Olin Bar & Kitchen occupies the ground floor and lower level of an Art Deco building that once housed a puppet theater.
Olin’s main level features a bar, a kitchen, public restrooms, an entryway, an exterior storefront, canopies, and a take-out window service area; the lower level consists of kitchen-prep and storage areas, an office, and employee restrooms.
After establishing several successful restaurant concepts in Las Vegas, Holly and Shawn McClain of the McClain Group set their sights on their home base, Detroit. They engaged local firm McIntosh Poris Associates to design a street presence and interiors for Olin Bar & Kitchen, a new Mediterranean-American Brasserie located in Downtown Detroit. Olin is at once a cozy neighborhood hang-out and a sophisticated dining destination. It simultaneously captures the history and modernism of the city through a balance of upscale industrial finishes and eclectic design choices. The result is a fun and funky restaurant space that attracts both locals and out-of-town guests who prefer a local dining experience in an era inundated with chain concepts.
The new Learning Commons at Kettering University complements the school’s unique curriculum with a facility that is focused on collaboration, ideation, and digital technology.
The 105,000-square-foot Learning Commons incorporates building systems that speak to the permanence and longevity of the institution while offering durability for the decades ahead. The four-story design is centers around an open-air atrium and skylight that fills the entire interior space with natural light. The first and second floors feature public gathering, dining, and collaborative spaces, focused on creating dynamic social spaces for students. The third and fourth floors house additional collaborative spaces and environments for research, student support, media resources, individual focus, and group project work.
Located on the second and third floors of the Carhartt Detroit flagship store at 5800 Cass Avenue, the Carhartt Workshop is a collaborative community space conceived as part of the 132-year-old apparel company’s ongoing efforts to support and serve the hardworking and skilled tradespeople of its Detroit hometown. Detroit-based McIntosh Poris Associates developed the design of the Workshop, which was directly informed by Carhartt’s core principles of integrity, perseverance, and hard work. Authenticity is central to the design, which bolsters Carhartt’s present story, history, and future.
Secret Sky is the structural reworking of an existing underutilized barn that allows the sky to enter and permeate the building. The barn maintains its iconic and monolithic form while literally splitting into two volumes with a fully-walled passage between, left open to the sky. As a subtractive maneuver, Secret Sky takes a large volume out of the barn, while simultaneously adding a new space. Visitors pass through the barn, while never being able to enter it. Internally to the barn, elements of the structure were reworked with new components added to stabilize this structural feat.
Overlooking the water in Bay Harbor this home was designed as a sequence of experiences that frame the beautiful views and lead to a seamless transition between interior and exterior architecture, filled with natural light. The tropical foliage was key on this residence due to the plenty of windows that help create the transition. Natural materials were selected on the entire home, creating warm and luxurious spaces. The front facade is accented with White Wood Marble and metal louvers that emphasized the double-height entrance. This contemporary home is conceived as an open floor plan that maximizes family living and entertaining.
Harbor Springs Bluff House’s raison d’etre is its sweeping view of Little Traverse Bay. Nothing impedes the intimacy one experiences with nature; the house is a theater with the bluff and the bay providing the performance. As you arrive down the axial driveway, the trees on the site frame the center section of the house, which is covered in ipe and steel grat-ing. If we are to think of the dynamic and shifting view across the bay as theater, then this wooden wall is a curtain comprised of a series of offset panels with alternating horizontal and vertical siding overlaid with steel grating. As the woman of the house is a weaver/mathematician; this woven façade references her passion. You will also see her influence through the Fibonacci sequence, which became a primary vetting framework for the design.
McIntosh Poris Associates was responsible for the renovation and restoration of an existing 19th‐Century wood timber and masonry building into a modern office for Ford Motor Company’s self‐driving business unit. Originally planned for Buhl Sport Detroit, the building was purchased by Ford during construction to house Ford’s self‐driving business unit and attract fresh talent as part of the company’s commitment to enhancing Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. McIntosh Poris Associate’s design concept was to bring back the building’s original form and retain as much of the historic character as possible while meeting Ford’s requirements.
Jason and Michael had searched five years across four states to find a site for their weekend home that spoke to them. This retreat was to be everything that their Chicago residence – a lofted space nestled within the attic trusses of a converted church – was not. The loft is in the heart of the bustling Wicker Park neighborhood; they sought serenity and a slower pace. The loft features a highly curated collection of sleek European contemporary furnishings; they were inspired by the idea of a sanctuary with a modern sensibility but also rooted in its place with hand craftsmanship felt on scales big and small. The loft’s views of the downtown skyline are finely calibrated to maintain a sense of privacy in the dense neighborhood; they sought an abundance of transparency and a direct connection to nature.
McIntosh Poris Associates designed the new location for Townhouse, on the ground level of Ally Detroit Center in downtown Detroit’s Financial District, incorporating the urban landscape with a touch of sophistication. The ground‐floor restaurant covers 7,484 square feet and features multiple experiences: a U‐shaped bar, a custom‐designed steel‐and‐glass atrium structure with operable roof and walls, a cozy whiskey lounge, and an outdoor patio enclosed by verdant planters. Interior spaces feature luxurious textures, including distressed leathers and rich woods, along with playful wall graphics for a distinctive environment. Color schemes of white, red, and black were used throughout for a cohesive brand identity.
Two primary objectives were posed by the clients: house their collection of late 20th century artworks and design objects in spaces that compliment, but do not detract from their presence; accomplish this on a primary single continuous floor plane that allows for a graceful aging in place. Additionally, the client expressed a strong mistrust of open plans while at the same time a love for modernist spatial qualities. Finally, site the project on a shallow, tightly constrained and steeply sloping site.
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