Detroit - Design Parallels 2007

Conference Report

This AIA Committee on Design conference explored design analogies and parallels through architecture, the automotive industry, industrial design, and other design professions. Attendees had an opportunity to tour sites that serve as case studies in Detroit's legacy of design, including:

• Ford and General Motors manufacturing facilities designed by Albert Kahn, including sustainable design adaptations to the Ford River Rouge Plant by William McDonough + Partners
• Cranbrook Academy of Art designed by Eliel Saarinen, with buildings by Steven Holl, Tod Williams + Billie Tsien, and others
• Lafayette Park by Mies van der Rohe
• Breuer Library in Grosse Pointe, Mich.
• Detroit Renaissance Center, designed by John Portman, with recent renovation and expansion by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Gensler, SmithGroup, and Ghafari Associates.