Ken dedicated his life to design excellence.  He was a gifted architect ... passionate, knowledgeable, extraordinarily creative and prolific.   When it came to design, he could be tough as nails.  If it had his name on it, it had to be right.  Random color meant random color.  If it wasn’t really random, it was gone and done again, and if need be, again.  And every building had to have special "people places."     

 

He  gave generously of his time for the advancement of the profession and he was always teaching.  He talked about "big ideas" and how to use color, shape, pattern, texture and contrast to express them.  He showed us how details make a difference.   And he taught us how to think on our feet when our first idea wasn't what the client had in mind.  Ken would say "Let me show you an equally beautifully design" and right in front of our eyes, he would take out the tracing paper and redraw the plan, upside down so the client could watch.

 

Ken was also uncommonly kind and fun.  When you were talking to him in a crowd he made you fell like you were really the only person in the room.  He was surprisingly modest, too.  You never even knew that he got his graduate architectural degree from Harvard unless you looked at the small print in the middle of his curriculum vitae, or that he was the recipient of the AIA Detroit Gold Medal, the AIA Michigan Gold Medal, the Martin Luther King Social Justice Award from Ferris State University and the AIA Detroit Blessing Award.

 

Neumann/Smith continues to build on Ken's legacy of design excellence under the leadership of the talented group of designers who worked closely with him over many years and share his passion for architecture.

 

The Ken Neumann Award for Excellence in Design has been established in honor of Ken Neumann, FAIA (1939-2007) to provide scholarships for graduate architecture students from the University of Michigan, University of Detroit/Mercy and Lawrence Technological University schools of architecture.

 

Francis Wilmore is the recipient of the first Ken Neumann Award for Excellence in Design.

 

Contributions in any amount can be made at any time, payable  to the
Michigan Architectural Foundation (MAF), the fund administrator.  Checks should specifically reference the Ken Neumann Award for Excellence in Design.

 

Contributions can be mailed to the Michigan Architectural Foundation or to Neumann/Smith Architecture:

 

Michigan Architectural Foundation

553 East Jefferson Avenue

Detroit, Michigan  48226

 

Neumann/Smith Architecture

400 Galleria Officentre

Suite 555

Southfield, Michigan  48034

 

KEN NEUMANN AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN