Yesterday,
a group of STEM students ventured out to Detroit to visit SmithGroup JJR, an
architectural and engineering firm specializing in commercial spaces. The firm
is located in the Guardian Building, which is a historic building in the
financial district of Detroit. The Guardian Building was built in the 1920‘s by
Smith, Hinchman & Grills, of which today is known as SmithGroup JJR. It now
serves as their core firm, however they have campuses all over the United
States and now China. SmithGroup JJR takes up three floors of the building,
however the offices are in direct contrast of the historic building in
inhabits. Their inside space reflects the modern firm that SmithGroup JJR has
become, where now they take on innovative projects all over the world. They are
also able to offer their clients all trades associated with a build, including
architecture, structural engineering, electrical engineering, interior design,
lighting design, and more. This has really made them a full service firm, and
one of the more competitive companies in the Detroit area and all over the
country.
Being a large scale firm, they are equipped with the
best electronics in order to design and presents their ideas. We were able to
see their printing room, where they are able to create large scale blueprints,
as well as a 3D printer for modeling. The whole process to create a 3D model
was said to take six hours, but was still far faster than the traditional
method of cutting pieces by hand. They also have the highest quality computer design
programs, with renderings of stunning quality.
Because SmithGroup JJR is a firm that is so prevalent
in the Detroit area, they have had their due influence in a variety of
different popular buildings in the area. When we visited, we were able to see
in their office just a small impact of their designers, where the firm
displayed a 3D blueprint of the city of Detroit on the wall. The numerable
buildings present that were colored in black represented the properties that
SmithGroup JJR has renovated or built. Popular sites such as Ford Field, Joe
Lewis Arena, Comerica Park, The Detroit YMCA, and more were prominently
displayed, as well as the Guardian Building of which they inhabit. There are
other popular buildings in the area that the firm has taken part of, for
example the tunnel between the two terminals at the Detroit Airport, where
SmithGroup’s lighting designers played a huge role in its creation. Also closer
to home, SmithGroup will be doing a full remodel on both the 555 buildings in
downtown Birmingham, bringing new life to a tired space.
The majority of SmithGroup’s projects, however, are at
universities. One of their biggest clients is University of Michigan, where
since its creation SmithGroup JJR has been helping them with their growth architecturally.
Other clients include Michigan State, Western Michigan, Oakland University, and
Madonna University. Within these universities, Smith Group JJR has built a
reputation of designing spaces for large research facilities. They are able to
make buildings large enough for these major universities to conduct their large
scale research projects.
All together, the visit to SmithGroup JJR was
enlightening. It was great to see the processes that go into these amazing
buildings around Detroit, and how a large scale firm is able to run. I
personally look forward to pursing a career in architecture, and hope to work
in a firm very similar to this one.
