ACTIVE RUIN ADAPTIVE CONTINUOUS USE IN DETROIT
JAMES MACMILLAN
I would like to acknowledge my parents, Richard and Laura MacMillan. Thank you for giving me and my sisters the opportunity to pursue our passions. This thesis is dedicated to the people of Detroit. Your story is fascinating, and I believe in your future.
TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF IMAGES
1
ABSTRACT
6
CHAPTER 1
LIFE AND TIME AS UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS
10
CHAPTER 2
A BUILDING IS A LIVING, CHANGING ENTITY
16
CHAPTER 3
BIG BEN VS. BIG BOX
22
CHAPTER 4
ENGAGE THE USER
28
CHAPTER 5
THE PRINCIPLES OF ADAPTIVE CONTINUOUS USE
30
CHAPTER 6
THE MOTOR CITY
50
CHAPTER 7
A TEST GROUND FOR ADAPTIVE CONTINUOUS USE
56
CHAPTER 8
SITE CONTEXT
60
CHAPTER 9
ACTIVE RUIN
66
CHAPTER 10
DEVELOPING THE ARTIFACT
72
CHAPTER 11
A CANVAS FOR ADAPTATION
78
CONCLUSION
106
BIBLIOGRAPHY
110
LIST OF IMAGES ABSTRACT A.1: The Detroit Schools Book Depository Warehouse. Diagram by Author A.2: The Detroit Schools Book Depository Warehouse. Photo By Andrew Moore
CHAPTER 1 1.1: Diagram By Author 1.2: Diagram By Author 1.3: Photo by Andrew Moore. 1.4: Image of a menhir - http://thorero.deviantart.com/art/Menhir-152144638 1.5: Gear piece from the Clock of the Long Now - www.longnow.org/chimes 1.6: Sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy (From Time by Andy Goldsworthy) 1.7: Sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy (From Time by Andy Goldsworthy)
CHAPTER 2 2.1: Photo by Scott Hocking 2.2: Sketch by Author 2.3: The interior of St. Laurent at Nogent-Sur-Seine (From Buildings in Time by Marvin Trachtenberg) 2.4: Exterior of St. Laurent at Nogent-Sur-Seine (From Buildings in Time by Marvin Trachtenberg) 2.5: Image of Michigan Theater - http://interactive.wxxi.org/highlights/2010/01/blueprint-america-%E2%80%9Cbeyond-motor-city%E2%80%9D 2.6: Image of Michigan Theater - Photo by Andrew Moore
CHAPTER 3 3.1: Photos by Brian Ulrich, Retail Series 3.2: Photos by Brian Ulrich, Retail Series 3.3: Photos by Brian Ulrich, Retail Series 3.4: Image of the Madison Theater - www.forgottendetroit.com 3.5: Image of the Madison Theater - www.forgottendetroit.com 3.6: Image of the Madison Theater - www.forgottendetroit.com 3.7: Image of Big Ben - www.flickr.com, Photo by Mike Fleming 3.8: Photo by Brian Ulrich from Dark Stores Series - http://places.designobserver.com/feature/is-this-place-great-or-what 3.9: Photo by Brian Ulrich from Dark Stores Series - http://places.designobserver.com/feature/is-this-place-great-or-what 3.10: Images of Vintage Airstream trailer - http://www.vintageairstreamer.com/ 3.11: Images of Vintage Airstream trailer - http://www.poetichome.com/2008/08/18/vintage-airstreams-re-purposed-into-creative-spaces/
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LIST OF IMAGES CHAPTER 4 4.1: Diagram by Author 4.2: Photo by Author
CHAPTER 5 5.1: Diagram By Author 5.2: Photo Collage by Author. Photos by Dustin Brugmann 5.3: Diagram By Author 5.4: Diagram By Author 5.5: Image of the Baths of Caracalla - SCAD Digital Image Database - http://did.scad.edu/subject_detail.php?s_code=scad-2665&s_file=scad-2665-33169_05D_001-288.jpg 5.6: Image of Penn Station - SCAD Digital Image Database - http://did.scad.edu/subject_detail.php?s_code=scad-8590&s_file=scad-8590-17174_05D_025-212.jpg 5.7: Image of Packard Plant in Detroit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Abandoned_Packard_Automobile_Factory_Detroit_200.jpg 5.8: Photo by Dustin Brugmann 5.9: Photo of Michigan Avenue in Detroit - http://www.panoramio.com/photo/16274450 5.10: Diagram by Author. Photo from www.maps.google.com 5.11: Drawings of Villas by Palladio (From Palladio by James Ackerman) 5.12: Photo by Author 5.13: Photos from Andrea Palladio by Lionello Puppi 5.14: Photo by Author 5.15: Image from www.maps.google.com 5.16: Photo by Author 5.17: Image from Contract Magazine, November/December 2011
CHAPTER 6 6.1: Photo Collage by Author. Photos by Scott Hocking and Andrew Moore 6.2: Photo Collage by Author. Photos by Scott Hocking, Andrew Moore and Author 6.3: Photo Collage by Author. Photos by Author
CHAPTER 7 7.1: Photo Collage by Author. Photos by Author and from www.maps.google.com 7.2: Map Diagram by Author 7.3: Diagram by Author. Photo from maps.google.com 7.4: Panoramic Photo by Author
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LIST OF IMAGES CHAPTER 8 8.1: Photo by Author 8.2: Photo of Detroit Schools Book Depository - http://detroiturbex.com/content/downtown/books/books.html 8.3: Photo by Author 8.4: Photo by Author 8.5: Photo of Kahn’s General Motors Building from “Designing For Industry” by Grant Hildebrand 8.6: Photo by Andrew Moore 8.7: Photo by Andrew Moore 8.8: Photo by Andrew Moore
CHAPTER 9 9.1: Diagram by Author 9.2: Diagram by Author 9.3: Image of Hadrian’s Wall - http://www.discoveradventure.com/challenge.aspx?t=164 9.4: Image of an Ancient Tomb - http://www.panoramio.com/photo/60297388 9.5: Diagram by Author. Drawing of Michigan Central Station from The Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection 9.6: Diagram by Author. Drawing of Michigan Central Station from The Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection 9.7: Drawing by Author - Schematic Section 9.8: Drawing by Author - Schematic Section
