, A.B. is certain it would goose the sputtering comeback of Michigan Avenue at 14th Street, right across Roosevelt Park from the depot. A lit-up train station would draw kids -- the sorts who support Slows Bar-BQ, L.J.'s Lounge and P.J.'s Lager House, all nearby -- like moths.
And frankly? It's sick-of-the-suburbs children who renovated New York's East Village and Chicago's Wicker Park. Why not give Macomb and Oakland County kids with a taste for urban grit a beacon to aim for?
The nascent commercial strip at Michigan and 14th Street, directly across Roosevelt Park from the train station. That's Slows Bar BQ to the left in the dark-red building.
ArchBlogger was not surprised to learn this is hardly the first time lighting the station has been proposed. GrandCircus writes on this blog's unwieldy "Comments" page (kudos to all who managed to register successfully) to note that Kelli Kavanaugh proposed the same idea in her 2001 book in the Images of America series, "Detroit's Michigan Central Station."
And Phillip Cooley, co-owner of Slows Bar BQ across the way, has been interested and involved on this question as well.
Still, this whole subject gets to the larger question of Detroit's decay, and our collective embarrassment over it.
It's high time we Detroiters developed a little backbone. New York City in the early 1980s was spectacularly shabby in many places, but that never stopped them from hyping their fabulousness -- in fact, it positively drew visitors, particularly the adventurous young: "Wow, man -- New York is such a bad-ass town. It was totally cool!"
Detroit's reality has a haunting beauty that outsiders, in particular, often recognize and admire. Why not harness that to help some local businesses?
There are practical considerations, of course. The train station -- like the Ambassador Bridge -- is owned by Grosse Pte. businessman Manuel Maroun, and it's unclear whether he'd be interested in lighting a building he may hope to tear down someday.
But there are other scraps of land within a couple hundred feet that aren't his property. Why couldn't some group -- any nonprofits interested? -- get together some money and set up lights?
Sure it's quixotic. But it would make the nearby Corktown commercial neighborhood pop.
More to the point, it would generate a little offbeat urban romance -- precisely what Detroit needs, if it's going to attract more urban pioneers to fill up those empty storefronts along Michigan Avenue, or the abandoned houses across the freeway in North Corktown.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 8:15 PMCity of lights: Detroit at night
As has been noted, ArchBlogger has finally mastered -- manfully, he would like to say -- the art of the tripod and the shutter-release delay. This has enabled him to tackle a longtime ambition: nighttime photogaphy.
A.B. was out running around downtown several Sundays ago, on an evening that turned slightly balmy. The results follow below. A few of the pictures, if blown up very large, might not be crystal-sharp. A.B. did not note until late in the evening that the wind -- which was really gusting -- slapped A.B.'s camera strap all over the place. So even though the camera was duly affixed to tripod, he thinks the strap managed to jostle things all the same. He apologizes.
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The main branch of the Detroit Public Library, right across from the DIA in the city's grand example of City Beautiful planning. The library, by the way, is the only Detroit work by New York City architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed NY's Woolworth Tower and the U.S. Supreme Court building.
The mosaic tile work at the top of the arches is Pewabic, A.B. is told from one who ought to know.
A light on Washington Boulevard: the Westin Book-Cadillac glows like a gemstone at night, bringing at least some life to the moribund, if beautiful, thoroughfare. At this point, A.B. would like once again like to tip his hat to Cleveland's Ferchill Group, who took on the challenge of renovating a ruin of a building that had been vacant for decades in a city few others would bet on. Happily, they're said to be discussing other developments on the boulevard.
Who knew if the shutter exposure was slow enough that you'd catch the red, green AND yellow lights?
Detroit's nifty new central bus depot, at Cass and Michigan Avenues. Designed by New York City's Parsons Brinckerhoff firm, which handles a lot of urban infrastructure projects.
A.B. still thinks the MGM Grand Casino Hotel looks a lot like a toaster (thanks to his distinguished colleague Ray Stanczak for this insight), and he'd still like to know why they couldn't have done something better with the boxy mechanicals on the roof. Still, at night, it packs a little punch. By Hamilton Anderson Associates and SmithGroup, both of Detroit, and California-based Archavision.
