Albert Kahn Research Symposium Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 Lawrence Technological University A-200 Auditorium
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Registration and Light Breakfast (Hallway outside of A200)
Morning Papers - Albert Kahn (Current Research)
9:30 Welcome and Introductions Catherine Phillips, MLIS, and Deirdre Hennebury, PhD Albert Kahn Research Coalition Co-chairs, Lawrence Technological University
9:40 A Country Escape in the Hills: Albert Kahn’s Design for Stonelea Gregory Wittkopp Director, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, MI
10:10 This Moment of Modernity: Albert Kahn and the Century of Progress Exposition Chris Meister Independent Scholar, Royal Oak, MI
10:45 Coffee break
11:00 Guardians of Detroit Jeff Morrison Photographer, Detroit, MI
11:30 Assembly-Line Moderne: French Decorative Arts Folios from the Albert Kahn Library Alexandra Fraser, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
12:00 Pedagogical Applications of LTU’s Kahn Library Collections Len Dilaura, NCIDQ, LEED AP Director, Interior Architecture, Lawrence Technological University
12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch (A210 Gallery) Exhibition: Assembly-Line Moderne: French decorative Arts Folios from the Albert Kahn Library Student Poster Viewing: A200 hallway easels Open House: Albert Kahn Collection – Albert Kahn’s personal library from his New Center Office was donated to Lawrence Tech in 1978. The collection is located in the LTU Library on the lower level of the Management Building.
Afternoon Papers - Albert Kahn: Reuse and Restoration (Research and Projects)
1:30 Introductions Catherine Phillips, MLIS, and Deirdre Hennebury, PhD Albert Kahn Research Coalition Co-chairs, Lawrence Technological University
1:40 Albert Kahn in Minnesota: Limestone Monuments to Glass Sheds Brian McMahon Independent Architectural Historian, Twin Cities, MN
2:10 Designing for the next 100 years: Rehabilitating Albert Kahn's Conservatory and Cadillac Place Theresa Scherwitz, AIA, and Allyson Hrit G.H. Forbes Associates Architects, Royal Oak, MI
2:40 The Joys and Challenges of Relocating into Detroit’s largest art object – The Fisher Building Don Bauman, AIA, and Jeffrey Gaines, AIA Albert Kahn Associates, Detroit, MI
3:15 Closing Comments
Assembly-Line Moderne: French decorative Arts Folios from the Albert Kahn Library This exhibition unpacks for the first time a remarkable collection of French decorative arts folios from the Albert Kahn Library, housed at Lawrence Technological University. Comprised of a stunning array of brilliantly colored, hand-stenciled pochoir prints, they depict contemporary decorative arts ranging from mirrors to furniture, wallpaper patterns to light fixtures designed by artiste-décorateurs who today comprise our canon of 1920s Art Moderne designers. Kahn, on the other hand, is known principally for his astoundingly prolific body of work in industrial architecture, predominantly in the American Midwest—Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge Plant and Highland Park, Willow Run Manufacturing Complex, as well as commercial and institutional icons such as Hill Auditorium and Hatcher Graduate Library at University of Michigan, and the General Motors and Fisher Buildings in Detroit. It is tempting to see Kahn’s project of corporate, factory architecture as antithetical to this contemporaneous burst of luxury home goods from across the Atlantic. However, Assembly-Line Moderne suggests that we consider these folios as artifacts seen through the lens of Kahn and the logic of industrial architecture in Detroit. In so doing, this exhibition sets the two design cultures side-by-side, compelling audiences to reconsider how the particular form and purpose of these print folios from across the Atlantic might have been implicated in, and resonated with, a culture of design and production in the Motor City.
Assembly-Line Moderne: French decorative Arts Folios from the Albert Kahn Library is on display in the A210 (Architecture) Gallery, 21000 W. Ten Mile Road, Southfield. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and admission is free. Please contact 248 204-3000 for more information and for visiting hours beyond the listed times. This exhibit is curated by Alexandra Fraser, Ph.D., University of Michigan, and the LTU College of Architecture and Design Exhibitions Committee, chaired by Deirdre Hennebury, Ph.D.
Speaker Biographies:
Donald R. Bauman, CSI, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Director of Architectural Development and Historic Preservation for Albert Kahn Associates is responsible for the technical development of projects and administrative functions of the architecture department. Bauman is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Purdue University with a Master of Architecture with a concentration in historic preservation. Since joining Kahn in 1982, Bauman has been involved in numerous projects contributing his technical expertise in building envelope design, specification writing and managing the firm’s extensive historical document archives. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, He currently serves as Director and Past President of the Construction Specification Institute, Metro Detroit Chapter; Past Secretary of the AIA, Building Enclosure Council, Greater Detroit, Board of Directors; and a member of the Masonry Institute of Michigan, Generic Wall Committee.
