Archinect - News

Cranbrook Academy of Art's Fall '24 events feature Jomo Tariku, Axel Timm, Charisse Weston, and Leonard Suryajaya

2024-09-10T12:41:00-04:00

The new school year at Cranbrook Academy of Art Department of Architecture, an Archinect Partner School, has just begun. To coincide with it, we’re highlighting the must-see events and lectures to take in for the Fall 2024 semester.

Public programming begins with the special "Communion" fundraiser on September 28th at the new Peterson Rich Office-designed The Shepherd Gallery and Art Center in Detroit's Little Village neighborhood. (Tickets for the event can be purchased here.)

View of the Charles McGee Legacy Park and the Shepherd Gallery. Photo by Jason Keen. Courtesy of Library Street Collective.

In the following month, be sure not to miss an exciting slate of lectures that begins on October 3rd with a visit from conceptual artist and writer Charisse Weston. Following hers is another from Berlin-based architect Axel Timm on November 7th. Photographer Leonard Suryajaya speaks on November 21st, and the semester concludes with a final lecture on furniture design from the contemporar...

Cranbrook Academy of Art to pause admission for incoming architecture students while reimagining the department

2021-03-17T14:48:00-04:00

Cranbrook Academy of Art intends to pause admission to the Architecture program for Fall of 2021 as the institution embarks on “an ambitious plan to reimagine the Architecture department at the Academy”. In a letter to alumni (copied at the bottom of this article), Cranbrook Educational Community President Dominic DiMarco, who oversees the entire institution (which includes the graduate-level Art Academy, private K-12 Boys and Girls Schools, Art Museum, Institute of Science, and historic houses, campus, and grounds), explains that while the Class of 2022 Architecture students will be able to complete their degrees on schedule, they will not be admitting a new class at this time.

The goal is to ensure the new department is reflective of the evolving architecture and design environment, and that we are offering our students what they are seeking in multidisciplinary learning.” – Letter From the President’s Office, Cranbrook Educational Community

The Cranbrook Master of Architecture ...

The grandson of Eliel Saarinen is working on new documentary highlighting pioneering Finnish-American architect

2020-07-31T13:42:00-04:00

Eric Saarinen, the son of Eero Saarinen, is working on a new documentary highlighting the work of his grandfather, noted Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen.

The Detroit News reports that the documentary comes after Eric's work on a previous PBS special highlighting the legacy of his father, with whom he had an estranged and antagonistic relationship.

Eric tells The Detroit News that his work on the Eero 2016 documentary Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future with director and producer Peter Rosen helped him come to terms and ultimately forgive his father for abandoning the family in the 1950s after having an affair with a reporter for The New York Times.

The documentary highlighting the career and works of the elder Saarinen is currently under development, a release date has not been announced.

Cranbrook Academy of Art appoints Gretchen Wilkins as new Head of Architecture and Architect-in-Residence

2018-04-27T16:16:00-04:00

The Cranbrook Academy of Art announced today that Gretchen Wilkins will be the new Head of the Architecture Department and the institution's ninth Architect-in-Residence. Amy Green Deines, the dean of Cranbrook Academy, praised Wilkins as “a collaborative leader with strong connections and a deep knowledge of the international architecture community”.

Having nearly 20 years of architectural teaching and practice, Gretchen Wilkins is currently an Associate Professor and the Head of Design at RMIT University's Vietnam campus. She also previously directed RMIT’s Master of Urban Design program in Melbourne, Barcelona, and Ho Chi Minh City. She earned her Ph.D. from RMIT University and her M.Arch from the University of Michigan.

From her teaching experience in Australia and Asia over the last decade, Wilkins continues to focus her work on the city and cultivating its creative and productive industries. Keeping her ties strong in Detroit, she has collaborated with the Detroit Riverfront...

Cranbrook receives Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Smith House as donation

2018-04-23T13:25:00-04:00

Cranbrook, known worldwide as an architectural set piece, is getting a new gem in its diadem — a Frank Lloyd Wright house. The house was built in 1950 by Sara and Melvyn Maxwell Smith. The donation came from the Towbes Foundation. “The Smith family always said they didn’t want this to just pass to another set of homeowners,” said Gregory Wittkopp, director of the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. “The phrase they used was they wanted it to be ‘an educational resource.’ ”

The donation by the Towbes Foundation was a gift "that other design schools would kill for," The Detroit News reports and tells the legendary tale of A. Alfred Taubman donating a substantial portion of the windows to the cash-strapped Smith family to get the FLW-designed house finished before the winter of 1949.

Ceren Bingol named Head of the Architecture Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art

2016-12-05T13:22:00-05:00

Ceren Bingol has been named as the interim Architect-in-Residence and Head of the Architecture Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, according to a statement released today by Christopher Scoates, the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum, and the school’s Board of Governors. Starting January 6, 2017, Bingol will replace outgoing Architect-in-Residence, Bill Massie. Bingol will serve in this position for the rest of the 2017 academic year, as well as into 2018.

According to the press release, Bingol will be working alongside Dan Kinkead of SmithGroupJJr during the spring 2017 semester. Kinkead, whose work with Detroit Future City “highlights his strong connection to Detroit”, will be helping students with project work based in the city. Next year, he’ll continue to work with the school in an advisory capacity.

Bingol has previously worked at Grimshaw Architects and, most recently, at OMA New York as a Senior Architect. Originally from Istanbul...

Christopher Scoates Named Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum

2014-07-28T12:05:00-04:00

The Cranbrook Educational Community Board of Trustees announced today that after a comprehensive one-year search, Christopher Scoates has been named Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum. He begins his tenure August 1. Scoates is a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art, having received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography in 1986. Scoates succeeds Reed Kroloff, who is stepping down after seven years in the position.

Glen Small: VERTICAL CITY 3, DOWN TO EARTH

2012-09-18T16:49:00-04:00

TO THIS DAY I FIND THE PROCESS OF TEACHING WITH NUMBER CRUNCHING A HUGE MISTAKE. THE PRINCIPLES ARE WHAT COUNT. IF A STUDENT IS AWARE HOW THE STRUCTURE WORKS TO BE THE STRONGEST AND WEAKEST THEN THEY CAN DESIGN WITH KNOWLEDGE.

Genius of Glen Small strikes and stuns again... This time it is Vertical City 3 from his student years at Cranbrook Academy of Art. It is "Down to Earth."

Herman Miller Taps Students To Rethink Our Workplaces

2012-05-29T13:03:00-04:00

Recently, Herman Miller selected six out of 16 original seating and workstation concepts, designed by students in Cranbrook’s 3-D Design Department, and helped turn them into full-scale prototypes for an exhibit at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York. The concepts are aimed at encouraging “rest and concentration in the workplace” [...].

YouTube Theater, by Aaron Jones

2011-05-07T11:44:54-04:00

Aaron Jones, a M.Arch student at Cranbrook Academy of Art, sent us news of his YouTube Theater installation. Very cool.

This project is based on the assumption that the internet (WiFi) can potentially deliver entertainment and information into any place, even a neighborhood that may be overlooked or discounted. With the injection of this media comes the anticipation of event based scenarios, and in turn architecture.

This initial installation (Cranbrook Academy of Art) exploits the existing condition of campus WiFi and its ability to be accessed through current smartphone technology. The user docks their hand-held device into the theater which in turn allows one to both surf online media, and have it projected through an integration of basic a/v equipment. Be it Jennifer Black, Danny Brown, or The White Stripes the event runs off of your personal phone / whims.

The final destination and overall programmatic driver, a Detroit garage, exploits at least two exist...