The Penobscot at night -- lit up by a dramatically simple scheme that takes advantage of the Art Deco tower's setbacks and geometry. Wayne State's Jerry Herron, who now heads the Honors College but for years was the chair of American Studies, says flatly that the Penobscot lighting is the best example of real urbanism in Detroit. By Gary Woodall at Ann Arbor's Gary Steffi Lighting Design -- a tiny firm that seems to have done just about every big lighting project in Michigan from the Penobscot to the Michigan Capitol inside and out.
And finally we close with a mediocre shot that raises the question, "So -- London, Paris or Detroit?" The Wayne County Courthouse building -- now empty, or almost, as the county transfers its staff to the Guardian Building, which it recently bought. By Detroit architect John Scott, who also designed several of the houses on Ferry Street east of Woodward, including the central house at the uber-gorgeous Inn on Ferry Street, 84 East Ferry.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 12:07 PMA salute to DTE Energy
...for the cool reflecting pool in front of their downtown Detroit headquarters, perked up by three contemporary fountains -- and all nicely illuminated at night.
The waterworks in front of their Bagley office tower -- right across Third Street from the new MGM Casino and Hotel -- were part of a significant facelift the utility undertook over the past five or so years, which also included a soaring, all-glass addition that now encapsulates the lobby.
It's all very admirable -- and all a bit thrown to the winds, given the complete absence of foot traffic on Bagley. (Granted, there is some on Third, but those people are making a beeline for the casino.) In an ideal world, these sorts of design amenities should be in high pedestrian-traffic areas, so people can actually enjoy them at a slower pace than whipping by in the car. But what's a utility to do? Its building stands well apart from downtown.
Handling the project were Neumann/Smith Architects in Southfield, who seem to be behind half the cool new buildings around town. Cases in point? The new Ann Arbor YMCA and the Ernst & Young building on Campus Martius (the green-glass one), to name two. Grissim Metz Andriese Associates landscape design worked with N/S on the installation.
An elegant sight at night -- the fountains and reflecting pool in front of the upgraded DTE Energy tower in Detroit. [All photos by ArchBlogger.]
To the designers' credit, the fountains are designed to be comprehensible as you approach from a distance and whiz by at 40 mph. Each fountain "spigot" emerges from a freestanding square steel arch that reaches up maybe 15 feet or so. There are three fountains and arches in close succession, marching along DTE's entryway toward the new lobby facade, and the views -- particularly at night -- can be quite enchanting.
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Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:41 AMArchBlogger to speak in Royal Oak
ArchBlogger will give a lecture and slide show entitled "On Detroit Urbanism" at the Royal Oak Public Library Monday, Oct. 26. The program will run from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the library's Friends Auditorium, and is free.
The library is located at 222 E. 11 Mile Road. Questions? Call (248) 246-3700.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 12:55 PMAh, the Fisher Building
ArchBlogger has lately mastered the tripod and the time-release shutter mechanism on his digital SLR. It's been sort of a slow learning curve.
This new skill lured him into the Fisher Building this past Saturday, up to the third floor overlook that rings the lobby. One is familiar with how muscular and striking the building is, particularly from the outside, but you forget how much delicacy is built into the design as well.
The Fisher Building lobby in Detroit's New Center.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 10:26 PMArchBlogger does Chicago
When ArchBlogger moved from Brooklyn to Detroit some 18 years ago, he thought, "This is excellent! Mid-way between Chicago and Toronto. I'll be in one of them every month."
Sadly, apart from a few quick business trips, that mostly didn't turn out to be the case. So over Labor Day, A.B. decided to remedy that, and do a little architectural touristing in the Windy City.
The Trib, of course.
And my oh my. The architecture, of course, is seminal. But in a more general sense, what a cool, gorgeous, over-favored city this is! "Overfavored" sort of like the song -- "God shed His grace on thee." And man. Did He. Tell me the truth -- was this city always this handsome, hip and rich?
Well, perhaps.
One nice development this trip is that for the first time A.B., who lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the late 80s early 90s -- and adored the city -- was able to see Chicago for itself, and not framed through his NYC lens.
