Grant Awarded: April 2004

Type of Grant: Public Humanities Development Grant

Sponsor: Detroit Historical Museums & Society

Contact: Henry Amick, 313-833-1419, amickh@hist.ci.detroit.mi.us

Award: $13,848

Website: http://www.detroithistorical.org/

(April 19, 2004)--Michigan Humanities Council, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Detroit) and Congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit), announce that the Detroit Historical Museums & Society has been awarded a $13,848 grant for “Architects We Knew.”

“Architects We Knew” will highlight the influence of Detroit architects and architecture through a lecture series dealing with both historical figures (including Albert Kahn, Eero Saarinen, and Minoru Yamasaki) and contemporary architects. The Detroit Historical Society is partnering with Albert Kahn Associates and the American Institute of Architects to run the lecture series from September 2004 through April 2005. Keynote speakers will include Grant Hildebrand (author of “Designing for Industry: The Architecture of Albert Kahn”), Balthazar Korab (who worked for Eero Saarinen), and Leslie Robertson (engineer of record for the World Trade Center). “How is it that Detroit produced three of the 20th Century's giants in architecture?” stated Dr. Dennis Zembala, Museums Director, Detroit Historical Museum. “This lecture series offers a chance to learn the interesting and very different stories of the Motor City's unique impact on the American landscape.”

-----------

FALL "ARCHITECTS WE KNEW" LECTURE SERIES DEBUTS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH WITH A LOOK AT "ALBERT KAHN'S LEGACY"
AT THE DETROIT HISTORICAL MUSEUM

World-renowned designers created the Motor City and the spaces where we live, work, and play. Yet this story seldom receives the attention it deserves. Detroit's architects created new engineering and style breakthroughs with a lasting impact regionally, nationally, and internationally. The Fall 2004 lecture series Architects We Knew: Detroit Designs for the Built Environment will tell this great story.

Presented in conjunction with the Detroit Historical Museum's new American Icons: Detroit Designs exhibit, the lecture series offers three special evenings focused on three local architectural luminaries.

The series opens on Thursday, September 9th with a lecture on "The Legacy of Albert Kahn" at 6:30 p.m. in the Detroit Historical Museum's Louise C. Booth Auditorium with the following presenters:

· Sally Bund, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan;
· Doug Kelbaugh, FAIA, Dean and Professor, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan;
· Grant Hildebrand, Detroit native, author, and professor emeritus.

The series continues on Thursday, October 7th with a "Focus on Eero Saarinen" with the following presenters:
· Mark Coir, Director of Cranbrook Archives;
· David Chasco, AIA, Director of the School of Architecture, University of Illinois;
· Balthazar Korab, Architectural Photographer;
· Gunnar Birkerts, Principal, Gunner Birkerts Architects, Inc..

The series concludes on Thursday, November 18th with "An Evening with Minoru Yamasaki" with the following presenters:
· Robert Szantner, AIA, President, Minoru Yamasaki Associates, Inc.
· Steve Vogel, Dean, School of Architecture, University of Detroit Mercy
· Leslie Robertson, President, Leslie E. Robertson Associates.

For each of the three lectures, the doors open at 5 p.m. Admission to each lecture is $5 per person in advance or $10 at the door. Detroit Historical Society members will be admitted free.

For more information or reservations, call (313) 833-4727.

The program is supported in part by the Michigan Humanities Council; the American Institute of Architects Detroit; the Michigan Architectural Foundation; CNA Insurance Companies, Victor O. Schinnerer & Company, Inc.; and the American Institute of Architects Trust.

The American Icons: Detroit Designs exhibit, now open at the Detroit Historical Museum, was developed after emerging during a public vote last summer and serves as a culmination of the Museum's 75th anniversary activities. A total of 16 different icons are featured, including memorable achievements in the fields of automotive styling, industrial design, architecture, and advertising and graphic communication.