CHAPTER 10 10.1: Massing Diagram by Author 10.2: Diagram by Author - Preliminary Materiality Section 10.3: Roosevelt Park Diagram by Author - Site Plan by Tadd Heidgerken Architects 10.4: Diagram by Author 10.5: Diagram by Author 10.6: Massing Diagram by Author 10.7: Schematic First Floor Plan by Author 10.8: Schematic Second Floor Plan by Author
CHAPTER 11 11.1: Rendering by Author 11.2: Sketch by Author
3
LIST OF IMAGES CHAPTER 11
CONCLUSION
11.3: Sketch by Author
C.1: Rendering by Author
11.4: Sketch by Author
C.2: Site Section by Author
11.5: Sketch by Author
C.3: Site Section by Author
11.6: Sketch by Author
C.4: Rendering by Author
11.7: Column detail by Author 11.8: Detail of interstitial space by Author 11.9: Hand Drawn Section by Author 11.10: Hand Drawn Section by Author 11.11: Hand Drawn Section by Author 11.12: Rendering by Author 11.13: Rendering by Author 11.14: Rendering by Author 11.15: Rendering by Author 11.16: Rendering by Author 11.17: Rendering by Author 11.18: Rendering by Author 11.19: Rendering by Author 11.20: Rendering by Author 11.21: Rendering by Author 11:22 Rendering by Author 11.23: Rendering by Author 11.24: Rendering by Author 11.25: Rendering by Author 11.26: Rendering by Author 11.27: Rendering by Author 11.28: Section by Author 11.29: Section by Author 11.30: Site Plan by Author 11.31: Ground floor plan by Author 11.32: Second floor plan by Author
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Active Ruin: Adaptive Continuous Use in Detroit James S. MacMillan May 2012 This thesis explores the idea of Adaptive Continuous Use as a way to design structures which stand the test of time by providing an inherent balance of identity and flexibility. This balance makes structures long lasting and valuable to the community they exist in. The site of Detroit provides a test ground for Adaptive Continuous Use by facilitating a building design which can exist as a community urban ruin, inviting and habitable with or without legitimate occupation
6
THE SCENARIO
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Figs. A.1 and A.2: The Detroit Schools Book Depository Warehouse. The vacant warehouse has birch trees growing out of the ground, covered with moldering books.
Structures and spaces are built for and by communities. A community is the force that gives built environments purpose and life. Communities change over time. Sustainable communities demand adaptable, flexible architecture which not only weathers and absorbs the effects of change, but also embraces those effects. Communities necessitate a sense of permanence, familiarity and unique character in their built environments in order to uphold a sense of place. The inherent balance of identity and flexibility within an architectural body facilitates or impedes its life as a useful entity with a community, changing over time.
8
LIFE AND TIME AS UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS
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Figs. 1.1 and 1.2: A space changes and adapts over time.
CHAPTER 1
LIFE
Every physical entity has a duration in which it maintains an identity. That identity derives from an assemblage of systems or parts. When that system is altered, it’s identity changes. Bodies change throughout time, at relative speeds, influenced by factors such as their physical surroundings, exterior forces and internal properties. Combinations of circumstances, whether conscious or coincidental, affect an entity throughout its life in this world. How is a life perceived or defined? When viewed from within, it is the conscious state of being or existing. When viewing another life from the exterior, it is the maintenance of an identity or familiarity which allows recognition or re-experience. A building is a physical entity made of integrated layers of systems,
10
much like the organs and systems that make up the human body. Buildings support a unique community much like a human body supports an individual mind and personality. Both need the physical being in order to be complete. The symbiotic relationship of the physical “vessel” or “structure” supporting the non-physical “character” forms life. A space completes a community in the way that a physical human body completes a personality. Without the physical characteristics of body language, facial expressions and vocal tones, a person is not perceived as alive. Without the ability to sense, perceive, or be conscious, a person cannot acknowledge being alive. A physical entity on this earth is constantly affected by life. Decay and decomposition is a part of life. Weathering and aging is a part of life. They cannot be prevented, only kept at bay by maintenance and repair. Aging and decay are part of a physical being’s natural life cycle; community usage is a force
. ..
