DETROIT, MICHIGAN | Sunday, February 5th, 2012 | 6:35 AM | 38 buildings and counting...

Awareness

Michigan Architectural Foundation Launches New Website

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The Michigan Architectural Foundation has officially launched their new website which is aimed at increasing public appreciation of architecture.  The site contains information on local events, educational resources, scholarship and grant information, and more. From their website: The Michigan Architectural Foundation was founded in 1957 by the Michigan Society of Architects (now AIA Michigan) – [...]

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Spirit of Detroit Photographic Competition

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WAN Think Tank and Buro Happold recently held on online photographic competition.  The competition is over but the Facebook page continues to live on for everyone to upload their photos capturing the Spirit of Detroit. Congratulations to the winners, Shawn Lee, Jon DeBoer, and Natasha Lofthouse! View the winning photographs [via worldarchitecturenews.com] Original Competition Article [...]

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Michigan State Fair

Almost a year ago, I visited the Michigan State Fair for what was to be its last season.  The Michigan State Fair was the longest running in the United States spanning over 160 years, surviving the depression, until budget cuts forced its closure in 2010. I took a few pictures, but nowhere near enough to [...]

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Stonelea

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While in architecture school in the early 90′s, I took a model building (physical models, not rendered images) class as an elective.  The final project was to divide into teams and produce a large-scale architectural model.  There were two projects available at the time, the first was for a well known developer to model a development called Centerpoint Campus located [...]

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Detroit Observation Decks?

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Nearly a year ago, The Ledge was opened at the Willis Tower (previously known as the Sears Tower) for visitors to the Skydeck to experience the view in a whole new way. While Detroit may not have the same architectural stock as Chicago, it is still impressive.  Unfortunately, observation decks are a thing of the [...]

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Buildings by Bike

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Attention architects, cyclists, architects who cycle, and cyclists who architect. Wheelhouse Detroit has been around for a couple years, but did you know they offer bike tours of Detroit? Wheelhouse Detroit actually offers several tours, including architecture tours that cover downtown, eastern market, riverfront, Corktown, and many, many more areas.  You can cover a great [...]

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Bagley Avenue Pedestrian Bridge – Grand Opening

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If you’re in Southwest Detroit celebrating Cinco de Mayo, be sure to head over to the Bagley Avenue Pedestrian Bridge at 1:00 pm to enjoy the Grand Opening Celebration.  Learn more at the MDOT website.

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Doors Open Detroit?

I ran across a website today (actually several websites) about events that other cities with rich architectural buildings are hosting. The idea is simple.  Buildings around the city open their doors and offer the public an opportunity to explore buildings that are closed to the public or usually charge an admission fee. Do you think [...]

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Guardian Building Update

This morning, the Wayne County Commission voted 8-7 to tentatively approve the new bond amount which will keep the renovation effort moving forward. For those keeping track, Wayne County bought the building for $14 million and allocated $13 million for renovation.  Earlier this week, county officials asked for another $30 million, bringing the total project [...]

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Detroit Icons in Danger

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Two extremely iconic buildings in Detroit are potentially a step closer to joining the recently publicized list of vacant Detroit buildings.  The Guardian Building and the Penobscot Building are both located in the heart of the central business district and would emotionally devastate the Detroit (or at least me)  if they become vacant. Both towers [...]

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