DTE Energy - CAM Special Issue 2009

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VOL. 30 • NO. 11 • $4.00

“VOICE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY”

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Making

the

Desert

BlooM

BlooM Enchanting Changes at DTE Energy’s Downtown Campus B y M a r y E . K r e m p o s k y, A s s o c i a t e E d i t o r • P h o t o g r a p h y b y J u s t i n M a c o n o c h i e

etroit turns into Oz at the corner of Bagley Avenue and Third Street. Seven city blocks have undergone an almost magical metamorphosis: old concrete streets are now lined in striped bands of brick pavers; waterfalls tumbling into quiet pools have replaced a wasteland of gravel parking lots; and a condemned parking structure has given way to a garden of sculpted earth mounds. Each grassy hill is encircled in a rainbow of colored pavement – one is even a yellow brick road. The stylized urban gardens now surrounding DTE Energy’s headquarters in downtown Detroit weave this once weary nine acres into a true campus for the Fortune 500 company, as well as a phenomenal plaza open to the city.

“The former campus looked incredibly tired and shabby,” said Lynne Ellyn, DTE’s senior vice president and CIO who spearheaded the project through all its phases. “It certainly did not represent our status as a Fortune 500 company. It was tragic, actually.”

Together, the keen talents of Neumann/Smith Architecture, Southfield, Grissim Metz Andriese Associates (GMA), Northville, and Walbridge of Detroit turned “tragedy” into harmony in the form of three virtuoso landscapes, two inspired additions, and an elevated bridge. The project team transformed DTE’s collection of disparate buildings into a corporate neighborhood, complete with a Town Square at the heart of it all. An open courtyard – a broad pancake of concrete trapped between three buildings – is now a vibrant commons with 16 pyramid skylights and an expansive glass wall displaying the ornate façade of its next-door neighbor, a vintage 1928 office building.

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WELCOMING THE WORLD DTE now welcomes Detroit and the world to its downtown campus with a dramatic new “front door,” a 60-feet-high wall of canted glass in the shelter of a cantilevered canopy stretching 165 feet across the face of the Walker Cisler Building (WCB). This new front door, or porch, provides the monolithic, uniform façade of the 24-story WCB with a defined entry portal clearly differentiated from the original building.

“The tower did have a nice base, but the front door was not apparent from a block away,” said Joel Smith, AIA, partner, Neumann/Smith Architecture, architect of record. “Our firm has a philosophy that originated with our founder, Ken Neumann, who believed that the front door of a building should always be apparent. Historically, our work features distinctive entries.”

A departure from the old building, the new addition is in harmony with the new “front lawn.” Still pools of water float and shimmer across a plaza the size of an entire city block – a block once composed of a drab concretion of parking lots and a street called Plaza Drive. The alchemy of water has converted this sea of parking into pools of loveliness and filled this quadrant of the city with a new sound: the music of falling water. A fountain spillway – a series of three, square arches giving rise to three waterfalls – spans a pedestrian pathway and the executive drive. The visitor drives under these broad arches surrounded by water on both sides. The illusion of driving through water is a perception intentionally generated by the impoundment of the pool about 8 inches above the roadway.

Randall K. Metz, FASLA, vice president, principal in charge of design for GMA, landscape architect, and the late Ken Neumann, FAIA in one

“Voice Of The Construction Industry”®

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of his last projects, worked together closely to design the plaza as a grand introduction to the DTE campus. “We wanted it to have a sense of arrival,” said Metz. “We envisioned the concept with the idea of the spillway creating a dramatic outdoor gateway into the property. The reflecting pools create a strong sense of place. They identify the whole complex to the world and to the city.”

The great sweep of shimmering water meets the translucency of glass in the form of the new addition’s canted glass wall. The building and waterscape “join hands” in geometry and materials; the sight line flows in an arc from fountain spillway to canopy, both formed of the same strong, square angles and both clad in silvery metal composite panels. The division between building and plaza blurs: the pool extends under the canopy and the interior marble reaches through the glass wall. Visitors walk a path between two pools of water to reach the main door marked by a marble panel.

Designed in tandem, plaza and lobby together give the corporation a sense of arrival and the community a sense of place.

“The plaza is a welcoming space that reaches out and opens its arms to the community,” said Smith. “Viewing the entrance to the building across this plaza or forecourt is a great way to address the city.