Fig. 1.3: A clock from the long vacant and now demolished Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Photo Credit Andrew Moore. Fig. 1.4: An ancient menhir. Fig. 1.5: Gear piece from the Clock of the Long Now
1.3
CHAPTER 1
that sustains a state of being and impedes the onset of decay. Life is not finite, it is fluid. Life is a force which imposes itself on its surroundings, and in return, its surroundings have an influence upon it. Life is fluidly translated into its surroundings as a changing, adapting entity. One life is translated into other forms of life. Identity is the vehicle for the translation of life, from one form to another.
1.4
Life is a force affected by time. Energy flows across time, affecting physical beings. The changing physical state of a being affects its non-physical half as well. TIME
How is time perceived? Time is relative within us. Humans have developed ways to measure or gauge time in a convenient collective fashion as a collective group. Whether these methods came about from our biology or a result of external circumstances, they are measurements of us. A human sees many generations of flies. A building sees many generations of humans. A community can see many generations of buildings. 1.5
12
“
Time and Change are connected to place. Real change is best understood by staying in one place.
”
Time can be measured and felt. Time is not a constant. It speeds up, slows down, disappears and sustains itself in our minds. We remember fleeting moments in time, and we forget years of life in between these moments. The past is made up of what is remembered and forgotten. “Events and Non-Events make up the “overall event” or long view” (Brand, 146). The addiction of gambling is an example of events and non-events. The event being winning, and the non-event being losing. Addicted gamblers miss the “overall event” by concentrating on the event and ignoring the non-event (the routine, dull, forgettable experience).
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Figs. 1.6 and 1.7: Installation by artist Andy Goldsworthy shows how nature changes over time, in the same place. 1.6
(Goldsworthy, 7)
CHAPTER 1
“What happens fast is illusion, what happens slow is reality. The job of the long view is to penetrate the illusion.” (Brand, 147). “Time and change are connected to place. Real change is best understood by staying in one place.” (Goldsworthy, 7). Time can be measured through the comparison of experiences, sensations and memories. Time is experienced at different speeds and scales. Time can be measured from the change that occurs within ourselves, or the change that occurs around us.
Sticks laid in different directions to change with the light late afternoon early morning GALISTEO, NEW MEXICO 24th, 25th of July 1999 (Goldsworthy, Time, 153)
1.7
14
A BUILDING IS A LIVING, CHANGING ENTITY
CHAPTER 2
Buildings exist in a diachronic succession throughout time. Temporal modes are synchronic states of the building’s existence which happen within the continuum of a building’s “Lifeworld.” A modality is shown in a photograph. A lifeworld is shown in a user, a generation, a business or era in time. Lifeworlds bleed into each other and end abruptly. “Every building is created for and by its particular lifeworld, for its singular desires, needs, uses and tastes, by its forces and through its agency (and other buildings form part of this lifeworld). These factors comprise everything from patronage and politics to economics and religious and ideological practices, and of course, the living world of architecture culture itself (including all its history).” (Trachtenberg, Preface XI) 2.2
..
Fig. 2.1: Roof of the Detroit Schools Book Depository. Photo by Scott Hocking
Buildings see many generations of humans, who bring about new and different context-changing circumstances resulting in new lifeworlds. Buildings are sustained by community, and both the building itself and the community change over time. The flexibility and identity of the community and structure itself have a profound effect on coexisting, and sustaining each other.
Fig. 2.2: Conceptual Sketch of how Buildings (in Purple) and Site can change over time.
16
“
Buildings are not in static states of being, but about process and becoming.
”
(Trachtenberg, Preface, X)
Marvin Trachtenberg discusses the Church of St. Laurent at Nogent Sur-Seine as study of how two temporal modes can coexist within one building, and even sustain it. This is a church caught in transition from Gothic to Renaissance, a modification never finished. What necessitated change? Why was the change never completed? “In this critical perspective, it was not two intervals in a pure, single diachronic strand that had come together in conflict at Nogent – A present and future versus a past. Instead, two discrete diachronic strands, each a distinct modality of time, different modes in which time operates, were interacting in a particular way and were frozen in time in this state in the sixteenth century. The conflict occurred in the liminal space between the two temporalities, where buildings are made and exist, and therefore it was a relational issue.” (Trachtenberg, Preface XI) The structure remained valuable to the community during the changing process – it never ceased to house the church community during the transition. Why the old church not demolished and rebuilt entirely? Construction occurred over a much longer time span, so the town would have been left without a church structure in the transition. 2.2
CHAPTER 2
The laborious building process, and the weight and value of the structure within that community made permanence very relevant. The church was an anchor in the community. It was an asset that involved the stewardship of multiple generations. Construction methods have changed, decreasing the breadth of design attention paid to the past and future. This is the time-scope of the design. The “Here” and “Now” of designers and their designs have shortened.
2.3
. .