The new, silvery Trump Tower -- not as God-awful as you'd think -- glinting behind the Carbide & Carbon Building.
A few compare-and-contrast observations:
- Chicago's side streets seem to be wider. In any case, there's just more air and light than in New York, where even streets with low-rise buildings -- nice parts of the Upper West Side, say -- feel a bit cramped. A.B. has always said Chicago is New York with adequate parking, but now he'd add "and additional sunlight."
Parking on the lower floors at Marina City -- you know, the stacked pancake towers (and darned good-looking too) right on the river.
- The El is interesting. A.B.'s seen pictures of New York before they took all the elevated trains down, mostly in the 30s and 40s, he thinks. And it's pretty clear that they often blighted the avenues they roofed over. Fourth Avenue near downtown Brooklyn is a good example. The elevated's buried now, but the avenue still -- or at least in 1991 when A.B. moved away -- felt scuzzy and a bit abused. But in Chicago, the El seemed to add so much drama - and there are SO many exciting sightlines all around -- that A.B. didn't resent the visual ceiling it effectively creates, and the way it interrupts some views.
The El.
(In Detroit, one of many things ArchBlogger holds against the People Mover -- he prefers "People Mover-ette" for the way it trivializes mass transit -- is how it blocks glorious sightlines up Woodward and other streets. All for a system that travels an irrational, loopy circle -- not the efficient straight lines of the El -- full of little zigs and zags that oftentimes make it no faster than walking.
Anyhow, the El felt more like drama and entertainment than an interruption -- a most-pleasant discovery.
- People smile more in Chicago. And while A.B. thinks New Yorkers often get a bad rap on this subject, the Midwesterners more polite, as well. All the same, while the crush of buildings is magnificent, A.B. did not get quite the electric exhilaration that New York induces -- almost, as it were, because Chicago's too pleasant. If New York gives him a palpable "on stage" thrill, by contrast Chicago was warmer and less jangling -- not a bad trade.
- Water plays a vastly cooler role in Chicago than its snooty eastern rival. The watery expanse around New York has its points, but everything on the other side is relatively far away. Vastly more intimate and visually dramatic is the way the Chicago River winds through and defines downtown downtown, the way it throws up outstanding bridges hither and yon, and the way far-sighted city planners (impossible to imagine in today's climate of extreme hostility to government spending) thoughtfully equipped the riverbank with handsome waterside sidewalks on two or three different levels, the lowest right at the water with the waterbug taxis zipping by.
Urban planning of the most civilized sort -- and vastly nicer, at least in terms of riverfronts, than anything in New York (though to be fair, New York's use of its lower Hudson riverfront on the West Side has improved a great deal in the past 15 years).
One of the highlights of the trip was visiting William Zbaren and Robert Sharoff, the architectural photographer and writer, respectively, who produced the great book on Detroit that Wayne State University Press published several years ago, "American City."
The other highlight was taking the Chicago Architecture Foundation boat tour one sunny morning, which was 90 minutes of omigod views and fascinating, articulate history. ArchBlogger can't recommend it enough.
The Tribune Tower seen from the riverside.
Dazzling use of balconies as the dominant design feature.
On the Chicago Architecture Foundation river tour -- a way-cool experience for any visitor. At 10:30 a.m. that morning, fog started rolling in off Lake Michigan to great dramatic effect. That's the Trump Tower disappearing into the mists.
More fabulous balconies.
The fog starts to lift.
The Wrigley Building.
A.B. regrets he doesn't remember the name of this building on the south branch of the river, but he's still totally blown away by its modernist, monochromatic (or duochromatic) severity -- and the marvelous way the silver windows contrast with the surrounding carbon. Quintessential Chicago design, somehow.
A bucolic idyll on the river's north branch.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 4:16 AMDowntown Detroit under dramatic clouds
Gusty, tempestuous clouds drew ArchBlogger, camera clutched in hand, towards the New Center and downtown on Saturday. He spent a good long time with the Fisher Building, and then camped in his car at Cass and Charlotte, where there's a particularly good vista on the towers along the river.
The fruits of that labor follow below -- at least for now, mostly without comment.
The Fisher Building. [All photos by ArchBlogger.]