With a trio of cascading waterfalls, virtually a small lake, and a wide “window” to view it all, it is little wonder that a retiring Detroit Edison President Robert Buckler personally requested this open, airy and polished lobby as the setting for his retirement party. Carlo Arnini, AIA, NCARB, DTE senior project manager, Facility Optimization – Facility Design & Construction, recalls a comment of business and civic leader, Roger Penske, at the gala event: “He said, ‘I have a feeling we are not in Detroit anymore.’”

As Construction Manager, Walbridge made

oM Light, water and stone seem to reach into the interior of this grand new lobby (top).

The plaza’s still pool extends under the great canopy and a wall of marble flows from the exterior into the interior of this open, airy and polished space.

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PHOTO BY DAVID ROSE PHOTOGRAPHY

Once the site of a condemned parking structure, this space (right) was transformed into a series of vegetated mounds, each rising in a circle of brightly colored pavement. This “yellow brick road” can be used as an exercise track leading to different loops of interwoven rings, a quiet place for conversing, or as seating for a small, central amphitheater.

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this early December event possible by changing Detroit into Oz one month ahead of schedule. “How often do you hear of a huge, complicated construction project being completed ahead of schedule?” said Ellyn.

DTE’s dream team has definitely delivered DTE’s dream campus.

“Neumann/Smith and GMA came back with concepts that were far more exciting, innovative and in closer alignment with what we were trying to achieve,” said Ellyn. “Walbridge came back with value engineering ideas, so that the project was affordable.

“There isn’t anybody on the executive committee or on our board of directors that isn’t just absolutely delighted with the campus transformation,” said Ellyn. “The enthusiasm for it is amazing. I think our leadership team is very proud when we have clients, investors and

Added Ellyn, “The project was one of the highlights of my career. I manage large, complex projects all the time, although not in construction. I had the idea that this was going to be an uphill battle.

It was going to be late, and we were going to fight cost over runs.

These things never occurred, plus we had a fabulous relationship with all the providers.”

A WISE INVESTMENT The transformation from wasteland to wonderland began with DTE’s sale of 25 acres of surface parking to MGM Grand for the construction of the casino’s new parking structure. Negotiations resulted in a coveted amenity for DTE employees: covered parking in the new MGM facility during business hours. With funds in hand and the remaining grid of surface parking no longer needed, DTE was ready to invest in its dream campus. “I think it was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Ellyn. “The improvements were accomplished simply by diverting funding from the sale of the land. In exchange, we were able to provide something of high value to the employees, to the corporation, and to the community.”

Part of DTE’s mission for this campus facelift – the campus had not been upgraded in 35 to 40 years – was to create a stronger sense of community within the corporation by knitting together its “grab bag of buildings,” including the WCB constructed in the 1970s, a general office building originally constructed in 1928, and a 1920s service building directly across from the casino. “We also wanted to create a natural and beautiful environment that enhanced the experience of the city, represented our company well, and enabled employees to feel more attachment to the company,” said Ellyn.

AGILE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION The new campus was designed in close consultation with the entire team. “The design emerged from multiple interactions between various team members,” said Ellyn.

“We also took concepts back to the executive committee, the CEO, the CFO and the COO, asking them, ‘Does this fit This remarkable project converted a grid of parking lots into a paradise of quiet your vision?” We brought these different perspectives pools and waterfalls. The wonderfully designed waterscape and lobby are a perfect together into a cohesive whole. It was a very dynamic harmony of shimmering water and translucent glass. but very positive process.”

Neumann/Smith and GMA employed sophisticated visualization tools to translate concepts into other visitors. They are pleased with the utility of the space, for we’ve understandable graphics. “We prepared elaborate videos and used it in multiple ways. The effect on employee morale has been renderings, because many people at the levels we were presenting to great.” could not read plans,” said Smith. “These visual tools of the trade kept the project moving. This place was virtually built before we even FLAWLESS PLANNING physically built it.”

Walbridge’s project management was as precise and elegant in its Walbridge entered the project in the middle of 2006 working own way as the campus design. DTE buildings were fully occupied closely with Neumann/Smith throughout the entire project. Given throughout the entire course of the three-year project managed by funding constraints, “We were trying to cater our entire design Walbridge Project Director Terry Clemens and Walbridge Project concept to a certain budget,” said Smith.

