Masonry Magazine March 1982 Page. 9
Masonry "M Awards" Given In Michigan
Architects Honored for Excellence In Design
Six architectural firms shared a total of eight "M Awards" for excellence in masonry design in the seventh annual honor awards program sponsored by the Masonry Institute of Michigan in cooperation with the Michigan Society of Architects. The awards were presented January 16, 1982, at a banquet in Southfield, Mich.
Two of the architectural firms were double winners: Daverman Associates, Inc., Grand Rapids, was cited for two projects in that city's downtown area: the 10-story Calder Plaza office building and The Furniture Company, a project that combined new construction and renovation.
Rossen/Neumann Associates, Southfield, won for the Bloomfield Medical/Office Pavilion, a complex of three buildings at Telegraph and Square Lake Roads in Bloomfield Township, and for the design of the Robert E. Greager summer home on Lake Michigan in Oceana County.
Also earning "M Awards" were: Harley Ellington Pierce Yee Associates, Southfield, for the design of dining areas at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor.
The Gerald R. Ford Library (above), located on the north campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was completed in the fall of 1980. Constructed on a sloping site, the two-story building utilizes face brick as its primary exterior material. The energy-efficient wall design includes an insulated cavity behind the exterior brick and a back-up of brick in some areas, concrete masonry in others. Brick pavers also are used in interior areas. The library's main conference room features a decorative mural brick wall and splayed acoustical walls, also of brick. Natural light and vision out of the building are provided by protected window openings, clerestories, and a major skylight over a stairway that connects public and research areas. According to Robert B. Powell, AIA, principal in charge of design for the architectural firm, "Masonry allowed an economical design to unify the new library with adjacent campus buildings. Masonry was used, both inside and out, to take advantage of its warm colors, surface patterns, and special shapes for splayed walls, paving surfaces, and openings." Cost of the 40,000-sq. ft. building was $3.5 million. Jury comments: "The simple, bold lines of the exterior masonry design, contrasted with the sloping landscape terrain, seem to wed the building very well to its site... this straightforward approach provided a pleasing addition to the campus."