Archinect - News

Quinn Evans' remake of the iconic Michigan Central Station debuts in Detroit

2024-06-13T19:18:00-04:00

Quinn Evans Architects has shared some photos of their completed work on the newly remade Michigan Central Station in Detroit. The home of the Ford Motor Company’s 1.2-million-square-foot technology hub in the historic Corktown district re-established the 110-year-old landmark through an expedited six-year process described as a "hybrid approach" by senior associate Angela Wyrembelski.

The project is the largest central piece included in the 30-acre master plan from Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU). The building re-opened for the first time since closing in 1988 over the weekend with a star-studded musical performance and remarks from special guests like Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Integral to the design team were several native Detroiters and proud alumni of the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (more on that here.) The project was completed at a cost of $950 million, helping the firm to be named as the AIA Architecture Firm Awa...

New executive order could make classical architecture "the preferred and default style" for America's public buildings

2020-02-04T13:50:00-05:00

Is neoclassicism about to make a big comeback?

It looks likely, as a new executive order under consideration by President Donald Trump attempts to make classicism the "preferred and default style" for new and upgraded federal buildings.

According to an exclusive report by Architectural Record, the predictably named "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" executive order would seek to reposition classically inspired architecture as the country's default public building style. The shift comes in opposition to the longstanding style agnosticism displayed by public buildings in recent decades following the creation of the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture directive crafted in 1962 by former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Moynihan's directive—which states that "The development of an official style must be avoided" and that "Design must flow from the architectural profession to the Government and not vice versa"—has resulted in a wide ranging set of innovative pu...

David Chipperfield Architects completes unifying renovation for Selfridges department store in London

2018-09-12T13:24:00-04:00

David Chipperfield Architects recently completed Selfridges Duke Street, a new entrance building and accessories hall for the Selfridges department store in London.

The new Duke Street entrance by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The department store is housed in a beaux-arts style building on Oxford Street completed in 1929. Selfridges eventually expanded into a new art deco style building to the north, and developed into a hodgepodge of styles mixed together.

The accessories hall in the original Selfridges building facing Oxford Street by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The firm's goal is part of a larger redevelopment plan for Selfridges to establish architectural continuity and fluidity throughout the entire complex.

The accessories hall in the original Selfridges building facing Oxford Street by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The accessories hall, looking south towards the link bu...

In Renderings for a Library Landmark, Stacks of Questions, Still

2013-01-30T12:05:00-05:00

The value of an institution isn’t measured in public square feet. But its value can be devalued by bad architecture...The designs have all the elegance and distinction of a suburban mall. I was reminded that Mr. Foster is also responsible for the canopied enclosure of the inner court at the British Museum, a pompous waste of public space that inserts a shopping gallery into the heart of a sublime cultural institution.