McIntosh Poris Associates

Identity

McIntosh Poris Associates is a full-service architecture, interiors, planning and urban design firm, founded in 1994 by Douglas McIntosh and Michael Poris, AIA. The firm's goal is to transform buildings, communities, and urban centers with architecture created through vision and dialogue.

History

Since its inception, McIntosh Poris Associates has been designing award-winning projects for residential, commercial and institutional clients. Well known for its collaborative approach, McIntosh Poris works closely throughout the planning and design process with clients, consultants, contractors, and regional and local government officials. Developing and engaging in dialogue with the project stakeholders is--to McIntosh Poris Associates—the best way to craft architecture relevant to the communities, cities, and people who inhabit them.

Approach

McIntosh Poris Associate's approach to design is one of collaboration. We bring no pre-conceived ideas to a project. The design evolves through the dialogues we have with the building's owners and stakeholders, so the design solution responds specifically to the clients' needs. Oftentimes, the community's needs are not clear at the outset. The design goes through many stages of adjustment and refinement, always tested against the needs and aspirations of the stakeholders. Through this back-and-forth, we reach a heightened understanding of the role the building will have in the lives of its constituents. Our office thrives on the challenge of transforming a building, site and context through the interaction and dialogue we have with all concerned parties. It allows the end result to become greater, more complex, and more specific than if it had been designed by the architects alone. The dialogue pushes us to creatively respond with an architecture that not only transforms spaces, buildings and their contexts, but also the individuals and community that will interact with it for years to come.

Recognition

In addition to being widely published locally, nationally and internationally, the firm's work has received 10 American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, 34 Detroit Home design awards, a Masonry Institute of Michigan award, a National Trust for Historic Preservation award, a Michigan Historic Network Preservation award, and a Michigan Governor's Arts award. In 2008, the readers of Detroit Home magazine named Michael Poris Best Architect in Metro Detroit.

Featured projects: "Slatcher Residence", "Grinnell Loft"

Address: 36801 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, Michigan, United States, 48009
Phone: 248-258-9346
Fax: 248-258-0967
Website: http://www.mcintoshporis.com/

See all photos in project: Grinnell Loft
Architect: McIntosh Poris Associates
Photography: Kevin Bauman Photography