I posted this over at
SSC. Not new development, but worth sharing:
Another building that was sadly lost, and a great example of mid-century modern Architecture in the Kalamazoo area (and in my humble opinion, anywhere in the world) was the Upjohn Company's Headquarters / Building 88. It was designed by SOM, with Sasaki Associates doing the landscape design. Construction began in 1959 and it opened in 1961. It was 300,000 SF across 2 stories, and housed over 500 administrative employees at its peak. It was tragically demolished by Pfizer, the Pharmaceutical giant of a company that bought out Upjohn, in 2007, claiming it was expensive to maintain and no longer necessary to the operations of the company. It had many innovative features, including 9 separate courtyard spaces, all uniquely landscaped, escalators that turned on automatically when you approached them, underground VIP parking with all marble finishes...
Some design renderings, by SOM:
Source:
Upjohn.net
Source:
Upjohn.net
Site plan, by Sasaki:
Source:
sasaki.com
Under construction - you can see the pyramid ceiling which is integrated with the structure. Over 4,000 pyramids comprised the finished ceilings:
Source:
Upjohn.net
Source:
Upjohn.net
Under construction - concrete wall with stone finish:
Source:
Upjohn.net
Under construction - in the main courtyard:
Source:
Upjohn.net
Under construction - nearing completion:
Source:
Upjohn.net
Sasaki STILL has amazing photographs (by Ezra Stoller) of this building on their website:
Main courtyard, after completion:
Source:
sasaki.com
Looking west across pond towards the main production facilities (across Portage Road from the HQ):
Source:
sasaki.com
Looking the other way, towards the front of the building:
Source:
sasaki.com
Here's some more completed photos, all found on
Upjohn.net:
View from front carport entry, with all-marble finishes:
Board Room:
Conference / meeting room:
Workspace view and servery scene:
General dining room:
Executive dining room:
An executive's office:
Employee Rec room:
Small courtyard, by night:
Another small courtyard view:
Walt Disney was friends with Don Gilmore, former president of Upjohn. He would show up occasionally on the site:
Source:
findingwalt.com
Aerial view in 2006, shortly before demolition in 2007:
Source:
findingwalt.com"]findingwalt.com
Photos from right before / during demolition activies:
Source:
Dusty Sexton | flikr.com
Source:
Dusty Sexton | flikr.com
Source:
Dusty Sexton | flikr.com
Today, it's all just an empty, grassy field.
Anyway, hope that was interesting for you. If there's one building that I could bring back from the dead in Kalamazoo / Portage, this would be it. There are plenty more photos, news articles, etc. on
Memories of the Upjohn Company (
Upjohn.net), if anyone is interested.