Category Archives: The Latest

It’s a bold statement. We didn’t make it. We probably never would say it, but are so grateful someone else thinks so.

For 15 years Greg Oates has been writing for and about the travel industry. He’s held a number of editorial positions and is currently the executive editor of a magazine specifically targeting the events industry. Greg knows hotels. He also has a personal project called 200 Rooms where he highlights what he thinks are the most interesting small hotels in the world. What a great job!

So you can understand our excitement when a blog posting, urging people to support our Kickstarter campaign, came out with the title 5 Reasons Why Detroit Collision Works is the Most Important Hotel in America. It stopped us dead in our tracks.

His article covers everything from our innovative design and commitment to sustainability to our perspective on Creative Tourism and why it’s the next thing coming down the travel trend pipeline. But most importantly he understands the role that a hotel can make in community place-making, which seems to get lost on a lot of people that are just starting to expect cool bars, decent food, and some art in a hotel. It’s time to expect more.

Greg knows we are way ahead of the curve on this one and has explained it more elegantly than we ever could. Go check it out.

So here it is. Our first ever Kickstarter campaign. People have been telling us to do it for months for the hotel. But it’s too soon for the hotel. Kickstarter is best for immediate, quick projects. And now we’ve got it. If you are on this site you probably already know that Eastern Market has given us land to do a temporary installation of our FIrst Containers to demonstrate and test future offerings for the larger Collision Works boutique hotel and community space being constructed just a few blocks away. It’s a story box!

We want YOU TO BE A PART OF THIS. Go check out the Kickstarter Video 

If you are looking for media info, press release, images, or more about the project go to FIRSTCONTAINER.COM or our Media Page – Thanks!!

While we work on bigger issues of financing Collision Works we are plotting our first demonstration unit pop-up in collaboration with Eastern Market! We will be setting up two units, hopefully by mid spring, to show a mini version of what can happen in the space. Read the rest

We want  to thank everyone for their support through 2012. It’s been an incredible year for Collision Works. Looking back we’ve had a name change, successful community workshops, built an impressive board of advisors, created a sustainable business plan, and now we are so proud to let you know that on Sunday, December 30th, The Detroit Free Press wrote a year-end feature on Collision Works and Shel Kimen. Read the rest

Guess what this is a picture of?

The future home of Collision Works on Division in Eastern Market with 220 feet of frontage on the Dequindre Cut! Jogging and biking from our front door all the way to the river! We are on a little hill, so you will be able to see downtown from the second floor! Yesterday we picked up our OFFER TO PURCHASE LETTER. We are buying land from the City of Detroit. There are still a series of due diligence steps we need to go through, but here we go everyone.  Read the rest

We are excited to share with you some early work from KOOP, the architects. We’ve uploaded four schematic drawings to our facebook page and we are pretty excited to see it actually taking shape. They can look a bit daunting in all black and white, stark modern. Fret not. These are just to help map out the actual structure of the building and lack finishes, colors, furniture, and all the arty what-not. Read the rest

Shel will be speaking on the Rogue/HAA panel Friday, September 21st, 6pm at the Mies Storefront in Lafayette Park as part of the Detroit Design Festival. There will also be work in the exhibition from Collision Works and KOOP AM. Come see us!

There is so much happening this week in Detroit – so much good stuff! World’s longest hopscotch! Anecdoted City at Salt & Cedar! Eastern Market After Dark! Take advantage of some of the great programming DC3 and partners put together.

Here is some additional info on the Rogue Panel:

The expansion of digital information and compression of time have affected all design practices. Our society desires instantaneous results, often impairing the design process and product. As Architecture lags behind design fields that can more easily streamline their methods, will The Architect’s role be increasingly minimized? How can Architecture infiltrate current informationally-driven social conditions? Are we on the precipice of an archiCULTURAL SHIFT? The archiCULTURAL SHIFT exhibition and panel discussion seek to address these issues.

Craig Borum
Founding Prinicipal, PLY Architecture

Stephen Zacks
Producer + Artistic Director, Flint Public Art Project

Scott Griffin
Nonopoly

Hayley Bierkle
Kaleidico

David Carleton
Partner + Executive Producer, Mindfield

Fernando Prieto
President, Doodle Home

Shel Kimen
Collision Works

More information is on the Detroit Design Festival website.