Architect Corner - Minoru Yamasaki, Michigan
In April J. and I traveled to Michigan for a wedding. I knew exactly what I wanted to archi-tour in the small window of free time available - the Minoru Yamasaki buildings on the campus of Wayne State University.
Minoru Yamasaki (December 1, 1912 – February 6, 1986) was a prominent Japanese-American architect of the 20th century. He is best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki and fellow architect Edward Durrell Stone are generally considered to be the two master practitioners of “New Formalism”.
DeRoy Auditorium, 1962
When I visited, the DeRoy Auditorium was fenced off. I later read an announcement made by the university in January 2023 that after more than three decades of sitting empty, the reflecting pool surrounding the DeRoy Auditorium would be restored through a $2 million renovation.
From historicDetroit.org:
Though Deroy Auditorium connects to the nearby Prentis Building only by an underground hallway, the two buildings were planned and constructed simultaneously as an “instructional cluster.” The formal differences between the auditorium and classroom facility reflect Yamasaki’s commitment to architectural variety, which he hoped would inspire surprise and enjoyment as visitors moved through the complex.
The architecture of DeRoy Auditorium drew on several of Yamasaki’s earlier commissions, most notably the Pacific Science Center. This building, completed in 1962 as an exhibition hall for the Seattle World’s Fair, bears similar arched ribbing to the DeRoy Auditorium. In both projects, Yamasaki described the curved embellishments as expressive of “sunlight and shadow, form, ornament,” and “the element of surprise.”
The auditorium and Prentis Building were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Prentis Building, 1964 5201 Cass
Prentis Building, 1964
From the Wayne State University website: Completed in 1964, the Prentis Building is a three story steel-frame structure that is rectangular in shape and has a flat roof. It is designed in the International Style, set on supports of thin columns holding up the two upper stories.
The Prentis Building is faced with buff-colored travertine marble on the first story, and cast concrete panels on the second and third stories. The cast concrete panels allow for deeply inset narrow windows similar to those used by the architect, Minoru Yamasaki, on the Department of Education Building nearby on the campus.
The columns supporting the structure are clad in cast concrete flecked with white marble chips. Each terminates in a finial with projecting central and slightly lower recessed side sections.
McGregor Memorial Conference Center, 1958 495 Ferry Mall
The elegant McGregor Memorial Conference Center was high on my list to visit. I wish the pool had been filled! Also, being a Sunday when I was there, the building was closed. So I was unable to experience the light-filled interior that could be glimpsed through the glass surrounding the entryways.
Excerpt from historicdetroit.org:
Yamasaki’s masterpiece, the McGregor Conference Center, demonstrates his transition to a different kind of modernism in the mid-50s.
After suffering from nearly-fatal ulcers in 1953, he took some time off and traveled to Italy, India, and Japan. On this journey, Yamasaki was impressed by his encounter with historical monuments like the Taj Majal, as well as traditional Japanese vernacular architecture. Upon his return, he began to think about design in a new way.
The McGregor Center shows Yamasaki beginning to include more “serenity and delight” in his work, here in the form of a sunken courtyard oasis and a solid building sliced open to form a light well. The prevalent pointed arches, screens, water features, and bold silhouette would all characterize Yama’s new approach.
Wayne State University, Education Building, 1960 5425 Gullen Mall
This beauty of a building is across the McGregor Center (described above).
Excerpt from Curbed Detroit, “Yamasaki’s most important architecture in and around Detroit, mapped”:
Wayne State University was so impressed with Yamasaki’s work on the McGregor Center that it asked him to draw up a campus plan and design other buildings.
The Education Building shows Yamasaki’s burgeoning interest in concrete construction, utilizing 120 precast concrete “trees” encircling the perimeter, forming a continuous arcade of thin, repeated supports. The trees are bracketed to the building’s structural system to form an exterior wall over the building’s actual structure of concrete beams, columns, and slabs. The result is a lively façade of multiple arches wrapping completely around the building and forming an arcade at ground level.
Yamasaki Building, 1958 College for Creative Studies (CSS)
This “bonus” Yamasaki building is a different campus a couple blocks away from Wayne State University.
It was the brick wall that caught my eye and to my delight it wrapped around a building designed by Yamasaki and named after the architect.
At CCS, sculptural artwork from the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) Museum is sited in the plaza. The gallery image shows a granite stone chair setting by artist Richard Nonas (1997) with Yamasaki’s building in the background. Looking at the image now, I wish I had sat on the granite chairs, if only for a moment.
Content from Michigan Modern website:
Detroit’s College for Creative Studies (CSS) arose out of an earlier institution, the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. The Society of Arts and Crafts commissioned Minoru Yamasaki to design this building, completed in 1958, which became the first building on the CCS campus.
Yamasaki designed a facade almost entirely of glass. In order to soften what would otherwise be a harsh exterior, Yamasaki surrounded the building by a brick wall enclosing an interior garden space. This wall helped what was otherwise a starkly Modern building to harmonize with its surroundings. Its perforated pattern of red bricks provides textural interest that contrasts with the smooth surface of the building’s glass and steel faade. The wall also shielded building occupants from the noise, traffic, and distractions outside, creating a more intimate space within.