“The iron law about each of these modalities is that like all things they themselves change through time. More importantly, they move and change at different velocities, in themselves and especially relative to each other. It is these relative speeds to each other - rather than any absolute velocity of construction or of lifeworld change, that appears to be the missing key to reading the history of buildings in time. So central is this dynamic relationship to the issues at hand that one might almost term the dynamic, structuralist idea being developed here a relativity theory for the problem of architecture and time.” (Trachtenberg, Preface XI)
Fig. 2.3: The interior of St. Laurent at Nogent-Sur-Seine showing the intersection of Gothic and Renaissance; two “temporal modalities.” (Trachtenberg, Buildings in Time, Preface XI) Fig. 2.4: Exterior of St. Laurent at Nogent-Sur-Seine
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“
To change is to lose identity, yet to change is to be alive.
�
(Trachtenberg, Preface, X)
The life of buildings has shortened relative to the past century and millennium. In our present time, should buildings be disposable commodities? Some must be disposable. Some are meant to be disposable, but continue far beyond their original time-scope. Who and what dictates this continuous use?
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Figs. 2.5 and 2.6: Michigan Theater in Detroit, repurposed as a parking garage.
CHAPTER 2
20
BIG BEN VS. BIG BOX STUDIES OF TYPOLOGY
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Fig 3.1: A Big Box Store before it is filled up with goods. Figs. 3.2, 3.3: Retail Stores. Photos by Brian Ulrich, Retail Series
CHAPTER 3
3.2
3.3
A building’s adaptability should be analyzed in relation to the community in which it exists. By observing a building’s history and use over time, its path of adaptability can be determined. Buildings must be viewed at many synchronic points in time. Buildings which address an immediate need may quickly become irrelevant with changing contexts and lifeworlds. “Temporary becomes permanent and the permanent becomes temporary. Grand, final-solution buildings obsolesce and have to be torn down because they were too overspecified to their original purpose to adapt easily to anything else. Temporary buildings are thrown up quickly and roughly to house temporary projects. Those projects move on soon enough, but they are immediately supplanted by other temporary projects-of which, it turns out, there is an endless supply.” (Brand, 28)
22
“
Temporary becomes permanent and the permanent becomes temporary.
”
(Brand, 28)
The context of the Madison Theater in Detroit changed when the People Mover light rail was placed in front of its marquis. The historic theater remained open for 15 years in this state. It closed and has since been demolished. Did the changing context create a lifeworld change? Big Ben was built with permanence in mind. It has gone through one renovation (in the mid-1980s), and is projected to not require another one for two centuries. Big Ben was installed in 1859. The pendulum hangs from a piece of 1/64” spring steel, which has been replaced once. (Brand, 58) “What interests me is the fact of this clock being so closely identified with our self-image. Big Ben is a sort of throbbing heart for British Culture- calm, assured, implacable, accurate and thus enduring, and BIG. This list represents just about all the things Britain used to think it was, and would still like to think it is. We are aware of the measured symbolism of its chimes beaming out “Fairness, Fairness” across the planet”. (Brand, 57)
3.4
3.5
. . .
Fig. 3.4: The Madison Theater, Detroit near it’s opening, in the 1930s. Fig. 3.5: The same theater, with the People Mover light rail blocking the marquis, in the 1980s. At this time it is still in use. Fig. 3.6: The theater in 1999, vacant. Shortly after, it would be demolished.
3.6
CHAPTER 3
Big Ben is “A prime example of “sublime technology: an engineering artifact that inspires public awe and fetishistic fascination.” (Brand, 57) “Big Ben’s Sublimity lives in its superbly crafted details” (Brand, 58). This iconic status and context of design has led to a long but atypical life; a life that only a fraction of structures on earth is privileged with. The vast majority of the buildings we live in and around do not have the iconic status or symbolism of Big Ben. We live in a world of subtle architecture, and we notice the few loud and famous icons. Big Ben is an event, every day of the year. Our communities are filled with non-event architecture. Subtle architecture which does not continue through time without subtle, but streamlined purpose or reason. Big Ben is iconic. It is a structure that has been elevated to a national treasure, or even Wonder of the World.
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Fig. 3.7: Big Ben, in London. We live in a world of subtle architecture, and we notice the few loud and famous icons. Big Ben is an event, every day of the year. Our communities are filled with non-event architecture. Subtle architecture which does not continue through time without subtle, but streamlined purpose or reason. 3.7
24
Big box stores are specific in their design intent and short in their time-scope. They serve immediate needs of conveniently providing a wide range of merchandise for living to a community at low prices. They are designed to generate immediate revenue for the companies which own them. They have little ability to be adaptively, continuously used because of their lack of flexibility. They quickly become anachronistic when the community can no longer sustain them economically. Why are they not flexible? The Big Box form is flexible, but the scale and placement within the context they occupy is not. There are few other uses at present, by the communities in which they serve, for a space that is that big, other than another Big Box store. The immediacy in their design devalues their long term connection to their communities.
