Places: Southfield

The College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) carries out its core teaching and administrative functions on the 115-acre Southfield campus of Lawrence Technological University in two attached buildings, the Architecture Building and the University Technology and Learning Center (UTLC).

The Architecture Building, designed by founding Dean Earl Pellerin FAIA, was built in 1962 and originally housed the College of Architecture and the University Library. At that time, the College of Architecture space needs were satisfied by one large open studio. The building also housed, as it does today, classrooms for general instruction and faculty offices. The former library wing is now studio space, used principally to support CoAD programs in transportation design and product design. The Architecture Building also houses the Brick Gallery, the Dean’s Office and the associated series of administrative offices for the College of Architecture and Design.

The University Technology and Learning Complex (UTLC), the largest academic building the University has ever constructed, provides state-of-the-art learning facilities and a monumental "front door" breezeway entrance for the campus. The UTLC was designed by the noted architecture firm, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, and was completed in 2000. The UTLC provides design studio spaces filled with daylight, dedicated critique and seminar rooms, classroom spaces, a student lounge, the materialLAB, a lighting lab, the printLAB, which provides printing services for students at a reduced cost, the newly expanded buildLAB, LEVEL Gallery, and the 16:9 Gallery, a digital gallery space that attracts artists from around the world.

As with other design academies, CoAD facilities focus on the studio environment and curriculum as the center of the program and community. The college’s support for a strong studio culture—students and faculty actively engaged in learning, together--has had a profound impact on the physical environment of all CoAD facilities on the Southfield campus, as well as the College’s venues in Detroit and abroad.

Other noteworthy buildings on campus include the recently completed A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Life Sciences, and Architecture Complex (TELSA). Designed by internationally recognized architect, and 2013 AIA Gold Medalist, Thom Mayne FAIA and his firm, Morphosis Architects, the new building supports interdisciplinary cooperation between LTU’s College of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Architecture and Design. LTU’s newest dorm designed by noted architecture firm in-Form, will be completed in the fall of 2018.