Conway alerted State Archivist Mark Harvey, who, in turn, worked with the Michigan History Foundation to secure a moving van and movers.

Harvey, archivist Matt Klein, and the movers, along with Amy Arnold and Todd Walsh of the State Historic Preservation Office, met at the Yamasaki offices early Tuesday morning, and spent a good number of hours evaluating and packing materials to be taken to the Archives of Michigan.

As a result of the swift action, and cooperation among multiple state agencies and nonprofit organizations, hundreds of slides and photographs, many drawings, and Minoru Yamasaki’s personal library are now in the care of the state of Michigan.

“The Archives of Michigan is honored to be the repository of the international legacy of Minoru Yamasaki,” stated Harvey.

Download the official press release here.

You can view more photographs at the MISHPO Flickr site.

Highlights of what we’ve added:

• Saint Francis de Sales Church in Muskegon, by Marcel Breuer
• A sampling of work by the firm of Kenneth C. Black Associates
• A sampling of work by the firm of Manson, Jackson & Kane
• The Calvary Baptist Church & the Univ. of Michigan’s Law Library addition both by Gunnar Birkerts and Associates.

We hope you’re enjoying the site. Please let us know if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

- The Michigan Modern Team

Our new friends and supporters include:

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We’re sure we missed some of you, but we’ll add you to this illustrious list soon. Thanks again for all your support.

- The Michigan Modern team.

Thanks to the folks over at the Unhappy Hipsters, for providing us with a chuckle. For example:

“Maybe naming him Rimbaud wasn’t such a good idea.”

That opinion piece not only  summed up the thesis being put forth by the Michigan Modern project, but also provides evidence supporting that thesis.

Mr. Lee states:

This second generation of Saarinen architects continued the Cranbrook/Saarinen design tradition, as lead designers and city planners, designing the Bank of America office tower in San Francisco, the Petronas Twin Towers, the Eames chair, the Whitney Museum, and guiding the redevelopment of Philadelphia in the 1960s and ’70s… Saarinen directly defined the decade of the 1950s, and indirectly defined the finer design sensibilities of many architects practicing in the 21st century.

Mr. Lee makes the point – Eero Saarinen’s influence is undeniable, as is Cranbrook’s. Yet, the strong tradition of good design in Michigan extended beyond both Saarinen and Cranbrook, and included institutions such as the University of Michigan, and companies like Herman Miller. What’s more, that tradition is alive and well today, even if it is somewhat unrecognized.

We encourage you to return to the MichiganModern.org web site often, as the new information is continually collected, and the story continues to unfold.

Yamasaki Associates, as the article points out, “is the legacy company of founder Minoru Yamasaki,” who designed such Michigan buildings as Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, the Michigan State Medical Society Headquarters Building in East Lansing, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Detroit Branch Building, and Christ Church Grosse Pointe Education Building in Grosse Pointe Farms, among many others.

You can read the article here.

Here is the original post:

“I have always wondered how an actual city can influence an artist or architect. We always hear about NYC and London and how these cities have influenced some of the most creative people in our time. I was curious to know how and if Detroit had any influence on the works of Minoru Yamasaki and Eero Saarinen. Specifically Detroit though.

Do you think the region and city itself had any influence on the way they perceived and created architecture? Both architects are in a group of maybe 15 of the most important architects of the last century and Detroit had to have at least some influence.”

The discussion roams somewhat from Yamasaki and Saarinen, to include additional Detroit-area architects ( a few others as well), and it also brings up the topic of the influence of automobile design in architecture.

In any case it is an interesting question, and one Michigan Modern is working to answer, or at least shed light on. We encourage to stop by the DetroitYES forums, and have your say.

From the Henry Ford’s web site:

“Herman Miller, Inc., based in Zeeland, Michigan, began in 1923 as a manufacturer of residential furniture. Over the years, the company has become a leader in design and manufacture of modern furniture for both home and office. Many famous designers, from Charles and Ray Eames to George Nelson, have created furniture for the company, and they are famous for innovations in design and ergonomics such as “Marshmallow Sofa” and “Molded Plywood Chair.”

“In 1988, Herman Miller, Inc. established the Herman Miller Consortium to share the historical product collection that had been accumulating as part of Herman Miller’s corporate archives in Zeeland, Michigan. The consortium collection, now held by thirteen museums all over the country, contained about 750 pieces of furniture, as well as a large quantity of product literature. As the lead institution in the consortium, The Henry Ford maintains the record of the consortium holdings. The Herman Miller consortium online database now provides access to these records.”

Whatever truth may be found in that characterization, it does not represent the whole of any man (or woman!).

Alexandra Lange demonstrates as much as she shows us a different side of Eero Saarinen. Her wonderfully written article, Love & Architecture, explores the beginning of Saarinen’s romance with Aline Saarinen, and provides a fascinating entree into the  Aline and Eero Saarinen Papers, 1906-1977, held at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian.

Take a moment, read the article, and see what happens when love and architecture collide.

The Donald and Louise Clark Irish House, the James T. Pardee House, and the Earl Stein House.

Many more can be found on the Buildings page.

Be sure to check back often as we are constantly adding information on Michigan’s Modernist homes and buildings.