Len DiLaura - Len DiLaura, NCIDQ, LEED AP is the Director of Interiors at Lawrence Technological University. He holds a degree in Interior Design from Eastern Michigan University, as has been an adjunct professor at LTU for over 23 years. He has spent several years in the industry as a designer, and worked on retail, residential and workplace environments around the globe. Len also served as a board member of IIDA-Michigan. Prior to his retirement last year, he worked for Steelcase in Marketing as a product manager for the Architectural Solutions division.
Alexandra Fraser - Alexandra Fraser received her PhD from the Department of History of Art at the University of Michigan in 2018. She is a historian specializing in the cultural production of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, particularly painting, the applied arts, theories of art, and correspondences between all three. She has held curatorial positions at Power Plant Contemporary in Toronto and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and her writing on French and American design appears in Design and Culture and Panorama Journal of American Art.
Jeffrey Gaines – Jeffrey Gaines is a licensed architect, a certified planner, and a LEED accredited professional acting as the Principal and Director of Design, Planning and Sustainability at Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. He recently served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Detroit Regional Chapter of the U. S. Green Building Council, an organization with which he has been involved since its formation in 2001. Jeffrey is an active member of the American Institute of Architects and has participated on the Michigan Committee on the Environment and the Government Affairs committee. He is also a member of the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Allyson Hrit – Allyson Hrit is a Project Manager at G.H. Forbes Associates Architects. She is involved in both design and construction management and has worked on various historic projects in downtown Detroit. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Architecture. Allyson is currently working to complete the Architect Registration Examination for her licensure.
Brian McMahon - Brian McMahon is a trained architect who has written over forty articles on historic architecture, industry and urban planning, and an award-winning book entitled The Ford Century in Minnesota, published by the University of Minnesota Press. He is currently completing a book for Wayne State University Press tentatively titled, Architects in the Shadow of Henry Ford. Brian operated a design- build business in his native New York City, and more recently has directed a community based planning studio in the Twin Cities. He has degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the Pratt Institute School of Architecture.
Chris Meister - Chris Meister is an independent scholar and architectural historian living in Royal Oak. He is the author of “Albert Kahn’s Partners in Industrial Architecture.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 73 (March 2013) and James Riely Gordon: His Courthouses and Other Public Architecture (Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 2011). In addition, he lectured on Victorian public aquaria in a 2016 symposium at St. John’s College, University of Oxford. He joined other volunteers in returning Detroit's Belle Isle Aquarium to a stable operation after it reopened in 2012 under the auspices of the Belle Isle Conservancy and spearheaded initial historic restoration efforts.
Jeff Morrison - Jeff Morrison is a historian and photographer who has been taking pictures since his parents gave him his first camera at age nine. He has a bachelors degree in history and art from Eastern Michigan University and over 30 years experience as a graphic artist. Creating Guardians of Detroit has allowed him to combine both of his passions while exploring the historic architecture of a city he has come to love. Jeff lives in Oxford, Michigan with his lovely wife Susie and their wonder dog Manfred.
Theresa D. Scherwitz - Theresa D. Scherwitz is a Principal Architect at G.H. Forbes Associates Architects. She has completed renovations within many historically significant buildings for the federal government as well as the State of Michigan. Theresa graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master in Architecture and a Bachelor of Science from Natural Resources & Environment. She is a licensed architect and holds a LEED Accreditation with a specialty in Interior Design and Construction. She is a member of the Historic Preservation Network and certified as a Historic Architect by the State Historic Preservation Office. She is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. She currently serves as a committee member on the Building Codes and Regulations Committee of the AIA, Detroit Chapter.
Gregory M. Wittkopp - For more than three decades, Greg Wittkopp has been shaping and stewarding Cranbrook’s collections, first as a curator, then as the Director of Cranbrook Art Museum, and now as the Founding Director of the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. Major projects at the Museum include restoring Saarinen House, acquiring the Shuey Collection of Contemporary Art, and overseeing the restoration of the Eliel Saarinen-designed galleries and the creation of the state-of-the-art Collections Wing, a $22 million project completed in 2011. His research and publications have focused on Cranbrook and its artists and include Saarinen House and Garden: A Total Work of Art and an essay in the exhibition catalog Paul Evans: Crossing Boundaries and Crafting Modernism. Greg holds an MA in Art History from Wayne State University and a BS in Architecture from the University of Michigan and serves on the boards of the Association of Midwest Museums and DoCoMoMo – US/MI.
Thank you to all of our symposium speakers and contributors. A special thank you to Albert Kahn Associates, Inc., for their ongoing engagement in our Coalition initiatives and for hosting the symposium’s morning refreshments.