An interview with: John Enkemann Jr, AIA Chief Operating Officer, The Albert Kahn Family of Companies

Alexander J. Drukas By Alexander J. Drukas Michigan Business Review
on March 27, 2008 at 2:18 AM, updated March 27, 2008 at 2:24 AM
Ever wonder who writes those questions on the professional exams needed for licensure? Local professionals like John Enkemann, who was appointed assistant chair of the Architectural Registration Examination Committee for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. He will assist in overseeing the writing of the ARE exam, which is required in the U.S. and Canada to become a licensed architect.

What kind of questions do you write for the exam?

NCARB seeks architects to bring practice-based story problems to the examination. They want to provide real-world examples from practicing architects to ensure the exam conveys that what is being taught in school is what is required by architects.

The exam reflects current trends; for example, the keen interest in "green" architecture recently.

What appeals to you about writing exam questions?

It is probably the most direct contribution to the profession I could ever make.

What are top issues in the state regarding architecture?

The builders have a very strong lobbying group and were successful in permitting larger single-family residential building to be designed without the need of architects. They can now pretty much get close to building a 7,000-square-foot house and not have an architect do any design work. That's pretty risky if you ask me. Now we're finding interior designers are putting forth an effort to allow them to practice, and that is a very broad and wide definition of what they are capable of designing.

What are the key skills of an architect?

Today, architects tend to be facilitators of the design process. You need to be able to combine the technological and engineering side with the more artistic side and communicate back to the client who is trained in neither. We dabble in land costs, financing, engineering, statistics, city planning.

Your company has a long history designing for the automotive industry. How is that business?

Yes, we have had a hundred-year relationship with Ford, GM and Chrysler. We built the Model T plant in Highland Park and the old Packard plant on Grand Boulevard. More recently, we built the Nissan plant in Tennessee and the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala. We do a lot of smaller retooling projects as well.

Ford, GM and Chrysler have a strong real estate legacy and have more than enough capacity in their current plants to handle the volume they predict for the future. When Ford decides to close a big plant like Wixom it leaves them with significant capacity. If Ford wants to get it off their hooks they need to be creative about how they adapt that building. Unless you are a company building another brand, these plants are not very attractive.

It would be good if you could break up a large plant into pieces where you lease a portion to a small tool-and-die company or an over-the-road transport company. That is the future trend.

Where is the local work now?

A lot of our activity is in health care. Our largest project is Henry Ford Health Systems, both the West Bloomfield campus as well as Henry Ford in Macomb County. We also just completed the Lear Corp. headquarters on Telegraph at Nine Mile.

Laura Blodgett is a freelance writer.