IN THE NEWS: Unverzagt, M1DTW featured in Wall Street Journal article about ‘Backyard House’
M1DTW, a Detroit-based architecture firm founded by Taubman College’s Christian Unverzagt, was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal for its work on a custom home built for a retired Michigan couple in the backyard of their old house.
Susan and Dr. Bill Conway, of Birmingham, spent a year looking for a house that better suited them in retirement before deciding to take advantage of the fact that the property of the home they moved into in the 1980s had been divided into two lots, each with its own street frontage, as a result of a nearby development project in the 1990s. Working with Unverzagt, associate professor of practice in architecture, B.S. ’94; their daughter, Kerry Conway, senior designer at M1DTW, M.Arch ’16; and Thomas Affeldt, a principal at M1DTW, M.Arch ’11, the Conways built their new, 3,700-square-foot home, “Backyard House,” on the lot directly behind their old house. Then they sold their old house as the project wrapped up in 2022.
The $2.2 million home took about three years to complete and features a stone-and-gray-blue board-and-batten exterior that sets it apart from the traditional brick houses around it. Inside, wide-plank white-oak floors and intricate woodwork recall the old house in a modern way. The Journal writes, “A primary goal for their new home was to create an age-in-place structure, with minimum thresholds, that didn’t have a ‘shut-in’ feel, said Christian Unverzagt, a founder of M1DTW Architects, which designed the project. As such, there are lots of windows and skylights to let in light and views.”
Read the full article ‘Yes In My Backyard’ at the Wall Street Journal’s website. (Registration or a paid subscription may be required for full access.)
Photo by Diana Paulson
