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Great Lakes Books Series
Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture
In the early 1900s, Detroit was leading the nation in architectural innovation and designer Wirt Rowland was at the forefront of this advancement, yet few are even aware of his substantial contribution to the evolution of architectural style. It is widely believed that celebrated local architect Albert Kahn designed many of Detroit's structures, such as the General Motors and First National Bank buildings. In fact, while Kahn's efforts were focused on running his highly successful firm, it was Rowland, his chief designer, who was responsible for the appearance and layout of these buildings-an important point in appreciating the contributions of both Kahn and Rowland. During the early twentieth century, Rowland devised a wholly new or "modern" design for buildings, one not reliant on decorative elements copied from architecture of the past. As buildings became more specialized for their intended use, Rowland met the challenge with entirely new design methodologies and a number of improved technologies and materials that subsequently became commonplace.
Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture begins with a brief overview of Rowland's early life and career. Author Michael G. Smith goes on to analyze Rowland's achievements in building design and as a leader of Detroit's architectural community throughout both World Wars and the Great Depression. The interdependence of architecture with the city's fluctuating economic prosperity and population growth is explored, illuminating the conditions for good architecture and the arts in general. The author identifies the influence of Jay Hambidge's "dynamic symmetry" in Rowland's work and how it allowed him to employ color as a modern replacement for traditional ornamentation, leading to the revolutionary design of the Union Trust (Guardian) Building, for which he receives nearly unanimous praise in national media. This book is concerned primarily with Rowland's influence on Detroit architecture, but spans beyond his work in Michigan to include the designer's broad reach from New York to Miami. A comprehensive appendix includes extensive lists of Rowland's publications, locations he had designed, and jobs taken on by his firm during his tenure.
This book represents new research and insights not previously discussed in either scholarly or general audience texts and will be of interest to casual readers of Detroit history, as well as architecture historians.
Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture begins with a brief overview of Rowland's early life and career. Author Michael G. Smith goes on to analyze Rowland's achievements in building design and as a leader of Detroit's architectural community throughout both World Wars and the Great Depression. The interdependence of architecture with the city's fluctuating economic prosperity and population growth is explored, illuminating the conditions for good architecture and the arts in general. The author identifies the influence of Jay Hambidge's "dynamic symmetry" in Rowland's work and how it allowed him to employ color as a modern replacement for traditional ornamentation, leading to the revolutionary design of the Union Trust (Guardian) Building, for which he receives nearly unanimous praise in national media. This book is concerned primarily with Rowland's influence on Detroit architecture, but spans beyond his work in Michigan to include the designer's broad reach from New York to Miami. A comprehensive appendix includes extensive lists of Rowland's publications, locations he had designed, and jobs taken on by his firm during his tenure.
This book represents new research and insights not previously discussed in either scholarly or general audience texts and will be of interest to casual readers of Detroit history, as well as architecture historians.
- GenresArchitecture
496 pages, Hardcover
Published April 17, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 19, 2021
This was an incredibly frustrating read for me. I'm very interested in Detroit architectural history and appreciated reading about a figure who I'd heard of but didn't know much about since he was never a partner at any of the big Detroit architecture firms. When the author sticks to the facts (or even just reasonable inferences) it is more or less a decent work. However, for reasons I'll detail below, this book was overall a disappointment and I do not recommend it.
I had three major issues with this book, which I'll elaborate on in descending order according to how much exasperation they caused me: The author's bizarre fixation on an early 20th century design principle called "dynamic symmetry", a complete lack of any critical lens in approaching the subject matter, and the overall poor layout of the book itself.
Dynamic Symmetry
The concept of "Dynamic Symmetry" is outlined in Chapter 6, but in brief it is a design principle introduced in the 1920s revolving around rectangles with some interesting properties. The author devotes about half the chapter to dynamic symmetry and how Rowland might have heard about it. In Chapter 7 he makes the argument that Rowland did indeed use Dynamic Symmetry in his design work, of the Union Trust and Greater Penobscot buildings in particular, and from that point on accepts as given that Rowland used Dynamic Symmetry in all of his subsequent work.
However, hidden away in note 6 of Chapter 7, the author admits that there is no reason to believe that Rowland ever used Dynamic Symmetry in his design work. Instead, the author has devised how Dynamic Symmetry might have been used to generate Rowland's designs and has presented it as fact in the main portion of the book. Indeed the author never really admits this is the case aside from in that note stuck at the back of the book.
