Detroit, Michigan, USA

Commissioned by the technology collective Newlab, Gensler, Civilian, Ghafari, and landscape studio mikyoung kim design (MYK) have completed the readaptation of the 1930s Albert Kahn building near the Michigan Central campus area in Detroit and have transformed it into a contemporary tech hub for hundreds of entrepreneurs, inventors, and companies focused on next-generation solutions in mobility.

The 270,000-square-foot structure, which was initially built in 1936, served as a mail-sorting facility and later as Detroit’s Public Schools’ book depository.

“Designed as an innovation nexus that acts as a central node for gathering and idea exchange, the building has been repositioned to meet the demands of the city’s top innovators, including ample access to daylight, open internal connectivity, and destinations for exchange, and an engaging ground floor as a connective intersection within the overall development, serving as a boulevard for the community, industry partners, and the neighborhood,” Gensler states.

“Embracing the rich history of the building, juxtaposing design elements with the industrial strength and structure associated with Albert Kahn’s work, Gensler reimagined the building with a focus on connection and collaboration,” says Newlab.

The architectural team has created an exhibition space, an event space, a robotics and prototyping facility, and two open studio spaces with desks, lounge areas, classrooms, and meeting rooms.

Concrete floors and exposed services complete the industrial character of the building.

Gensler began core-and-shell renovations in 2021, keeping the industrial bones of its detailed brick facade, patinated concrete interior, and grid of martini cap columns intact.

The project team, led by Lily Diego, design director with Gensler Detroit, was guided by the tenet, “Let there be light.”

Gensler decentralized the core to create an internal boulevard and a double atrium, slicing openings through the center of the second and third floors and adding a pillowtop skylight that floods the building with daylight.

The firm also removed a loading dock at the northwest corner of the building to create a glazed, carved-out entrance that faces Michigan Central and anticipates the connectivity of the two buildings when the renovation of the station into offices, restaurants, and public spaces is complete.

Civilian had previously designed Newlab’s Brooklyn headquarters within a former 1902 shipbuilding facility.

“There was always going to be another Newlab and we had been offered buildings all over the world,” says Newlab co-founder David Belt.

“But the mission of Michigan Central, and the fact that it was in Detroit and part of this overarching urban contribution—that’s what brought us here. In Detroit, there’s such intention, spirit, and civic hope.”

On a tour of the building, Civilian’s founder Nicko Elliott noted that he loved a 1926 photograph of Kahn taken by Walter Gropius, who visited the Jewish Prussian-born architect’s Detroit factories.

Kahn, whose rabbi father brought him to Detroit in 1880 when he was 11, denounced modernist architecture, but had a profound influence on those who embraced it, such as Gropius and Le Corbusier.

Civilian’s aim was to highlights the building’s history while positing how Newlab’s members could, like Kahn, share and celebrate their modern-day breakthroughs.

To reach this goal, Elliott and his team inserted and attached prefabricated “objects” into the historic space, including a café with views on the train station and, at the heart of the project, an exhibition and event space with custom roll-up doors and views into the glass-walled robotics studio.

Guests are greeted at Newlab’s entry by a prefabricated rosewood and pressed stainless steel reception desk installed around a martini-glass column.

In the middle of the structure, Elliott has placed fern trees to create an interior garden that lines the second-floor atrium and beckons visitors upstairs.

Furniture for the lounge areas and workstations include customized Herman Miller tables and cabinets made of ash and laminate.

Antique chairs from Dutch workshop and upholstery studio Morentz were reupholstered in vibrant hues.

In its selections, Civilian nodded to Kahn’s influence on the Bauhaus and to designers such as Charlotte Perriand.

Project: Newlab Hqs in Detroit
Architects: Gensler and Civilian
Lead Architect: Lily Diego
Collaborators: Ghafari Associates LLC
Landscape Architects: mikyoung kim design (MYK)
Photographers: Brian Ferry