3.8
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Figs. 3.8 and 3.9: Vacant malls. Photos by Brian Ulrich, Dark Stores. Shopping malls anticipate ALL uses of the building and result in little room for adaptation. All images by Brian Ulrich, Dark Stores. 3.9
CHAPTER 3
Big box stores create their own atmosphere. As do casinos and retail spaces within malls. These atmospheres are artificial, not natural. Artificial atmospheres need human energy to be sustained. Big Box stores are constantly awash in fluorescent light. This light keeps toys, food and advertisements brightly and uniformly lit. Our perception of time is lost in a disorienting sea of color and brightness. The big box has an atmosphere which is disconnected to the cosmic because it is constant and artificial.
3.10
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Figs. 3.10 and 3.11: Vintage Airstream trailers with modified interiors. Trailers begin small and generic, with many outlets for adaptation depending on where they settle down. 3.11
26
ENGAGE THE USER AS A DESIGN FORCE
MAKING THINGS
This first exploration focused on malleability and response to external forces. I was the only participant, and adapted several materials to have a relationship with one another in one singular composition. The permanency of the resulting form spoke loudly, and led to further investigation into how I could involve many participants. THE BUILDER AND THE KIT OF PARTS
The second exploration dealt with interchangeability and the response to user and context. The goal was to engage a builder with a kit of parts, which were fabricated with the intent to “make it fun to assemble in different spots.� This exploration studied the relationship between user,
4.1
“
”
Make it fun to assemble in different spots.
CHAPTER 4
the kit of parts and the context. How adaptive are certain components? The user’s knowledge of the kit of parts furthered as they spent more time manipulating them. The final user exploration was to allow my peers to visualize uses for the spaces in my generic program. My peers were allowed to interact with the skeleton, or artifact whcih I designed. By observing my peer’s suggestions for each space’s function, I noticed certain overlaps in their thoughts, suggesting that I had “pre-determined” uniquely different uses in the artifact design.
. .
Fig. 4.1: Brainstorm Section, overlaying approximately 20 different ideas for an adaptable program. 4.2
Fig. 4.2: Interchangeable wood and steel “Kit of Parts” model, with different architecture students making their own configurations.
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THE PRINCIPLES OF ADAPTIVE, CONTINUOUS USE
CHAPTER 5
Adaptive continuous use is achieved through a design methodology that can be applied universally to any context. These principles seek to clearly illustrate an open methodology or strategy, rather than step-by step directions as to how to achieve a singular goal.
1. ESTABLISH AN ARCHETYPE 2. ALIGNMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ARCHETYPE 3. MAINTENANCE OVER TIME 4. ACCOMMODATING USER BAGGAGE 5. ABSTRACT FUNCTION AND SPECIFIC HIERARCHY 6. HIGH USE VALUE 7. FIRST STATE MATERIALS
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PRINCIPLE 1 ESTABLISH AN ARCHETYPE
5.1
CHAPTER 5
Architecture is grounded to its site and community. New buildings begin life as a core form and idea. The archetype is that core. It is a model on which adaptation occurs. The archetype is pushed and pulled according to the user’s needs. An archetype is a “perfect” example of an idea. The archetype is the original idea, derived from tradition and history. An archetype is a base for growth which remains applicable over time. The archetype is distinct. It utilizes a form, as opposed to imitating one. The archetype is unique yet relatable, not alien. It is informed by the past by following or interpreting vernacular form. The archetype is connected to the site. Its form and placement addresses the surrounding context. The archetype is connected to the community. The archetype is meant to be user or inhabitant maintained. The archetype’s form is accessible to the user in a simple manner. User upkeep prompts examination for the possibility of refinement, modification or improvement.
5.2
..
Fig 5.1: Diagram of a developing archetype. Fig 5.2: Nova Scotia Vernacular. Photos by Dustin Brugmann
32
“
The heart of vernacular design is about form, not style. Style is time’s fool. Form is time’s student.
”
The archetype is singular and whole, containing all essentials to fulfill its function. It is a “seed.” The archetype shares its traditions. The archetype is a facilitator to the community it serves. It must accommodate the current needs of that community or accommodate a change. The archetype is the critical first phase of a building’s life. It is not necessarily a shape. It can be a collection of forms, or a space created by form, a place.
5.3
. ..
Fig 5.3 and 5.4: The same archetype (highlighted in Red) is used in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome (A.D. 215) as Old Penn Station in New York City (1909). Fig 5.5: Frigidarium of the Baths of Caracalla Fig 5.6: Interior of Old Penn Station 5.4
(Brand, 132)
CHAPTER 5
5.5
5.6
34
PRINCIPLE 2
ALIGNMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ARCHETYPE
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Fig . 5.7: The Packard Plant in Detroit, Designed by Albert Kahn. Communities built around the early automotive factories in Detroit, such as the Packard Plant. How can they be used now that the culture and economy has shifted?