The problem with all of this is that the forms Rowland used, the forms that the author makes such a big deal about, are extremely simple to generate without using the convoluted process the author describes: In the first example, the author uses 6 separate illustrations to show how Dynamic Symmetry can generate two squares superimposed over one another, one at a 45-degree angle to the other. I don't think any special design system is needed to generate two squares.
The other figure the author describes is two equilateral triangles placed so that they have a common edge. Again, there is no reason that I can see why the author needs to appeal to Dynamic Symmetry to generate such a simple form. In fact, the "root three rectangle" that the author mentions repeatedly (and in relation to this second figure) can be formed by splitting an equilateral triangle in half (along its height) and arranging the two halves to form a rectangle.
The fact that the author puts such an emphasis on Dynamic Symmetry despite the simpler means Rowland could've used, and the fact that the author fails to accurately represent how much of his argument hinges on his interpretation of Rowland's work only and not on any evidence, hugely detracts from my opinion of this book.
Lack of Critical Lens
Rowland was an affluent white born in the late 19th century. Rowland's choices, opinions, etc. were affected by his identity and, as such, we can recognize today as being misguided, appropriative, and/or harmful. This is true of many people with a variety of identities who have come both before and after Rowland, but that does not exempt him from critique on these points. Doing so only reinforces white supremacist narratives and trivializes any concerns that might be raised.
I felt this was most evident when anything related to Native Americans came up. Multiple points in the book discuss Rowland's appropriation of indigenous art, architecture, design, iconography, and identity, and these are represented as either being neutral or positive acts. The author even goes so far as to describe Rowland's use of stereotypical Plains Indian figures in sculpture as elevating them above the cigar-store Indian adornment (while still serving as adornment, you'll note).
There was also a white supremacist/Western-Eurocentric frame evident throughout the book, something that I'm guessing is still common in mainstream art and architecture literature. Essentially, behind everything being said in the book is the feeling that true art and architecture does not exist outside of the so-called Western World (and the ancient Greeks were the pinnacle of "pure" architecture and design), and that whatever art does exist outside of the white world can only be perfected by a white person.
This last point is especially evident in the discussion of indigenous architecture (which only white people could develop into a "truly American" art form) and in the author's discussion of Rowland's trip to Spain/the Alhambra (that Rowland "elevated" or "perfected" Moorish architecture and design principles).
Recognizing how Rowland's identities affected his worldview does not detract from his accomplishments. What it does do is provide his life and work with the appropriate context and avoid the all-too-common "white man genius" narrative.
The Layout
As part of my job I've done publication layouts on a much smaller scale and even that can be extremely difficult when there are a lot of tables and figures to account for. I want to say that before anything else, that it is real difficult work and I acknowledge that.
This is a work on architecture and design and includes a lot of images. Many of those images are several pages removed from the discussion they apply to. This is very frustrating. It is made even more frustrating by the fact that there is a system included in the book for referring tho those figures. Each one is assigned a unique number. At only one point in the entire book is a figure referred to by its number.
In fact, that's the only example I can remember that the book makes any reference to the included figures at all. It's a baffling choice for a publication that devotes so much space to visual examples. As I said, it's extremely frustrating and makes the content of the book much more difficult to absorb.
I had three major issues with this book, which I'll elaborate on in descending order according to how much exasperation they caused me: The author's bizarre fixation on an early 20th century design principle called "dynamic symmetry", a complete lack of any critical lens in approaching the subject matter, and the overall poor layout of the book itself.
Dynamic Symmetry
The concept of "Dynamic Symmetry" is outlined in Chapter 6, but in brief it is a design principle introduced in the 1920s revolving around rectangles with some interesting properties. The author devotes about half the chapter to dynamic symmetry and how Rowland might have heard about it. In Chapter 7 he makes the argument that Rowland did indeed use Dynamic Symmetry in his design work, of the Union Trust and Greater Penobscot buildings in particular, and from that point on accepts as given that Rowland used Dynamic Symmetry in all of his subsequent work.
