llormatz

an

6600 VW* Maple
Road.
West Bloomfield

Arts & Entertainment

MODERN

from page 70

by Henry Denker

May 9 - June 10, 2001

For ticket information call

248-788-2900

Right:
Michael Kenna:
"The Rouge Study
#43," Dearborn,
Mich., 1996,
gelatin silver print.

fax: 248-78S-51G0

Left: Charles Sheeler:
"Stacks in
Celebration," 1954,
oil on canvas. Hired
to take a series of
photographs of the
River Rouge plant,
Sheeler was inspired
to capture the factories
in watercolor,
drawings and paint.

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"Kahn made buildings with wonder-
ful enhancements for workers," says
Kenneth Neumann of Neumann/Smith
& Associates in Southfield. "There was
good lighting and ventilation and so
the environments were much more
humane as well as functional.
"The American Institute of
Architects has an award for buildings
that have maintained their strength for
25 years, but Kahn's buildings have
been around for 75 years and are as
strong as when they were built.
"There's also a soft side to his work,
with artistry an important component
for public spaces and architectural awards
programs initiated through his funding."
Besides being innovative in the
structures he planned, Kahn was inno-
vative in work style.
"Kahn developed a way of working
that was very unusual at the time and
still, to a point, is rather unusual," says
Carter, who points out that museum
visitors can see actual Kahn buildings
by walking around the Ann Arbor
campus and viewing Hill Auditorium,
the Rackham Building, Angell Hall
and the Clements Library.
"He developed a multidisciplinary
practice, bringing in people of cliffer-
ent backgrounds in the early stages of
planning."
Leonard Siegal, of Siegal/Tuomaala
Associates Architects and Planners in
Farmington Hills, notes that Kahn's
team arrangements proved very effective
in delivering work very quickly in addi-
tion to changing the feelings and func-
tions of buildings.
Kahn has an international re'puta-

tion that contin-
ues," Siegal says.
Larry Raymond,
director of archi-
tectural develop-
ment for Albert
Kahn Associates,
still located in the
Kahn-designed
New Center
Building, attrib-
utes part of thar
international repu-
tation to two
design innova-
tions: the replace-
ment of heavy
wooden timbers by
reinforced concrete
to help protect
buildings against
fire and the load-
bearing function
removed from exte-
rior walls to allow
the placement of

many windows.
Working with the Ann Arbor muse-
um on the current exhibit, he also sees
researchers from around the world
looking into the firm's archives.
"Kahn always took an interest in the
beauty of the interior," Raymond says.
"His wife enjoyed gardening so he was
sensitive to how homes had to open to
gardens."
Raymond points out that Kahn kept
a collection of Impressionist paintings
in his own home, now the office for
the Detroit Urban League, and used to
invite groups to see the paintings and
hear a presentation about them. A
grand piano, close to the art,. allowed
Kahn to enjoy his own musical talents.
A summer home, built on Walnut
Lake before the availability of air con-
ditioning, applied his use of windows.
He had large numbers of them to
bring in the breeze from the lake.
Beyond his own domain, Kahn
worked hard at building a cultural cli-
mate for the Detroit area. He served as
a city arts commissioner and was
instrumental in establishing the
Detroit Institute of Arts.
"I hope the public will learn a little
bit more about a local hero because of
our exhibit," says curator Carter, who
invited Kahn scholars to write essays
for the exhibit catalogue.
"I would like to think that people
will be a little more curious about
lookina at architecture and the work
of Albert Kahn and make connections
between what an architect does, how
an architect is influenced and who will
be influenced by an archirect."Ei