CHAPTER 5
A building and its context, being the community, must align for Adaptive Continuous Use to take place. A community is the energy which continues a building’s life. A community is a layered system; an assemblage of users and buildings that interact in a collective way. These layers exist differently in every community, giving each a unique character. Forms are shaped by the uniqueness of each community. A community is an ever changing, fluid entity, which creates and absorbs change and adapts accordingly. The archetype is connected to the community. The building’s function may change, but the physical building remains. The space will continue to align with the community’s needs when a new or altered purpose or use continues within the structure. An adaptive structure uses the least amount of resources to successfully continue functionality to the community over of time.
its maximum use value. Designing such a space requires thinking with a time-scope that encompasses the past, present and future context of the space. Through visibility of the building’s systems and processes, traditions are passed on from user to user. The building communicates how it works through itself and through the tradition of the user. The user and the community are the continuing life force which passes on those traditions. Continuous use creates a fondness within the community, as a building continues to provide and reward by the community by being itself, and allowing change. These changes give the building experience, history and knowledge as it ages.
Communities thrive in architecture which lasts throughout many lifeworlds, requiring minimal physical adjustment while maintaining
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PRINCIPLE 3 MAINTENANCE OVER TIME
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Fig. 5.8: A clapboard wall in Nova Scotia. Photo by Dustin Brugmann
CHAPTER 5
A building must have the ability to be maintained by the user. All physical matter exists in the continuum of time. “The patina of wear adds an enriching experience to the materials of construction” (Palasmaa, 31). Whether the materials of construction are machined or handmade, synthetic or natural, designers and builders must choose to how to pursue “a quest towards perfection” and how to “embrace the purposefully imperfect”. A balance of both attitudes must be mixed into the construction and design process. Building construction is an orchestration of craft and raw materials. Materials themselves age well when “purposely imperfect.” There is no perfect piece of wood, or stone, or brick because nature is unique and adaptable. The natural elements weather a building over time. We weather our own buildings through use, but paradoxically sustain them through maintenance. A door handle or handrail which has been polished and worn down from years of use feels satisfying to the touch. The facilitation of this wear and weathering is the material and the user speaking to each other. What is the connection between weathering materials and human existence?
Maybe it is an empathetic connection. We recognize the building aging with us as living beings. Maintenance creates a relationship between the user and the building. A sense of caring develops through effort and energy, and in return the building rewards. “Wood and brick walls invite change by involving us in their upkeep. What begins as a repair can become an improvement.” (Brand, 126) Disposable construction facilitates replacement, as opposed to care. An object of quality often requires more initial expense and investment, but lasts longer. The desire to maintain creates an active, preventative maintenance. The key to creating a relationship through repair is consistent active maintenance instead of quick, reactive maintenance. With active maintenance, we prepare our structures for problems and they learn, and therefore avoid them. With passive, reactive maintenance, we wait until the problem exists and then scramble to fix it in frustration.
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PRINCIPLE 4 ACCOMMODATING USER BAGGAGE
5.9
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Fig. 5.9: Michigan Avenue in 1984, before the Detroit Tigers play in a World Series Game. Fig. 5.10: Diagram showing expansion of the General Motors Building in New Center, Detroit
CHAPTER 5
The General Motors Building
The things that we carry with us change throughout time. Buildings must provide space for our material things, whether they are automobiles or laptops. If a building cannot accommodate the user’s baggage, a modification must be made. Large mutations such as automobile parking may extend out of the building’s immediate site. This baggage is directly connected to the user. If we must leave our autos far away, an otherwise user friendly building may be rendered obsolete.
“Grew” a Parking Garage
5.10
40
PRINCIPLE 5
ABSTRACT FUNCTION AND SPECIFIC HIERARCHY
.. .
Fig. 5.11: Drawings of Villas by Palladio.
Fig. 5.12: The Savannah Hilton Head Airport. The “Savannah Square” atrium is a “universal necessity space”. Fig. 5.13 (Overleaf): Interiors of Palladian Villas.
CHAPTER 5
5.11
Spaces that allow room for adaptation will adapt. All architectural spaces support human behavior. Human behavior has not changed very much. A hierarchy of spaces facilitates flexibility of function. The programming process begins with recognizing “universal spaces” which follow the nature of consistent human behavior and apply to a wide range of functions. The high ceilings and functionally abstract spaces in Palladian Villas accommodate flexibility over time. The division of spaces remains simple and relevant today. The “piano nobile” or first floor suggests spaces for the higher or “noble” functions such as living, dining and sleeping, while the ground floor suggests utilitarian spaces, with less natural light and space, concealed from the view of guests. 5.12
42
The identifiable entrance to the villas draws visitors upwards to piano nobile and the “higher functions” of the house. “Palladio’s buildings have a hierarchy of parts.” (Ackerman, 168) The simple and direct hierarchy and division of spaces attribute themselves to a harmonious experience. Spaces are pleasant for a variety of functions. An office would be just as happy as a bedroom in any of the spaces. Central spaces logically lend themselves to being the “great room” for any type of occupancy. “Physical hierarchy is reinforced by a hierarchy of vocabulary.” (Ackerman, 170) The vocabulary is the sum of the parts. A language of harmonious elements, being the landscape, massing, interior and details speaking together, in a unified way. This unity is identity – a uniqueness based on place which cannot be repeated. “The common core within (the Palladian Villa) variety is a particular conception of architectural harmony and composition. There is, then, no “typical” Palladian Villa” (Ackerman, 36)
The basic massing and layout of Palladio’s villas is reinterpreted from earlier forms. Palladio drew influences from the regional vernacular and prevailing archetypes. “The early villas themselves are bound unconsciously to an ancient tradition that did not need to be revived because it had survived without a break from the Roman Empire.” (Ackerman, 43) The villas derive their proportions from familiar archetypes of the surrounding context of the Veneto region. “The villas of Palladio combined preexisting vernacular forms with new renaissance ideas.” (Davis, 142)
PRINCIPLE 6 HIGH USE VALUE
5.14
.
