In 2015, Detroit was designated the first—and only—UNESCO City of Design in the United States. Since then, Design Core Detroit, the driving organization behind its designation, has been consistently developing efforts to nurture an even more vibrant and inclusive national and global design capital. Last year, the organization launched its Detroit City of Design Action Plan, which aims to position…
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Fine design
In November 2017, Prime + Proper, a luxurious steakhouse experience, opened in Detroit, and quickly garnered attention for its elaborate interior design and approach to fine dining. Less than two years later in June 2019, McIntosh Poris Associates, the firm behind Prime + Proper’s distinctive style and preserved historic details, received a pair of Restaurant Design Awards from the AIA’s…
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Redesigning identity
The Detroit area has long been a metropolis of creative endeavors, from art and architecture, to music and culinary pursuits. For six decades, Skidmore Studio has been integral in this development as an illustration-turned-branding-and-design firm that seeks to nurture the region’s creative talent, while also employing an empathetic and flexible approach to problem-solving. Recently, the firm utilized this process to…
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Poetic structures
Detroit has been home to artists in their many forms—designers, architects, sculptors, and fashion creatives, among others—who have set roots in the city as a space for personal and professional practice; often drawn to its rich industrial and design history as well as its current fabrication abilities. Its resources for the arts—such as Detroit Institute of Arts, College for Creative…
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Garrick Landsberg, AIA, LEED AP
Garrick Landsberg, AIA, LEED AP, senior architect at Quinn Evans Architects in Detroit, Michigan, had a prolific and inspired, if not circuitous, path into the field of architecture and historic preservation. As a licensed architect, planner, and urban designer, Landsberg has an affinity for urban history and historic architecture—particularly that of Detroit, Michigan—and yet it was a passion courted slowly…
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Commerce Design: Detroit
The inaugural competition announces 10 winning projects in a celebration of design and highlight of innovation in business across the city’s neighborhoods. Text: R.J. Weick Design Core Detroit, a non-profit organization championing design-driven businesses, and AIA Detroit officially announced the 10 winning projects of the inaugural Commerce Design: Detroit competition during a special ceremony held Oct. 25, 2018 at…
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Detroit foundation
Newly transformed into a 100-room boutique hotel, the site of the former Detroit Fire Department Headquarters and adjacent Pontchartrain Wine Cellars expresses an authenticity to its landmarked designation by embracing and celebrating Detroit’s design, art, architecture, and industrial communities. “One of the interesting things about the hotel to me, is it is just full of richness and it is not…
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Crafted pairing
Text: R.Collins For years, craft food and spirits enthusiasts have learned to expect quality, care, and tightly-packed flavor from Detroit, Michigan-area natives Valentine Distilling Company and McClure’s Pickles. Last week on Aug. 7, 2018, the pair announced a collaboration to renew the 2017’s well-received Bloody Mary Mix Kit, in-step with tailgate season. The Kit—being released for distribution in late September…
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Experiential luxury
By: R.J. Weick Buick, the international modern luxury brand of Detroit-based General Motors Co., partnered with Van Dam Custom Boats, a designer and builder of fine wooden boats in Boyne City, Michigan to deliver an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience and lakeside excursion to Boyne City and Walloon Lake on July 17, 2018 through July 19, 2018. The event, which embodied Buick’s…