Superintendent Jason Arsenault. Walbridge navigated a subterranean In conference rooms and boardrooms, incessant tweaking of the obstacle course of underground utilities, hoisted steel trusses over budget, design and program continued throughout a project that was and above a sensitive systems operation center, and reshuffled the essentially four projects in one, namely Town Square, the Campus, the structural frame of the WCB tower’s second floor. The structural WCB lobby, and an elevated bridge. “Preconstruction never ended analysis of Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, the West Bloomfielduntil the last phase,” said Walbridge Senior Vice President and General based structural engineering consultant, was pivotal to the project’s Manager – Commercial Group, Donald Greenwell, Jr., PE. “They were success. finish-to-start type projects, meaning we would finish one and move Both DTE and Neumann/Smith sing Walbridge’s praises for their to the next.” management savvy. “I’ve worked on many projects in my 30-year In the field, unexpected discoveries in building structures with career, and this was such a beautifully planned project,” said Smith. limited documentation, plus the site’s tangle of underground utilities,

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continued to require close coordination between all parties. “The buildings on this campus are 40-plus years old,” said Stephen J. Gedert, RA, LEED AP, principal/project manager at Neumann/Smith Architecture.

“The documentation was very limited. That made design difficult; it made construction a challenge.

During construction, Jason Arsenault became an archeologist. He was making new discoveries on a daily basis. We worked with Walbridge and the trades to find new ways to make our design work with what was found on site.”

PROJECT LAUNCH: A NEW MORNING COMMUTE Building an enclosed bridge linking the MGM parking structure to DTE’s Service Building launched the project. Because the new parking arrangement shifted the “morning commute” for the entire employee base from the front to the back of the DTE complex, “Our core design goal was to create reverse access to the building,” said Smith.

Walbridge coordinated its work with the construction of MGM Grand and its other neighbors. “Each of the two main trusses of the 400-foot-long bridge were assembled in three pieces on the ground and then lifted in one piece on a Sunday to minimize the impact on traffic,” said Arsenault.

The 8,800-square-foot bridge is an elevated L-shaped promenade enclosed in a glass shell, offering DTE employees protection from the weather and a wonderful view of the Butterfly Peace Garden in DTE’s new backyard. “We thought the bridge should be a very transparent thing, allowing employees to see the activity of the street and enjoy the site while walking the bridge,” said Smith. Composite metal panels with a high-performance organic coating in a light gray metallic finish complete the material ensemble. “The bridge’s glass and metal panels also established the material palette for the rest of the project, including the north face of the Service Building that was integrated with the bridge entrance,” added Smith.

The bridge did far more than determine the project’s material cloak. With almost the entire 2,500-person DTE staff pouring through this portal daily, the bridge created the opportunity for a new pathway through the building complex, beginning with the bridge, followed by a new corridor of mosaictile clad curvilinear walls, and Town Square.

The new access route ultimately inspired the creation of Town Square, a perfectly situated crossroads, cafeteria and corporate commons designed to take full advantage of this new pathway.

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BUILDING COMMON GROUND The Town Square had humble beginnings.

Originally, the space was an interior courtyard, open to the weather and trapped within the center of the campus matrix.

Dubbed “the yard,” this virtually empty expanse of concrete was actually part of the roof of DTE’s Systems Operations Center (SOC). Post-transformation, this rooftop is now the vibrant hub of the corporation. A system of open web trusses with 16 pyramid skylights spans the opening, enclosing the space and capturing natural light in a glass shell. “An expansive wall of glass captures the beauty of the old 1928 building and almost resembles a wall mural,” said Smith. “Basically, this space was conceived as a winter garden.

We wanted to let in as much light as we could, and also bring some of the campus inside.”

“Bringing the campus inside” was quite an elaborate operation. Greenwell outlines the task: “The SOC is the umbilical cord of DTE’s operations, and we had to lift long-spanned trusses that provide column-free space directly over it and within a beehive of buildings. It was perhaps the most wellplanned operation of the job, because of the possible impact on DTE operations.”

Walbridge used a gravel lot – the site of the future Butterfly and Peace Garden – as a lay down area for the trusses. A crane hoisted the steel, reaching almost 100 feet over a portion of the two-story SOC and across the rooftop to pluck the trusses down in the middle of Town Square, said Arsenault.

Desai/Nasr performed the structural analysis for Town Square. “Desai/Nasr did a yeoman’s job of analyzing the existing structure,” said Smith. “The good news is when this building was originally built it was built very well, so we had a lot of capacity that we were able to reinforce to carry the longspan trusses, large loads and everything else that had to be placed on top of the existing building.”