Figs. 5.14 - 5.16: The Derse House in Sylvania, Ohio.
5.15
CHAPTER 5
Use value is the ability of architecture to function in a creative, efficient and versatile way. It is measured through the user’s ability to bestow personal identity upon architecture. This identity can be measured through the user’s unique pattern of use, tailored to their day to day actions. Use value is embodied in a space’s freedom to change while also maintaining the comfort of remaining familiar. The Derse House is an example of high use value. The Derse family made it their own through actively living and changing it to suit their needs. The flexible stable spaces later became a car port and home studio, respectively. The structures are positioned adjacently in a logical way. They have a distinct identity as a collection of parts, which became a base for personalization by the user. 5.16
46
PRINCIPLE 7 FIRST STATE MATERIALS
.
Fig. 5.17
CHAPTER 5
First State materials are raw materials which are assembled with their original properties preserved. They are materials with integrity, celebrating their strengths. First state materials sing when positioned in a logical way within a building. Exposed wooden trusses allow the user to connect with the building in a personal way. The user can identify with the material and its place as a component in a larger scheme. Physical, tangible forms alert us to our existence within a space. “Images of presence give rise to images of memory, imagination and dream.� (Palasmaa, 42) The sensory process connects us to a space or form.
48
THE MOTOR CITY HOW MOBILITY REPLACED PLACE
.
Fig. 6.1
CHAPTER 6
“Although Detroit is the oldest continuously inhabited city between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, little remains of its early architecture. The city was founded in 1701; but, because of unsettled conditions on the frontier, it remained little more than a straggling community of log cabins during the French and British occupations. In 1805, it was completely obliterated by a devastating fire.” (Ferry, xix). Following the fire, Augustus Woodward, then Chief Justice of Wayne County, devised a new urban layout for Detroit. Woodward, being close to the District of Columbia’s designer, Pierre L’Enfant and then President Jefferson, devised a plan taking influences from the capital. The plan was an infinitely repeating network of diagonals, stemming out radially from central plazas in a hexagonal pattern.
50
.
Fig. 6.2
CHAPTER 6
The plan was authorized in 1805, and one hexagonal iteration was realized. Farmers surrounding the city prevented further expansion of this plan. What exists today is an extension of the radiating avenues into a grid system. The wide, radiating boulevards, Michigan, Grand River, Woodward and Gratiot Avenue became integral arteries for the city, providing a vital connection to outward development as the city grew, as evidenced by their widening in 1827. The architects of 19th century Detroit imported European styles, modeling after cities along the east coast. “A new classical city rose upon the ruins of the pioneer village.” (Ferry, xix). The distinct wide boulevards, European influenced architecture and French heritage gave way for the nickname “The Paris of the Midwest.” The industrial revolution brought factories along the banks of the Detroit River. The River became less important as a method of transportation as the railroad began to connect the nation. “It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that we reclaimed a share of the riverfront for civic purposes.” (Hill, 2). “The advent of the automobile brought a new wave of prosperity to Detroit. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the city quadrupled in size, becoming the fourth largest city in the nation.” (Ferry, xix). Immigrants poured into the city looking for factory jobs. New neighborhoods sprung up at the outer edge of the city. The communities consisted of simple bungalow houses clustered around factories. “The industrial plant began to replace church steeples as the organizing icon of the neighborhood.” (Hill, 3). The rapid expansion was regulated by effective neighborhood zoning and building codes which dictated materiality, lot size and style of housing.
52
“
The auto enabled a social mobility that was nearly Detroit’s undoing.
”
(Hill, 4)
These regulations kept neighborhoods unique, hence “subdivisions.” The strong identity and sense of place created by these regulations helped neighborhoods sustain themselves through community attachment, despite later economic crumbling. Henry Ford, with Albert Kahn as architect created a new functionalist architecture with the planning and design of manufacturing facilities. Kahn followed in the vein of Louis Sullivan, and influenced later modernists such as Gropius, Corbusier and Mies Van der Rohe. “The astonishing growth of Detroit in the early years of the twentieth century was a dramatic example of the functioning of the American economy.” (Ferry, 178) The 1920s and ‘30s heralded an era of prosperity for downtown Detroit. The core flourished with ornate skyscrapers. The New Center neighborhood was the first “Edge City”, with Kahn’s General Motors Building and the Fisher Building. These iconic structures were designed in a context different than the urban core; a new typology of office building which did not reach for the sky, but remained monumental.
.
