JOHN GALLAGHER: Architectural hits and misses of 2005
Some new buildings are hits; Super Bowl XL makeover helps
MISS: The gateway bridge at I-94 and Telegraph Road greets drivers in
and out of Detroit near Metro Airport. Though meant to evoke Super Bowl
football, the construction amounts to silly extravagance. (ROMAIN
BLANQUART/Detroit Free Press)
It's time to review the hits and misses of Detroit's architectural scene
in 2005.
We've seen a number of excellent new modernist designs grace the
skylines of metro Detroit this year. I was particularly taken by three:
The Nissan design center in Farmington Hills (by Luce et Studio of La
Jolla, Calif.), the new Cass Tech High School downtown (by TMP
Associates of Bloomfield Hills) and the Boll Family YMCA downtown (by
Detroit-based SmithGroup).
Each offers innovative, even playful, reminders that modernism, though
pushing 80 years or so as an architectural movement, still has a lot to
say. Older buildings are beautiful and must be preserved, but the old
needs the new, just as a conversation needs at least two parties. It's
that conversation between the generations that makes urban landscapes
special.
Let's thank the oft-criticized General Motors for its thoughtful and
painstaking updating of Renaissance Center, a $500-million, multiyear
job GM completed early in 2005.
cont'd....
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