Detroit is a polarizing border city—its history is cemented in the birth-place of the automotive industry, the assembly line, muscle cars, sports championships, Motown, Punk Rock, and Techno. However, it is also known for the polarizing racial divide, the decline of the American auto industry, and and home to several years of troubled sports teams. We believe, it is these key moments in which the true Detroit spirit is revealed—in the spaces between and the transitions from high to low and back to high again with a steadfast resiliency that is unbroken. It is these transitions, connections, bridges that we chose to highlight to celebrate the city’s resurgence as a pioneering city. The space in between is what drives the formation of this complex. The bridges connect the towers horizontally while stacked voids in the massing connect the bridges vertically. These connections provide areas for engagement with the environment for gatherings big and small, public and private, all determined by the environmental and biological factors that drive this engagement. In an era of a global pandemic these communal spaces can be isolated to the occupants of that floor, while in an opposing era of social engagement these elements can be used to celebrate interaction and diversity of people and program in this true mixed-use facility that emulates the cities past, present, and future and all the transitions in between that make it uniquely Detroit.

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Project Type: Mixed Use

Project Size: 1,424,000 SF - 203 Units