He is one of the nation's most prominent and celebrated architects. He’s designed everything from hotels for Disney to civic buildings, such as the municipal center in Portland, Ore.
In the late 1970s, he entered the world of industrial design after an invitation from Italian company Alessi to design a coffee and tea set. In 1984, his kettle design for Alessi became a hit, and until this day remains the company’s number one bestseller. In the late 1990s he started designing everyday items for Target, which made him even more of a household name.
In sum, his signature style was ubiquitous, and he was heralded for bringing sophisticated design to the masses.
If anything, the mysterious virus he contracted in 2003 that led him to paralysis from the chest down was a catalyst that pushed him to have an even wider design focus.
He recently sat with Barbara Sadick of the Washington Post to talk about working as a full-time architect as he lives in a wheelchair.
“I believe well-designed places and objects can actually improve healing, while poor design can inhibit it,” he told the Post. “This became very real to me after my illness, so since then I’ve asked my design team to spend a week in a wheelchair.”
Graves further shares that good design for the ill and disabled isn’t just about accessibility, but also beauty. “Beauty can reduce stress and make us feel better,” he said, and adding that good design makes work easier for the caregivers, professional, or family.
To date, Graves keeps busy with multiple projects, many of them related to designing healthcare buildings, where Graves can use his expertise and personal experience to good use. Among these are a rehabilitation hospital in Lincoln, Neb., for people with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, and a new unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital that offers acute care for the elderly.
In industrial design, Graves is working with a health technology firm to design hospital room products that, as the Post describes, “will be not only easier for those with disabilities to use, making falls less likely, but also more attractive than what is found in many hospital and rehab rooms and much easier to clean.”
All of these projects, of course, will have Graves’ signature, whimsical, post-modern look and use of bright colors.
“Who wants to recover,” he tells the Post, “in a place where everything is beige?”
Read the full Washington Post profile.Â
Â
Â
The Wounded Warriors Home project in Fort Belvoir, Va., designed by Graves in partnership with Clark Realty Capital.
Prime Transport Chair for Srtyker Medical. Image courtesy of michaelgraves.com
Related Stories
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Apr 2, 2013
4 hospital lobbies provide a healthy perspective
A carefully considered entry zone can put patients at ease while sending a powerful branding message for your healthcare client. Our experts show how to do it through four project case studies.
| Apr 2, 2013
Green building consultant explores the truth about green building performance in new book
A new book from leading sustainability, green building author and expert Jerry Yudelson challenges assumptions about the value of sustainable design and environmentally-friendly buildings.
| Mar 29, 2013
Stanford researchers develop nanophotonic panel that reflects sun's heat out of the atmosphere
Researchers at Stanford University have developed a nanophotonic material that not only reflects sunlight, but actually beams the thermal energy out of the earth's atmosphere.
| Mar 29, 2013
Detroit's historic Whitney Building to be renovated for hotel, apartments
Detroit's David Whitney Building, a 19-story landmark erected in 1915, will be renovated for an Aloft hotel and apartments.
| Mar 29, 2013
PBS broadcast to highlight '10 Buildings That Changed America'
WTTW Chicago, in partnership with the Society of Architectural Historians, has produced "10 Builidngs That Changed America," a TV show set to air May 12 on PBS.
| Mar 29, 2013
Shenzhen projects halted as Chinese officials find substandard concrete
Construction on multiple projects in Guangdong Province—including the 660-m Ping'an Finance Center—has been halted after inspectors in Shenzhen, China, have found at least 15 local plants producing concrete with unprocessed sea sand, which undermines building stabity.
| Mar 29, 2013
Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee joins Clark Nexsen
Clark Nexsen, PC, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., has announced that the architecture firm Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee (PBC+L) of Raleigh and Asheville, NC, has officially joined Clark Nexsen.
| Mar 29, 2013
Cuningham Group acquires NTD's healthcare practice, expands into key markets
The international design firm Cuningham Group Architecture, Inc. has announced that NTD Healthcare has the joined the company in a strategic expansion. A practice of NTD Architecture, NTD Healthcare joins Cuningham Group with three principals: Wayne Hunter, AIA, NCARB, ACHA and Phillip T. Soule, III, AIA, ACHA in San Diego, along with Maha Abou-Haidar, AIA in Phoenix.
| Mar 27, 2013
Small but mighty: Berkeley public library’s net-zero gem
The Building Team for Berkeley, Calif.’s new 9,500-sf West Branch library aims to achieve net-zero—and possibly net-positive—energy performance with the help of clever passive design techniques.