2007 AIA Michigan Design Honor Award

 TDR Orthodontists
Birmingham, Michigan

Jury Comment:
A fabulous transformation of a bland warehouse into an elegant, calming interior environment with a creative use of materials

Project Description:
Proud of a thriving practice and committed to becoming a part of Birmingham’s Rail District, the client, a partnership of orthodontists, purchased an existing industrial warehouse whose usefulness to many appeared obsolete.

The client’s vision recognized the building’s potential as a new home for their business. The chosen venue was a straightforward industrial building, vintage 1950s, with a mezzanine along the front wall. This building was larger than their specific needs so they leased adjacent spaces to a salon, a swimming school, and a financial company—as a result, the architects were commissioned for the core and shell and the interiors for the orthodontics office. The existing mezzanine allowed the build-out of the doctor’s private office and a staff conference room. Ceiling heights range from 9-feet under the mezzanine to 18-feet in the original warehouse space.

The organization of the office was derived from the building’s inherent composition. Divided into three realms, arrival (front), practice (warehouse space), and process (rear), the building’s architectural character was enhanced by organizing the practice of orthodontics along a deliberate central axis, served by enclosed smaller spaces housing business and reception activities. The rear spaces feature processing and imaging labs. The open warehouse space, transformed by the architect’s design, becomes a theater for the skills of the orthodontists and, of course, their patients. In an effort to preserve the integrity of the industrial building, new floor-to-ceiling windows were placed in original overhead door openings, complementing the existing clerestory windows above. This new glazing helps to enhance this environment and promotes a relationship of the interior to the private garden outside. As a result, a calming, Zen-like tranquility (often needed in this profession) is afforded to their patients by these vast window openings. The infusion of natural light also promotes a sense of clarity to the geometry of the spaces.

The aesthetic direction of the interiors involved selecting existing materials worthy of retention—the concrete block walls, exposed steel beams and joists, corrugated metal deck, for instance, were mended, cleaned, and refinished. New stairs, ceiling drops, and office partitions were added but retained the industrial aesthetic. Contrasting elements included custom furniture, millwork, and enclosures, which were designed to create warmth for the industrial, loft-like interiors.

The result is a building that performs its tasks admirably within an exterior whose shell is understated and whose interior is dynamic yet sensitive.

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