However, hidden away in note 6 of Chapter 7, the author admits that there is no reason to believe that Rowland ever used Dynamic Symmetry in his design work. Instead, the author has devised how Dynamic Symmetry might have been used to generate Rowland's designs and has presented it as fact in the main portion of the book. Indeed the author never really admits this is the case aside from in that note stuck at the back of the book.
The problem with all of this is that the forms Rowland used, the forms that the author makes such a big deal about, are extremely simple to generate without using the convoluted process the author describes: In the first example, the author uses 6 separate illustrations to show how Dynamic Symmetry can generate two squares superimposed over one another, one at a 45-degree angle to the other. I don't think any special design system is needed to generate two squares.
The other figure the author describes is two equilateral triangles placed so that they have a common edge. Again, there is no reason that I can see why the author needs to appeal to Dynamic Symmetry to generate such a simple form. In fact, the "root three rectangle" that the author mentions repeatedly (and in relation to this second figure) can be formed by splitting an equilateral triangle in half (along its height) and arranging the two halves to form a rectangle.
The fact that the author puts such an emphasis on Dynamic Symmetry despite the simpler means Rowland could've used, and the fact that the author fails to accurately represent how much of his argument hinges on his interpretation of Rowland's work only and not on any evidence, hugely detracts from my opinion of this book.
Lack of Critical Lens
Rowland was an affluent white born in the late 19th century. Rowland's choices, opinions, etc. were affected by his identity and, as such, we can recognize today as being misguided, appropriative, and/or harmful. This is true of many people with a variety of identities who have come both before and after Rowland, but that does not exempt him from critique on these points. Doing so only reinforces white supremacist narratives and trivializes any concerns that might be raised.
I felt this was most evident when anything related to Native Americans came up. Multiple points in the book discuss Rowland's appropriation of indigenous art, architecture, design, iconography, and identity, and these are represented as either being neutral or positive acts. The author even goes so far as to describe Rowland's use of stereotypical Plains Indian figures in sculpture as elevating them above the cigar-store Indian adornment (while still serving as adornment, you'll note).
There was also a white supremacist/Western-Eurocentric frame evident throughout the book, something that I'm guessing is still common in mainstream art and architecture literature. Essentially, behind everything being said in the book is the feeling that true art and architecture does not exist outside of the so-called Western World (and the ancient Greeks were the pinnacle of "pure" architecture and design), and that whatever art does exist outside of the white world can only be perfected by a white person.
This last point is especially evident in the discussion of indigenous architecture (which only white people could develop into a "truly American" art form) and in the author's discussion of Rowland's trip to Spain/the Alhambra (that Rowland "elevated" or "perfected" Moorish architecture and design principles).
Recognizing how Rowland's identities affected his worldview does not detract from his accomplishments. What it does do is provide his life and work with the appropriate context and avoid the all-too-common "white man genius" narrative.
The Layout
As part of my job I've done publication layouts on a much smaller scale and even that can be extremely difficult when there are a lot of tables and figures to account for. I want to say that before anything else, that it is real difficult work and I acknowledge that.
This is a work on architecture and design and includes a lot of images. Many of those images are several pages removed from the discussion they apply to. This is very frustrating. It is made even more frustrating by the fact that there is a system included in the book for referring tho those figures. Each one is assigned a unique number. At only one point in the entire book is a figure referred to by its number.
In fact, that's the only example I can remember that the book makes any reference to the included figures at all. It's a baffling choice for a publication that devotes so much space to visual examples. As I said, it's extremely frustrating and makes the content of the book much more difficult to absorb.
August 18, 2017
Terrific book detailing the storied history of buildings, historical sites and monuments in Detroit, Michigan, my hometown. If you love architecture, design, buildings, landmarks and, even better, are nostalgic about Detroit, you will love this book. The brilliant photographs (and choices thereof) harkened me back to my childhood, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought back long-forgotten fond memories. Anyone who was born and raised in the Detroit area or loves 20th Century architecture must buy this treasure of a book. Brilliant, Michael; just brilliant! If I could give this marvelous book 10 stars, I would.
July 2, 2017
Well written. Well researched. Beautifully put together. Great book for anyone interested in architecture or the history of Detroit.
Read
July 19, 2017Textually dense, with fewer photographs than I would have expected. Nevertheless, it situates the urban landscape of Detroit within the historical flow of American architecture very well.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews