Employees and staff are a business’s most valuable resources, so it is important that they are provided with quality working conditions that cultivate inspiration and productivity. To create an environment that will make them feel like valued team members, you need the help of a professional who will take the time to understand how they work and explore ways to better connect them to the larger goals of their company through the physical elements of the workspace.
The list below includes the best office architects in Detroit, Michigan. These firms were selected for their accreditations, certifications, and professional affiliations. They were selected based on industry awards, client reviews, and press features. Our team also discussed the range of services the firms offer, their specializations, and the length of time they have been in the industry.
Quinn Evans
4219 Woodward Ave., Suite #301, Detroit, MI 48201
Quinn Evans (QE) is a full-service architectural firm run by Larry Barr. The firm’s experienced professionals are dedicated to eloquence in design and well-crafted alternatives that preserve and restore the built environment. Its comprehensive services include the renovation and restoration of existing buildings and sites, and the creation of expansions and new structures to satisfy the needs of its clients. In addition to full architectural services, the firm also has a diversified portfolio that integrates context-sensitive and creative designs with sustainable strategies.
With over three decades of experience, QE’s seasoned experts combine a background in renovation architecture with knowledge of the specific issues involved in creating context-sensitive new construction. The firm’s portfolio has been honored with over two hundred awards for exceptional design, outstanding restoration work, and efficient solutions for adapting existing facilities for new uses. Some of these include the 2017 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for The Henry Ford Glass Gallery and the Associate Award for Ann Phillips.
One of Quinn Evans’s finest works is its Detroit office, which transforms a vacant corner and inspires revitalization of the community. By providing commercial space along Woodward Street, this mixed-use development embraces the pedestrian-friendly environment of traditional “Main Street” sites while echoing the character of nearby historic structures. Inside the building, light-filled office suites provide flexible space to meet 21st-century, mobile office cultures.
Hamilton Anderson Associates
1435 Randolph St., Suite #200, Detroit, MI 48226
Hamilton Anderson Associates (HAA) is a multidisciplinary design company devoted to advancing the built environment through innovative, contemporary design. Its design process combines thorough analysis, perceptive curiosity, and thoughtful execution to create uplifting, contextually responsive solutions.
Hamilton Anderson was founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1994 when architect Rainy Hamilton, Jr. partnered with planner and landscape architect Kent Anderson. Together, they have authored and developed many of the strategies the firm has used to creatively respond to the needs of their clients while staying on top of current trends.
A Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), HAA’s diverse design professionals work collaboratively across different fields, including architecture, landscape architecture, planning, urban design, strategic planning, interior design, and graphic design. The firm also served as Architect of Record, furnishing interior design services for the Hamilton Midtown historic renovation project. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and named after Rainy Hamilton Jr., the founder and owner of Hamilton Anderson Associates, in 2016.
The Quicken Loans Corporate Headquarters is another of its excellent projects. Inside the 1960s building, art deco-inspired graphic shapes can be found on the custom wall coverings. The space is shaped like a hexagon, alluding to a beehive. This is repeated throughout the design in flooring, ceiling, and glazing elements. Moss can be found “growing” on the columns on the north wall to solidify the nature theme of the workspace.
SmithGroup
500 Griswold St., Suite #1700, Detroit, MI 48226
SmithGroup takes a research-based and data-driven approach to design that champions sustainability and community. Its core competencies encompass architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, urban design, and environmental science. The firm has built a clientele of global leaders in the workplace, health, higher education, science, and technology sectors. The company garnered awards from the American Institure of Architects, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers, the American Society of Landscape Arrchitects, the American Planning Association, and the Society for College and Univeristy Planning.
The firm worked on the ZEISS Michigan Quality Excellence Center. The team behind the project a grand lobby which doubles as the product showroom, with cafes and gathering areas at the sidelines. Workspaces, meanwhile, were incorporated along the inner courtyard.
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects
440 Burroughs St., Suite #525, Detroit, MI 48202
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) is an award-winning architecture and urban design firm of twenty-five talented designers with offices in Los Angeles and Detroit. LOHA seeks to elevate the human condition via the built environment, operating on the belief that architecture functions within a layered context of political, environmental, and social structures. The firm works with a diverse group of stakeholders to deliver large-scale neighborhood plans, large mixed-use developments, supportive housing, and university residential complexes. LOHA has built over 100 projects across three continents and has been recognized with over 100 awards, including the AIA California Distinguished Practice Award and the AIA LA Firm of the Year Award.
Lorcan O’Herlihy, founder and design principal of LOHA, embraces architecture as a catalyst of change. Each project exhibits Lorcan’s mindset that artistry and social connectivity are key to building vibrant spaces. The Architectural League of New York selected him as one of the eight “emerging voices” in the US in 2006.
Driven by O’Herlihy’s passion and creative vision, LOHA has built a robust portfolio of work that includes Sycamore953. The eight-story creative office building rises and cantilevers above the surrounding area, creating an iconic presence in this part of the city. The concrete and class structure, inspired by the neighboring cement plant, is a hybrid of creative offices, ground floor retail, and parking to serve the surrounding area.
NORR
150 W. Jefferson Ave., Suite #1300, Detroit, MI 48226
NORR is an employee-owned, fully integrated architecture and engineering firm. Its team of 800 architects, engineers, planners, and interior designers collaborate across 12 market sectors from headquarters in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. Since its inception in 1938 by Canadian Architect John B. Parkin, the firm has built its reputation for inspired design for 85 years. It strives for excellence in the built environment through sustainable supervision, the inclusion of people, technological advancement, and the pursuit of design excellence.
