2002 AIA Michigan Design Honor Award

 THE DETROIT OBSERVATORY
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Jury Comment:
An elegant building respectfully restored in every detail. All the right design decisions with no mistaken intervention.

Project Description:
THE SIGNIFICANCE. Restoration of the Detroit Observatory is the first true restoration project undertaken by the University of Michigan in its institutional history. Upon completion in 1998, the Observatory embarked on a new era as a museum and center for research on 19th Century science, technology and culture. This adaptive use of the historic observatory fulfills an important educational role that benefits not only the University but the entire scientific community nationally.

When built in 1854, high on a hill overlooking the Huron River, the Detroit Observatory was one of the most important scientific laboratories in the United States. Because the building has remained largely unaltered throughout te decades, and its original instruments are still intact and operational, the Detroit Observatory is today considered the most significant mid - 19th century observatory. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this Greek Revival structure with Italianate details is the second oldest building on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus.

THE CHALLENGE: The underlying challenge of the project was to preserve and appropriately interpret a remarkable building resource possessing significant historic character and integrity, while 1) making the building accessible to the public, 2) bringing the building system into compliance with contemporary codes, and 3) creating a functional office for the museum staff.

From the repair of the delicate cotton canvas, wood ribbed dome ceiling-materials, that helped to equalize inner and outer temperatures - to the precision disassembly and reassembly of the 1857 Fitz Refracting Telescope and other historic instruments. The project required meticulous attention to clues from the past in order to understand appropriate treatments for the building's future use and interpretation.

The building's site has dramatically shrunk from its original isolated hilltop surrounded by fields and meadows. Today it is a modest steeply graded campus site amidst a bustling city scape. The building had an accumulation of paint coatings and contemporary finishes and alterations to the interior spaces. During the early 1970s, the observatory sat vacant and suffered minor vandalism and weather-related deterioration. During the 1980s, interest in the preservation of the Observatory from within the University gained momentum with the Ann Arbor preservation community’s growing interest in its preservation. The result was a commitment to its comprehensive preservation and restoration.

THE APPROACH: In 1996, the firm's first step was to conduct a study that described the key episodes of the Observatory's historical development. The study also summarized the firms evaluation of existing conditions of the building and made recommendations for treatments. All of this information served as the basis for the comprehensive restoration that followed.

The Secretary of the Interiors Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties was applied as a guide. Especially sensitive, however, was defining the approach to treatment that would accommodate the public. The concept for reuse restored all of the original Observatory functions in their original locations, except for the West Wing. While a period of significance was identified, the philosophy guiding the project was to avoid peeling back the layers of each successive period and causing dramatic change W the extant building. For example, rather than restore the west wing to its original use as offices and staff living quarters, the current library room was retained and rehabilitated, including now carpet, custom-built furniture, and a concealed projection screen. To restore the exterior appearance of the building, an original west window was reopened and a new window and decorative lintel fabricated to match existing openings.

A SERIES OF OFTEN-INVISIBLE S0LUTIONS: The 3,300-gsf building consists of the main floor, upper floor and dome, plus an additional 1,600 square feet in the basement To address the need for public access, a new ramp up to the first floor level is concealed behind a low wall along the east elevation. This and the new door opening created for barrier-free entry allows preservation of the original front porch and narrow double doorway. Inside, the existing toilet room was enlarged Io meet accessibility requirements and to conceal the floor hatch to the basement

Even the spaces not on the museum tour have been fully restored. The basement for example, received extensive work that restored its structural integrity, in line with the observatory's unique construction requirements. Massive brick piers supporting each telescope and time-piece are independent from the surrounding structure to prevent any vibration from affecting the scientific instrumentation. These piers were re-pointed to match the original masonry.

Exterior work included new sheet metal roofing, reconstruction of the decorative porch balustrade, patching and repainting the original stucco, and restoration of the windows and doors.

CONCLUSION: The overriding project goal to respect the integrity of the original structure influenced each construction detail of the Observatory’s restoration – from the choice of fixtures, materials, colors, and finishing techniques to the type of building system and method of installation. With the enthusiasm of the client in researching the campus historical records impacting the Observatory and the highly skilled university craftsmen and sub-consultant specialists that were brought to the project the firm guided the restoration, holding it lo the highest standards of preservation design excellence.

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