Detroit-based Albert Kahn Associates Inc., an architecture and engineering firm named for the world-renowned architect and firm founder Albert Kahn, is celebrating its 125th anniversary.
Kahn, whose family moved to Detroit from Germany when he was 11 years old, started his firm in Detroit in 1895. Since then, the firm has completed 45,000 projects across metro Detroit and worldwide. Its recent projects include the Ford Motor Co. Driving Dynamics Lab in Dearborn, the Polk Penguin Conservation Center at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, and the president’s office and Wilson Hall renovation at Oakland University in Rochester.
The firm has designed industrial and automotive facilities, research and testing spaces, educational buildings, health care buildings, office campuses, and urban waterfront and development projects.
“Our overarching goal for the future is to provide the highest quality service, guided by the Kahn values — integrity, professionalism, respect, pride, and passion,” says Alan Cobb, president and CEO of the firm.
In collaboration with Design Core Detroit and the Month of Design, the firm launched its anniversary celebration with an Albert Kahn interactive map that allows users to create personalized tours of Kahn buildings in Detroit and around the world. It is available here.
“Our tremendous people bring innovation to every project,” Cobb says. “Our legacy is about quality, focusing on speed to market because our design teams understand that time is money for our clients.”
Local projects underway include work for Henry Ford Health Systems campuses, the Detroit Riverfront, and ongoing renovations on the Detroit Opera House. Another upcoming project will be the renovation of the historic Detroit Creamery Building for Olympia Development, which is an original Albert Kahn building.
