Museums tucked within nature, sculpture gardens offer unique experiences for those with a love of the outdoors and for the discerning art and design enthusiast that are increasingly appealing in a currently deepening digital reality. The Midwest is home to a variety of sculpture gardens of varying sizes, whether independently owned and operated, or a result of rich, decades-long collaboration between organizations invested in regional arts, design, and environmental wellbeing and education. Great Lakes By Design takes a moment to marvel at sculpture gardens throughout the Great Lakes region, where visitors can find everything from curated explorations of tropical flora, a carnivorous plant house, and brass-cast depictions of America’s first…
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The Crosswinds Marsh
Near the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, a collaborative project nearly 25 years-old continues to hold precedent for environmental design and ecological restoration. The Crosswinds Marsh Wetland Interpretive Preserve in New Boston, Michigan, is one of the largest self-sustaining wetland mitigation projects in the United States, and was a collaboration between SmithGroup, a renowned champion for environmental design, and the nearby Wayne County Airport Authority that was completed in 1995. Last year, it received a Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and has, to date, naturally attracted around 30 mammal species—including deer, muskrat, and beavers—to its more than 1,000 acres, along with 21 reptile and amphibian species,…
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Other such stories
Exhibitions in art and its many related fields often serve as a catalyst for new ideas, a shift in perception, and at times, recognizable change. It is frequently used as a forum in which to engage audiences and peers, to spark conversation and innovation, and to provide opportunities for emerging and established talent. There is a statement or question often posed, challenging, inspiring, and disrupting the routine. During the third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, an international architecture and design exhibition held from September 19, 2019 through January 5, 2020 throughout downtown Chicago and its network of partners across the greater neighborhood area, that statement reflects upon social, geopolitical,…
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Design dialogue
Last year, the IIDA and AIA Chicago unveiled its inaugural discussion series Designers and Architects Talk: A Series About Design and Its Impact on Client Success. The four-part program addresses the commercial interior architecture and design sectors, and after a successful first installment, the series has returned to the IIDA Headquarters in Chicago for 2020, with a variety of new voices from the design community, primarily in Chicago. “IIDA and AIA Chicago initiated this series to bring architects and commercial interior designers together to learn from interesting conversations and to also connect with each other,” said John Czarnecki, Hon. IIDA, Assoc. AIA, deputy director and senior vice president of IIDA.…
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Center for design
In the realm of design, the advantage of an extensive, active showroom center is manifold when either undergoing a new project or exploring current trends from design tastemakers. The Midwest has its fair share, from Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, or theMART, the 4.2 million square-foot center in Chicago’s River North submarket; to the Designers Walk collection at the intersection of Toronto’s Annex and Yorkville neighborhoods. Centrally located in metro-Detroit, the Michigan Design Center is one of these influential pools of collective design where nearly 40 curated showrooms representing more than 1,000 manufacturers—the likes of Ann Sacks, Schumacher, and Baker Furniture among them—offer year-round access to the best and brightest in design…
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Modern retrospective
In December 2019, the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan unveiled three textile and craft-centric exhibitions that will run until March 2020 exploring how innovative people and teaching methods influenced design for generations. One of the exhibitions showcases the lifework of one of Detroit’s formative figures in interior and textile design. The exhibit, titled “Ruth Adler Schnee: Modern Designs for Living,” posits designer Ruth Adler Schnee’s prolific, influential, seven-decade career and pivotal—if underrepresented—role in design history in a bright and full account. “I think a lot of times her textiles are looked at in isolation and maybe that is what gets lost, is that she is most famous for her textile designs; and rightly…
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Under the tees
In Franklin, Michigan, the nationally-ranked greens and nearly century-old, clubhouse architecture of the Franklin Hills Country Club have been complemented by two modern—and major—additions, courtesy of Detroit architecture firm of McIntosh Poris Associates. The two deliverables, comprising a 1,700-square-foot, subterranean, training facility and an extensive, pro shop renovation, invited many complexities and considerations to the project, which was finished in time for the 2019 spring-and-summer season, and in preparation for the club’s quieter cold months. The architectural team added modern amenities and comforts for the avid golfer year-round, while respecting the existing views and architectural character that club members have held dear. “We had a long relationship with [Franklin Hills]…
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Walloon Lake warmth
The village of Walloon Lake, tucked near Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay, has roots in northern Michigan’s tourism industry that date back to the late 1800s. It is still a getaway destination for those seeking a quaint and picturesque reprieve alongside multi-seasonal outdoor adventure and this is credited in part to the Hotel Walloon. The lakefront boutique hotel continues to be a centerpiece among the developing village, gaining accolades along the way, such as its status as the only privately owned, AAA Four Diamond awarded resort in northern Michigan and, recently, a 2019 Travel Award for Best Wine Country Hotel by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice. Offering vintage elegance, warm…
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The Union at Railside
Beside its rapid business development, renowned craft beverages, and growing culinary scene, the Grand Rapids, Michigan area is also known for an eclectic mix of venues—from museums and breweries to gardens and multi-use markets—which also make it a popular regional wedding destination. This past summer, the design of a new event venue, placed amid the rolling lawns and flowering trees of Railside Golf Club in Byron Center, Michigan, was added to the mix. It is distinguished by an up to 350-seat capacity and a barrier-free, panoramic view of the course’s ninth hole and its picturesque seasonal landscape. The design was originally based on the club’s previous outdoor wedding tent, which…
