Valerio's Kresge Foundation Called Detroit's 2006 Best New Building

Although they never seem to let him call himself that (currently he's bylined as the paper's "Development Writer") John Gallagher is the Detroit Free Press's architecture critic, and in his year end wrap-up, he singles out The Kresge Foundation's new headquarters in Big Beaver, Michigan, designed by Valerio Dewalt Train, as the metro area's "best new building of 2006 . . . an environmentally sensitive, beautifully detailed example . . . of a thoughtful modernism enlivening its landscape. No longer is the Detroit landscape bound to the brick-and-stone historical styles that produced winners in the distant past but seem out of step with vibrant new design ideas."

Gallagher was upbeat about current trends in the Motor City's architecture, also praising Teng & Associates Mexicantown International Welcome Center and Mercado, which ditches kitschy faux Baroque for a modern design that still carries the spirit of traditional Mexican architecture. Both of these projects were also winners of AIA Chicago 2006 Design Awards.