Once the truss system was in place, DTE and Neumann/Smith elected to keep the construction exposed for both its visual appeal and value. “There were many design schemes, one of which was an all-glass roof at one time, but we returned to an earlier scheme for an exposed construction design,” said Smith.

INVISIBLE CONSTRUCTION Arsenault listed strategies used to limit noise and vibration in this sensitive work zone: linking steel with Lejeune bolts designed to reduce vibration; installing impact pads of composite plastic to form a cushioned roadway over the old courtyard; and dissecting 8 to 10 heavy concrete CAM MAGAZINE

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planters into smaller pieces as opposed to demolishing the step planters with high-impact jackhammers. “Vibration sensors were also installed in the operations center and monitored on a regular basis,” added Arsenault. The sensors were especially crucial during extensive demolition of the old courtyard’s concrete floor slab.

Being “invisible” was quite a task during the revamping of the arcade, a corridor skirting the perimeter of the old courtyard. Arcade

This aerial photograph reveals DTE’s amazing new campus of linked buildings and three different landscapes: the front plaza with its bands of river stone; the exercise garden resembling an abstract painting of colored rings; and the spiral of the Butterfly and Peace Garden in the background, as well as a glimpse of the Town Square skylights and the connector link between MGM Grand and DTE.

sections were eliminated for installation of a full-service kitchen; another stretch was closed and converted into storage. Before the transition to the new access route, the old pathways still had to be maintained during construction. “We had to keep the buildings all connected, no matter what,” said Arsenault. “Maintaining traffic flow and safety was the toughest part of the job.”

Walbridge maintained the cloak of invisibility by performing some work in the evenings. However, floors demolished in the evening had to be temporarily replaced for the morning “commute” through the building interior. “We would demolish the floor and ceiling, and then the next morning have a walkway surface safe for use and a ceiling with temporary lighting,” said Arsenault.

A NEW CROSSROADS The end result of this elaborate design, engineering and construction effort is a light-filled expanse with a 450-seat cafeteria, a full service 6,500-square-foot kitchen, a convenience store and a Java

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City coffee bar. Under an umbrella of glass and open web trusses, this 42,000-square-foot commons offers full wireless service and a varied menu of spaces, including four private enclosures for small meetings and an alcove of secluded workstations. This versatile venue can even host gatherings of 700 people. “At last, we have the option to hold large-scale meetings in-house,” said Arnini.

“Town Square definitely promotes greater interaction among our disparate employee groups to create community within our midst,” added Ellyn. Town Square also includes an 8,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard nestled between the glass wall and the vintage general office building. The gentle sound of a fountain, coupled with blooming plants, and striped brick pavers in alignment with the pedestrian pathway of Second Avenue directly below, is one of many links between landscaping and buildings in this cohesive campus.

This wonderful commons offers state-of-the-art communication tools for creating corporate community. Town Square has been designed for optimal acoustics obtained through its curvilinear sidewalls, the canted angle of the glass wall, a computer-controlled speaker system, and even fabric duct work that dispenses air silently through hundreds of minute perforations in the fabric. This new corporate crossroads enjoys a state-of-the-art audiovisual system, including a 36-screen plasma array and theatrical lighting for presentations and events.

EARTH SPIRALS AND RINGED MOUNDS Walbridge began working on DTE’s “big backyard” at the north end of the campus as soon as the steel trusses were uprooted from the gravel. This experiment in topography has given rise to a sheltered nest of earth called the Butterfly Peace Garden. The former roadway of Second Avenue becomes a spiral pathway leading into this peaceful enclave. “One can’t see into the garden at first,” said Richard G. Houdek, ASLA, partner, GMA. “As the visitor enters the spiral pathway the earth starts to build up out of the flat plane and continues to increase in height. It draws you into the space.” WH Canon Company, Romulus, was the landscape subcontractor for this entire project.

This earth cradle is designed “to moderate the sound of the city,” added Metz. This oasis is planted with coneflowers, yarrow, Russian sage, and other butterfly-attracting plants. A small forest of white pine sprinkles the hillside, bringing a touch of northern Michigan to Detroit.

As a peace garden, the spiral pathway is lined with black granite curbing imprinted with the words, “May Peace Prevail” in 58 different languages, including German, Arabic, and Zulu, as well as Braille, and even the numbers of the binary code. Inclusive of the entire community of life, the Peace Garden even has a granite paver marked with the tracks of deer, birds, dogs, and raccoons.

