SCI Superstar: Michael Graves

By Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer

You may have heard of Michael Graves, especially if you appreciate architecture or shopped at Target for kitchen gadgets in the early 2000s. A man who was paralyzed for 11 years when he was injured at 69, for his entire life professional prior he designed memorable buildings and then he moved onto high-style health products. He also taught design at Princeton along the way. Michael’s goal in architecture was about making functional things more beautiful. 

He was the mind behind hundreds of stunning buildings all around world, including Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California. Michael was a powerhouse architect beginning in the 1980s and continued designing until the day of his death. And health setbacks never turned off Michael’s desire to design; it only fueled it.

His disability inspired him to start thinking about redesigning everything in the healthcare world. From patient rooms to wheelchairs, he made them beautiful. Read on for the backstory of one of America’s greatest architects, Michael Graves.

Why He Was Fearless

Growing up in Indiana, Michael loved to draw; so much so that after high school, he went on to get his bachelor’s in drawing. After receiving his BA, he went to Harvard to get his masters degree in architecture.

Michael also went to art school in Italy to further foster his love of drawing, and drawing remained one of his favorite activities his entire life. The architect and art school student with natural talent eventually graduated, and he went to work right away.

Michael founded his architecture firm in 1964, Graves & Associates, and he soon began designing many of the now iconic buildings he is known for; nearly 300 in total and all different types from business headquarters and hotels to government buildings and individual residences. Trophy buildings if you will that have been lauded by presidents, including President Clinton who gave him the National Medal of Arts in 2001.

The buildings Graves and his design team can be credited for are vast. Here’s just a sampling: The Swan and Dolphin resorts in Walt Disney World, the Denver Public Library, the Tajima Office Building in Tokyo, Japan, the Crown American Building in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the Engineering Center for the University of Cincinnati, the scaffolding for the renovation of the Washington monument, the Miramar Resort in Egypt and the Impala building in NYC.

Michael also dabbled in product design before the onset of his disability, designing watches as well as high-style kitchen gadgets for JC Penney, Alessi and Target, with a sleek teapot with a bird near the spout for JC Penney, driving in record sales. His teapot remains one of his favorite designs.

Sadly, a mysterious sinus infection in 2003 changed Michael world. Doctors never discovered the actual virus that caused his paralysis, and it did try to reoccur and make Michael further paralyzed. Fortunately, doctors at the Miami Project were able to stop the infection and preserve his movement from the waist up.

What Happened Next?

Realizing the disability he now had was permanent, Michael began to cast a critical eye on everything he was encountering in the healthcare world in regards to design (and absolutely hating the “lazy” Velcro solution). From the patient’s room and wheelchairs to gadgets, it’s “unnecessarily ugly,” he said. Michael wanted to redesign it all.

In 2009, he teamed up with Styker, a wheelchair and medical product manufacturer, to redesign many of their products such as bedside and overbed tables. And in 2014, one of his last products was a redesigned patient transport chair, the Styker Prime TC, and he gave it a one-time central brake, more ergonomic push handles and swing away footrests. See his designs

Universal design is another area Michael put his creative energies into and he worked with the Wounded Warriors Home Project to develop three amazing accessible homes for injured veterans in Ft. Belvoir, VA. He was focused on creating completely realistic design that was functional.

Sadly, Michael passed away at the age of 80 at his home in Princeton, New Jersey in 2015. The world is a more beautiful place because of Michael Graves however; that is without question, and we can’t thank Michael enough for the stunning visions he turned into masterpieces.

– Visit his company: MichaelGraves.com

– Listen to NPR’s tribute to Michael Graves