Esoteric Survey

  McGregor Memorial Conference Center (1958) This was the first building Yamasaki designed on the Wayne State campus. College of Education Building (1960) by Minoru Yamasaki This was the second Yamasaki building on the campus. Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium (1964) I did a post on Wayne State the last time I was in Detroit.  I think the new photos are better.  One Woodward Ave was Yamasaki's first skyscraper. Reynolds Metal Regional Sales Office (1959) in Southfield Another repeat from 2018 . The interior is a bit rough. Temple Beth El (1973) in Bloomfield Hills The Minoru and Teruko (Hirashiki) Yamasaki House (1972) in Bloomfield Hills. Minuro lived here until he passed in 1986 and Teruko in 1997. He designed this lamp, which is still in the house. So is the screen his buddy Harry Bertoia made for him.

The Mount Angel Abbey library (1970), designed by Alvar Aalto. It's located about an hour south of Portland, Oregon.  In the early 1960s, library director Fr. Barnabas Reasoner, O.S.B., invited Alvar Aalto to design a new library for Mount Angel Abbey, a Roman Catholic seminary. Captivated by both his love of libraries and the beauty of the Abbey’s hilltop setting, Aalto accepted the project for only a nominal fee. The library was funded by Howard and Jean Vollum. It was the site, and the monks' appreciation of their responsibility for its sensitive development, along with the Benedictines' emphasis on a contemporary approach to the world, that led the monks to Aalto. ( Architectural Record, May 1971) Aalto only designed two permanent buildings in the United States. This library and the Baker House dormitory at MIT (1949). Other projects include the Finnish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair (demolished), and the Edgar J. Kaufmann Conference Facility (1964) on t...