In 2015, Detroit’s creative potential was recognized on an international stage with its designation as a UNESCO City of Design. It is a designation that not only recognizes a long history and legacy of creativity and innovation, but also a forward-thinking vision championing design-driven businesses and their role as a cultural, social, and economic catalyst in a larger regional and…
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Lakefront Prairie oasis
On the western shores of Lake Michigan, a composition of brick and stucco, leaded glass windows and overhanging eaves, emerges from its sloped landscape in an artful celebration of geometric abstraction. Surrounded by planted sumac and prairie grasses on a blufflike dune ecosystem, the home is respectful of the iconic Prairie Style where principles are adapted for its site, purpose,…
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Design for Sale: Leeward Shores Drive
Set on a ridge overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay, this four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-plus-bathroom modern residence on 1.22 acres offers a sleek silhouette and series of clean forms set amid timbers and freshwater. Its exterior composition of concrete, steel, composite siding, and glass openings complement an interior materiality and spatial ambiance inspired by the four elements of earth, water, wind, and air…
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The boardwalk connection
“I look at design as a creation of how humans interpret the natural world. I think there is this connection between the natural world and the built environment, and it is up to us—those in the design field—to interpret what that is, and to create our own values on how we intersect the natural world and the built environment,” said…
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En Masse
Set amid a row of iconic Greystone buildings along California Ave. in Chicago, Illinois, the grid-like façade of concrete and glass on the En Masse Architecture and Design Ltd. studio presents a bold juxtaposition with its environment at first glance. Its poured-in place, brise-soleil creates a patterned effect where vertical fins of concrete lend an added layer of complexity to…
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Refractory
For Refractory’s inaugural body of work and inception—forged at a moment of unprecedented change—its muse sings of a reverence for a frontier unbridled by time, when mountains were new, sandstone buttes clustered, continents drifted, and oceans receded. It speaks of mountain ranges, canyons, basins, and plateaus, shaped by deep-rooted geologic pressures and carved by powerful movements of rivers and wind.…
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Next to Lead
One of 17 ethnically diverse women selected to participate in the American Institute of Architects’, or AIA’s, leadership pilot program called Next to Lead, Ellie Ziaie, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP BD+C, senior associate and architectural designer at BKV Group practicing in the Minneapolis region, has a proven history of leadership throughout her design career. Ziaie’s interest in architecture grew from…
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Expressions of Life
The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, located in White River State Park on the historic lands of the Miami and Lenape peoples in downtown Indianapolis, officially debuted its reimagined Native American Galleries on Saturday, June 25, 2022. The opening, which coincided with the 30th annual Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival on June 25 and June 26, 2022,…
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Design Your World returns to Chicago
In 2021, the International Interior Design Association launched an educational initiative in partnership with Chicago-based After School Matters to create early exposure and opportunities in interior design and architecture fields for a diverse group of high school students. The program, known as Design Your World, not only introduced students to the history and practice of commercial interior design, but also…