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The old General Motors Building, now State of Michigan offices since GM's move to Renaissance Center years ago.
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The recently renovated Westin Book-Cadillac Hotel catches a sliver of pre-sunset light. The Book Building looms left, while the Penobscot Building pokes its head above the hotel.
Cass & Charlotte.
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Downtown seen from a few blocks farther down Cass.
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Downtown from John R just north of the stadiums. The orange towers are, from left, the Guardian Building and the David Stott Building.
Category: Architecture
Posted by Michael Hodges (The Detroit News) on Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 7:15 PMHome-design guru Sarah Susanka to visit Detroit
Sarah Susanka, the architect who wrote the marvelous "Not So Big House" series of books, will be signing her newest title starting at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at the grand opening of the new Marvin Design Gallery in Bloomfield Hills at 2350 Franklin Rd.
The new book is "Not-So-Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live." Click here for a quick trip to her website.
The Raleigh-based designer writes as clearly and amusingly on architecture and design as anyone. Boiled down to its essentials, Susanka argues that anyone contemplating building a new house ought to consider taking the money from extra square footage and putting it into personalized built-ins, like bookshelves and breakfast nooks.
It's those details, she argues, that form the strongest and most-enduring bond between people and their home.
ArchBlogger caught up with Susanka for a chat, shortly before her arrival in Detroit.
ArchBlogger: Define the philosophy behind the "not-so-big house."
Susanka: Basically, a not-so-big house is one that re-apportions dollars out of square footage that's rarely used, and puts those into quality and character. I noticed when people came to my office to remodel or build a house, they almost always they defined things in terms of square footage and room names. And the first rooms out of their mouths were the ones they never used - formal entry, formal living room, and formal dining room.
In an informal poll, 85 percent of my clients admitted they never used their living room. It's just an idea they thought they should have.
A.B: So what's wrong with newer houses?
Susanka: One of things that makes people buy an older house, rather than new, is that they love those built-ins - the little wall inset by the front door for vase of flowers, etc. Those little special features are what make us feel at home. Both because of the efficiencies of construction after World War II - and getting into this house-on-steroids idea - we've forgotten that those small things make a difference.
In photos, a McMansion can look okay. But when you walk in, you realize it was made for giants. Most of us feel dwarfed. I tell people the two-story gallery and Palladian window are perfect for state capitols, not a house.
A.B: What options do people have for building charm into, say, a boxy little 1950s ranch?
Susanka: There are examples in the book of ranch houses that have been improved tremendously. A tip: One of the problems with a lot of ranches is that the ceilings are unrelievedly 8-feet tall. In many cases, you can't go higher without incurring real cost. I suggest dropping part of the ceiling at the end of the living room -- architects call this a soffit - two to three feet out from the wall.
It creates a little place for a computer desk or a couple seats. But more importantly, it shapes the space, so you begin to read the contrast between the ceiling heights. That way, your eye sees the 8-foot ceiling as taller than it really is. Plus, then you can add recessed lights to bring purpose to that wall. You can also add a light cove along the edge of the soffit to bounce light off the higher ceilng.
A.B: You've got a light, lovely accent. Where did you grow up?
Susanka: I grew up just outside London, in a little village called Knockholt. My family emigrated to Los Angeles in 1971 when I as 14 when my dad, who was kind of an inventor, got a job with the Mattel Toy Co. And my parents just loved LA. It's so funny. It's the antithesis of what they grew up with.
A.B: Who are your favorite architects?
Susanka: Frank Lloyd Wright. He coauthored a book in 1901 called "A House Beautiful," and it was all about how people don't use the parlor, so why build it? Additionally, I actually studied Japanese design - the same source Wright used.
I also love Louis Kahn. I think his work is sculptural and extraordinarily beautiful in how he uses space and light. I love Arthur Erickson,and I'm a big fan of (Spanish architect) Santiago Calatrava.
A.B: What are your favorite American cities?
Susanka: I very much like the smaller cities. I love Boulder. I like Asheville. In big cities, probably my favorite is Seattle. But I also love San Francisco and Boston - cities that have both terrain and history. Oh -- and Santa Barbara.