DTE staff seeking a quiet lunch or a small impromptu meeting can enjoy this tranquil garden equipped with moveable outdoor furniture. At the other end of DTE’s backyard is a sunken amphitheater extending under the elevated bridge and used for concerts, barbeques, and other activities.

“We wanted to enhance the lives of people who work at DTE,” said Metz. “We wanted to not only create a place that is a new image for DTE to the city, but it is also a setting that is enjoyable for all the DTE staff. We wanted to create a series of different spaces, including places to sit by oneself, gather in a large group, exercise for fitness or just take a stroll around the campus.”

The southeast garden is an urban space like no other. GMA reshaped this blank canvas of earth into a series of vegetated mounds, each varied in height and diameter and each rising in a circle of brightly colored pavement. “When you enter, you can’t see the entire “Voice Of The Construction Industry”®

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PLAYING JENGA The last phase and crowning glory of the project is the new front door and front lawn.

In building the WCB lobby, Walbridge ably managed complex foundation and structural challenges. Both the new lobby and the north end of the pool are in the former path of Plaza Drive with all the dense tangle of utilities commonly beneath an urban roadway. “A number of mains run beneath the area, and we had to coordinate their re-routing or vacating with many different agencies,” said Arsenault.

The addition’s columns actually rest directly in the path of the old roadway.

“Footings and foundations were tightly coordinated,” said Arsenault.

“As a compliment to the design team, when we came across these items their flexibility and responsiveness helped the ever-changing project reach completion.”

Inserting the new lobby into the existing tower was a tightly sequenced and coordinated undertaking. Walbridge started selective interior demolition in January 2008 to avoid exposing the building to winter weather, said Arsenault. Walbridge began heavy demolition in March, a task demanding a systematic, precise sequence of reinforcement, structural analysis and demolition.

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“It was a step-by-step process even to remove the floor,” said Arsenault. “To avoid jeopardizing the structure, a great deal of reinforcing had to be put in place, followed by new steel installation. Once in place, Desai/Nasr would conduct an inspection, and if satisfied, we would proceed with demolition.”

Arnini compares this careful procedure to playing Jenga, the popular ‘80s game, calling

on each player to remove a piece from a stacked tower of blocks and placing it on top without toppling the tower. Fortunately, the project team were very good players at this game of rearranging the steel pieces of an actual 24-story tower. “We did challenge the structural engineers to tell us what we could safety carve away, because, as Ken so wisely quipped, ‘If the building falls down, you’re fired,’ ” recalled Smith.

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garden at once,” said Metz. “As you walk around the space, it begins to unfold. Every time you move around a curve, you can enjoy a different view of these miniature mountains, if you will.”

Viewed from the upper reaches of the DTE tower, the mounds, encircled in colored rings of pavement, resemble an abstract painting in an art museum. But this garden is no painting on the wall. The space is an ingenious solution to inserting an exercise track in a corporate campus with limited space and innumerable security gates that preclude a lengthy stretch of track. In this ultimate place to jog, the rings of pavement touch on key edges, creating a series of varied circular pathways.

The garden also contains a small amphitheater for informal presentations and concrete seat walls blended into the surface of the walkway system. Whatever the use, every DTE employee can enjoy this miraculous transformation of the urban wasteland.

Beyond their beauty, these miniature mountains saved a pile of money for the project. The project’s excavated soils are now part of the mounds, saving the cost of offsite soil transport and disposal – a very sustainable solution.

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spillway do not break the surface of the water. “They intentionally drop into three pits, so the water remains still and reflective,” said Metz. “The pits are also part of a recycling system to continually re-circulate the water.”

An 800-square-foot mechanical equipment center is also hidden below the plaza, the only telltale sign of its presence is a barely visible hatch opening in the brick pavers. This lovely lake also has a hidden function as a vehicle barrier for the building. “We didn’t want the look and feel of a fortress,” said Ellyn.

“The pools balance the need for security with the feeling of being part of the city.”

Construction of this aquatic nirvana in the heart of Detroit consumed six to eight months alone with underground utilities greatly complicating the installation.

