Christian Unverzagt

Christian Unverzagt is a professor of practice in architecture at Taubman College. He is the founding principal of M1DTW Architects, a nationally recognized architecture and creative studio working to reshape practice. His work centers on adaptive reuse and projects that range from commercial spaces to residential work, and from interiors to ground-up buildings. Select clients include Floyd, Signal-Return, Library Street Collective, 6 Salon, InsideOut Literary Arts, Eastern Market Corporation, and Samsung.

M1DTW has been recognized with numerous awards, including over a dozen honor awards from AIA Michigan and AIA Detroit, a NAHA for Best Salon Design in North America, and a “50 Books/50 Covers” award from the AIGA for one of the best-designed books of the year. The firm was recognized in 2023 with a Best of Practice Award from The Architect’s Newspaper in the Small Firm (Midwest) category for its project portfolio and Notes on a Practice.

The work has also been widely published in outlets including Dezeen, Wallpaper*, Fast Company, The Architect’s Newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Record, and Azure Magazine.

Professor Unverzagt teaches graduate design studio at Taubman College, is the faculty advisor for Dimensions, the student-produced journal of architecture at Michigan, and has directed the Dimensions workshop (ARCH 466) each year since 2003. 

A long-time resident of Lafayette Park, Detroit, he is an active community member, establishing MiesDetroit.org to steward the neighborhood’s design legacy while fostering awareness and discussion of its contemporary condition.

Professor Unverzagt received his Master of Architecture degree with distinction from SCI-Arc in Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan. He also studied at the California Institute of the Arts and The Bartlett, University College London.