Michigan was the destination of modern designers and architects throughout the mid-20th century.

Attracted by the state’s thriving post war economy, they found here a place where creativity was celebrated and ideas could actually be put into production.  For them, Modern design symbolized the future and expressed the optimism of the era.  Michigan’s design legacy ranges from natives like Alden Dow and Ralph Rapson to European artists seeking refuge during World War II like Louis Redstone or Ruth Adler Schnee to imaginative minds seeking challenge and creative freedom like Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen and Minoru Yamasaki to those like Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who simply passed through leaving their imprint on an unexpected place. To learn more about these and other designers click over to MichiganModern.org’s database of Michigan’s modern architects, designers, and firms.