SmithGroup Detroit Office

SmithGroup’s renovation and consolidation of its Detroit office and global headquarters reflect the firm’s legacy in the city, while creating a modern living laboratory for agile workplace design. The project has received the 2025 Livable Building Award, which is conferred annually by UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment for projects that showcase excellence in architectural design, sustainability and livability as measured by the CBE Occupant Survey. For SmithGroup, a regular user of the survey, the results show occupant satisfaction in the Detroit office to be among the highest of all projects surveyed in 2024. This is consistent across all aspects of indoor environmental quality that are covered in the survey, with 7 of the 9 categories ranking above the 80th percentile, compared to all 2024 results.

The office occupies a unique and fitting location in Detroit, where the firm has operated since 1855, in the iconic art-deco Guardian Building, designed by the firm (named Smith Hinchman & Grylls until 2000) in the late 1920s when Detroit was a growing and prosperous industrial and commercial hub. SmithGroup has occupied the building since 1999. The recent renovation consolidated four office floors into three, with exposed ceilings and ample access to natural light. (The team used new structural analysis software to prove the concrete floor system meets current fire safety standards.)

The office is divided into zones offering varied work environments from individual workstations to social collaboration areas, allowing employees to select a preferred space to suit their current needs and activities. These zones are delineated by screens that reference stylized aspects of noteworthy SmithGroup buildings. The team also implemented many design concepts, technologies and furnishings that represent best practices learned from SmithGroup client work.

A key feature is a communicating stair that connects the two main floors, intended to promote physical movement and social interaction. Liz Vandermark, SmithGroup’s senior principal and director of research, confirms the benefit of the stair: “Having worked there without that stair, I can say that its insertion radically improved the sense of community in the office.” She also notes that Detroit was one of the first offices to adopt an activity-based work design, and that the “data shows that staff continue to appreciate the flexibility that it affords them.” She also notes that since the Detroit office redesign, all of the firm’s offices have adopted this approach, and that they are applying lessons learned as the understanding of this model continues to evolve, “thanks in part to data collected from staff using the CBE’s WELL survey instrument.”

This focus on employee experience and well-being was further demonstrated when Detroit became the first of the firm’s offices to earn WELL Gold Certification from the International WELL Building Institute. The project team created a WELL Feature Guide to help office users understand the design concepts and improved operations that contribute to occupant satisfaction. The office is also LEED Gold certified.

Chris Heine, a principal and sustainability strategist with SmithGroup who is located in the Detroit office, explains that the design process took advantage of feedback mechanisms to inform decisions and be responsive to the evolving needs of individuals and teams. He notes that the results are positive: “Energized by the ongoing adoption and evolution of hybrid work, the workplace has remained agile, continuing to support diverse and shifting requirements while serving as a living, learning lab.”

Learn more about the project with these links:

• SmithGroup project description
• SmithGroup location page
• Detroit Office Snapshots

Photography by Jason Robinson