Douglas Lang takes the lead in industrial projects, which comprises mostly of last-mile logistics centers, wet and dry warehousing and distillers. NORR’s mission is to help its clients achieve their corporate pursuits while contributing to healthier and more sustainable spaces and places worldwide. Its works have been featured on CRAIN’s Detroit and PRISM: Sustainability in the Built Environment several times.
NORR is responsible for the renovation of the 14-story Qube Tower. The team reorganized the banking and upper management offices to provide greater overall interaction, efficiency, and adjacency. Flexible training rooms and amenities with integrated elements support visual and acoustic privacy. New energy-saving LED lighting and lighting management controls were installed throughout the building as well.
McIntosh Poris Associates
155 W. Congress St., Detroit, MI 48226
McIntosh Poris Associates (MPA) is composed of architects and urban planners who believe in the transformative power of design. Founded in 1994, the firm provides architecture and design services to residential, commercial, and institutional clients. MPA is recognized nationally as one of the top voices in architecture and interior design. Its work has gained more than a hundred design awards, including the AIA Michigan Honor Interiors Award in 2021 and a 2022 Detroit Design Award for Commercial Design.
Michael Poris, the firm’s principal, leads the company in its goal to become the go-to partner for the people and communities it serves. He drives the firm’s commitment to preserve Detroit’s architectural history and accelerate Detroit’s economic resurgence by working with municipal planners and developers to create adaptive reuse for older buildings. Poris has grown the company’s practice to include adaptive reuse and interior design—a product of which is the Crypton Fabrics office.
The space plan creates open office areas with exposed ceilings and natural light access, with utility functions tucked against the building core. The large Club House is the hub of the office, housing the kitchen, breakout space, and informal gatherings. The Crypton Super Fabric and its fibers inspire the space’s forms, such as the reception area screens that evoke rolls of fabric.
M1DTW
1948 Division St, Detroit, MI 48207
M1DTW Architects, established in 2000, is a design-driven multidisciplinary architecture studio and creative practice that produces thoughtful environments for people to do their best work. M1DTW engages in a hands-on process that has attracted emerging entrepreneurs across a range of industries.
Founded and led by polymath designer Christian Unverzagt, the studio customizes production at all scales, from the fabrication and construction of buildings and interiors to website design, graphic messaging, and book production. Containing over 100 commissioned works, the studio’s wide-ranging portfolio includes retail and commercial spaces, adaptive reuse projects, concept spaces, renovations of historic residences, and interior design with custom-made furniture. M1DTW has garnered many awards for its work, including honor awards from AIA Michigan, AIA Detroit, Design Core, a NAHA for Best Salon Design in North America, and a 50 Books award from the AIGA for one of the best-designed books of the year.
5000 Grand River Offices is an excellent representative of M1DTW’s portfolio. Within the high-bay spaces of the building, the design and placement of two interior volumes create meeting rooms, focus rooms, and phone booths while simultaneously creating service spaces as well as a breakout nomad lounge that overlooks the north courtyard. These enclosed spaces are complemented by other zones conceived of as “soft” lounges. Defined by tall ripstop nylon curtains, these spaces can be reconfigured and redefined based on employee needs.
Neumann/Smith Architecture
1500 Woodward Ave., Suite #300, Detroit, MI 48226
Neumann/Smith Architecture, established in 1968, continues to build on its history of quality artistry with a talented group committed to outstanding service and the highest standards of professional practice. For corporate offices, mixed-use developments, multi-unit housing, parking structures, retail centers, and higher education facilities, the firm specializes in architecture, planning, interior design, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse.
The firm’s Detroit Design Studio, located in the historic Wright-Kay Building, enables its team to better serve current and future local clients in the community while also playing an essential role in the city’s revitalization. Since its establishment, it has earned over two hundred awards under Joel Smith’s direction, including the prestigious AIA Michigan Architecture Firm Award, the 2016 People’s Choice Award from the AIA Detroit Honor Awards, the 2014 Interior Design Building Honor Award from AIA Detroit, and numerous features in the international architectural press.
Microsoft Detroit stands out among the firm’s work. The Technology Center contains three main programmatic components. The customer area has conference rooms of varying sizes and multipurpose rooms for hosting a range of events. The technology area features a maker’s space for developing products; an envisioning center for demonstrating products; an augmented/virtual reality room; an interactive center for engaging with products; and a training room for group sessions. Finally, the employee area includes a tech support counter, conference rooms, and employee work points available to both stationary and mobile staff members.
YAMASAKI, INC
The Fisher Building. 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Suite 222, Detroit, MI 48202
YAMASAKI was founded in 1955 by Minoru Yamasaki on integrity, expertise, and pride. Yamasaki has been recognized in the industry for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. He was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. Yamasaki started and grew his own firm, which is now run by Robert Szantner. YAMASAKI has displayed excellence in improving business productivity through architecture and design. Its vast industry experience spans more than a hundred projects, including a wide range of building types and program requirements.
YAMASAKI is dedicated to producing high-quality design and construction, and its portfolio reflects just that, especially in the commercial sector. The firm is responsible for the full refurbishment of the exterior shell and core of this 1970s four-story building. The project team handled the site and rework of the tenant spaces to create a white box for the retail tenants and a warm shell for the office space in the building.
