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Creating Happy Relationships Between People + Buildings + Environments

1+1+ Architects (1+1+ you) is a full-service, licensed architecture firm based in Detroit, Michigan and led by Laura Marie Peterson. 

We approach every project as the sum of its parts, and believe in thoughtful design that is grounded in the specific needs, resources, and contexts of the communities and clients we collaborate with. We find form in grassroots organizing, sustainable material systems and natural ecosystems, creating research and designs that engage the urgent challenges shaping our built environment today — housing, land use, and climate change.

Laura Marie Peterson - Portrait

Reusing Before Demolishing + Fostering Relationships of Care Over Extraction

Recently completed 1+1+ projects include Dreamtroit, an adaptive reuse affordable housing and mixed use project in the former Lincoln Motor Plant. A flexible pavilion for Coriander Kitchen and Farms in Detroit. A sustainable sushi and James Beard nominated restaurant called Sozai. A new studio space for the Urban Tech program at the University of Michigan. Current projects under construction include an off-the-grid community kitchen and geodesic grow dome for Peace Tree Parks, and an artist studio and residence that creatively uses zoning to create a courtyard residence in Los Angeles.

1+1+ is a co-founder of Detroit Reuse Collective, a workshop-incubator supporting the relationships between people + material reuse in the city of Detroit. 1+1+ received an honorary award for their contribution to Low Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles for promoting innovative models of living together through rethinking zoning. 1+1+ curated the Detroit Month of Design exhibition at 9 Lots and researched and wrote Stewardship as Ownership , an essay that documents the various ways Detroit residents are using land across the city. 1+1+ has also been published in Riverwise, The Architect’s Newspaper, Volume, Archdaily and forthcoming, A+U.

1+1+ is an open-ended equation inviting opportunities big and small. Let’s design a better future together!

Clients

Dreamtroit + Recycle Here!

Peace Tree Parks

Collaborators

1+1+ collaborates with award-winning talent, ensuring that every project receives the attention and expertise it demands.

 

Tahir Karmali, Artist

Other-Fields, Landscape Designer

HD Structural, Structural Engineer

Sarah Peterson, Landscape Designer

Redensify Engineering, Structural Engineer

 

Like a snail, 1+1+ works small and moves slow, always with their feet on the ground.