Walbridge discovered surprises throughout the entire campus, ranging from an unexpected basement slab STILL WATERS RUN Sunlight pours into the new Town Square, a extending in front of DEEP vibrant commons with 16 pyramid the 1928 office The design and skylights and an expansive glass wall building to the construction team displaying the ornate façade of its nextdiscovery of the lack attended to every door neighbor, a vintage 1928 office of infrastructure to detail of this elegant building. handle water after plaza.

Prominent demolition of the condemned parking bands of brown and gray river stone lend the structure. GMA’s site design tried to take such pool a pleasing appearance even in the underground dragons into account by winter when the water is drained. GMA building above existing utilities. For this employed a fascinating strategy to maintain reason, planting areas are raised above grade the Zen-like stillness of this 26,000-squarein two-foot high segmental precast concrete foot reflecting pool. In an aquatic version of a planters, and new brick and concrete pavers raised access floor, the river stones rest on a are installed directly on top of the original fiberglass reinforced plastic grate supported roadways. Soulliere Decorative Stone, Utica, by raised pedestals. Only two inches of water installed all the pavers and retaining walls. are actually visible above the stones in this GMA decommissioned the streets, 1.5-foot-deep pool. This strategy makes the converting 30-foot-wide streets to more striped banding of stones more visible and intimate 20-foot-wide pedestrian pathways. maintains the water’s stillness.

“By keeping the basic urban grid of streets, “We wanted the appearance of the water we retained the urban context, but also to remain still, but yet we needed movement preserved access for utilities and emergency to keep the water clean,” said Houdek. “The vehicles,” said Metz. GMA filled the entire pool’s circulation and piping system is campus with blooming perennials and about mounted to the concrete slab of the pool 700 trees, both for beauty and to camouflage floor. Invisible, but highly functional, the the security perimeter fencing. piping layout directs the water movement, moving the water below, but not disturbing THE 20-SECOND TEST the water surface above the grates.”

The project team tackled a complex roster The three waterfalls cascading from the Walbridge also had to maintain a safe environment and access routes for DTE staff.

“Demolition was often shifted to the afternoon and evening to minimize disruption to DTE,” said Arsenault.

This final project phase also was a game of design Jenga, meaning the project team scaled back the lobby addition to fit the budget while preserving the spirit of the design. “The lobby went through a rigorous value engineering process,” said Greenwell.

As one alteration, the glass curtain wall system shifted from a full to a partial Pilkington system.

“We installed the Pilkington system in the lower half where it has the most impact, and used a standard curtain wall in the less visible upper half,” said Greenwell.

Value engineering also reduced the number of the plaza’s square arches, affectionately called staples, from five to three without detracting from the design intent.

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The dramatic, 60-foot-tall “front door” of the new lobby welcomes visitors and clients to the headquarters of this Fortune 500 company.

Banded pavement, along with quiet pools, form DTE’s new “front lawn.”

of challenges to deliver this magnificent campus to DTE and to Detroit. “The front entrance is our face to the world,” said Ellyn. “All of our aspirations as a company are contained in its appearance. We wanted it to be beautiful and welcoming, as well as practical and useable. We had this vision that within 20 seconds of walking in our front door you would have a sense of DTE as a vibrant, expansive, and diverse corporation.”

The new DTE campus and new lobby certainly passes this test with flying colors. The interior is an ensemble of elegantly veined Carrara Gold Select marble, Tahitian Brown granite, and an Anegre wood ceiling.

The lobby can be viewed as a cantilever within a cantilever. Similar to the exterior canopy, the second-floor conference room partially cantilevers into the lobby, offering an extraordinary vista of both the ringed garden and the reflecting pool. As an optical illusion, the front of the conference room seems to project into the waterscape.

“Conceptually it seems like you are in the prow of a boat looking out across a broad panorama,” said Smith. “This was one of Ken’s favorite parts of the project. The front of the conference room offers a wide vista, yet the frosted glass on the back of the conference room offers the privacy needed for an executive meeting.”

This amazing campus revitalization also included renovation of existing interior space, including 31,500 square feet of the WCB interior, creating an entirely new conference center and other revitalized spaces.

DTE, Neumann/Smith Architecture, GMA, and Walbridge have created a truly remarkably magical place in the heart of the Motor City. At DTE’s Auto Show gala held in the new lobby and in the Town Square, “Our guests were just enchanted,” said Ellyn. Enchanted is a word seldom applied to this still struggling tri-centennial city, but thanks to visionary design and quality construction, the ideal of a beautiful city has been beautifully realized in this newly minted campus of wonderful spaces.

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