Fig. 6.3
CHAPTER 6
The rapid commercial development in this era led to the preservation of a Cultural Center along the Woodward Avenue corridor. The City Beautiful movement was imported, in grand civic planning gestures such as Roosevelt Park and the proposed new avenue connecting to the Cultural Center. Detroit’s rise to prosperity was its very downfall. The city of Detroit spearheaded the “automobile culture” which saturated the entire nation. Before even the interstates cut through the city, the grand avenues served as a conduit for rings of massive expansion into subdivisions and then suburbia. The avenues were widened and adapted to greater auto use several times, with buildings literally being pushed back to accommodate the change. “The auto enabled a social mobility that was nearly Detroit’s undoing.” (Hill, 4) The auto became the city’s economic and cultural base. “New Center’s development symbolically presaged the later mass exodus from the city’s center to its edges.” (Hill, 4). After World War II, factories moved farther away from the city’s center, and workers were able to commute easily from the outer suburbs. Mass transit within the core ceased to exist as this shift occurred. “A new socioeconomic model based on mobility replaced a system long centered on place.” (Hill, 5)
54
A TEST GROUND FOR ADAPTIVE, CONTINUOUS USE
. .
Fig. 7.1: The vacant Michigan Central Station is readily viewable, even when passing through the city quickly on Interstate 75. Fig. 7.2: Map of the proposed site in relation to Detroit’s City Center.
CHAPTER 7
Contemporary Detroit’s infrastructure surpasses its occupancy, creating pockets of activity scattered throughout areas of inactivity.
I-75
Michigan Ave.
Gr ati ot Av e.
e. Av rd wa od Wo
Gr an dR ive rA ve .
The city’s collection of buildings illustrate economic shift over time. The contemporary city is composed of the remnants of the past. The “Motor City” Era of the 19th century lingers in the city, in the architecture of the era. Many of the buildings of this era stand soundly, used or not, as legacies to past prosperity.
City Center
Corktown
Mexicantown
y wa ree F r he Fis
Windsor 7.2
The proposed site is on Dalzelle and 15th Street adjacent to Roosevelt Park, in the Corktown Neighborhood. The site is a destination point, a node of place within the underpopulated urban infrastructure. Further development in this area follows the progression of growth in completing a node within the city. An environment with the potential for growth and a history of major economic shift provides a testing ground for the Principles of Adaptive Continuous Use.
56
ROOSEVELT PARK REVIVAL
BOOK DEPOSITORY (VACANT) MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION (VACANT)
PROPOSED SITE
GRASS GARDEN (PARK REVIVAL VOLUNTEER INITIATIVE) ROOSEVELT PARK
7.3
CHAPTER 7
The site was chosen because of its dynamic location between several large-scale vacant structures, Roosevelt Park, and the neighborhood of Corktown’s urban fabric. The site is activated in a holistic way by engaging the artifact structure and the empty, adjacent warehouse. The proposed site intervention seeks to create a plaza or terminus for gathering between the edifices. Space for an attractor function, such as an ice rink, will provide a pedestrian destination within the intimate plaza created by the warehouse and artifact.
. .
Fig. 7.3: Diagram showing major elements adjacent to the proposed site. Fig. 7.4: Panoramic view of Roosevelt Park and Michigan Avenue.
58
SITE CONTEXT STUDY OF SURROUNDINGS
.
Fig. 8.1: Street view of the Depository Warehouse on 15th Street Facing North
CHAPTER 8
The Roosevelt Warehouse was designed by factory architect Albert Kahn and was used as a U.S. Mail distribution center, then as storage for the Detroit Public Schools. It is situated directly across 15th street from the Station and is currently abandoned and boarded up. The warehouse has a massive footprint, and too much square footage to find a use today. Supplies from the Detroit schools remain, moldering inside it, with trees growing through its collapsed skylights. “Warehouses and factories that were built between 1860 and 1930 are endlessly adaptable. They are broad, raw space-clear-spanned or widely columned, with good natural illumination and ventilation and high ceilings of 12 to 18 feet. The floors, built strong enough for storage or to hold heavy machinery, can handle any new use. Their heavy timbers and exposed brick appeal to the modern eye. Architectural ornament, if any, is likely to be modest and therefore appreciated. The buildings are honest, generic, sound and common. They welcome any use from corporate headquarters to live/work studios.� (Brand, 109)
60
Michigan Central Station was completed in 1912 and designed by the firm Warren and Wetmore, architects of the New York’s Grand Central Station. This Beaux Arts Classical station is a merger of a functional office tower with a Roman Bath styled waiting area. There are principles of Adaptive, Continuous Use applied in it, being the reuse of the Roman Bath Archetype. The Station is located in the Corktown neighborhood, with Mexican Town across the railroad tracks to the south. It was constructed as part of a grand urban planning venture, intended to spur new development west of the city center. It is accessible from Michigan Avenue, one of the grand radiating boulevards connecting to the center. It is fronted by Roosevelt Park (completed in 1920), which gives it a magnificent setback and prominent setting off of the busy boulevard. “As a set piece, Michigan Central was further intended as the terminus to a grand boulevard that would boldly link up to the Cultural Center across town.” (Hill, 220).
. .
Fig. 8.2: The Detroit Schools Book Depository as it exists today, abandoned and boarded up. The building is a modern warehouse built on a column grid with non-structural walls. Figs. 8.3 and 8.4: South Approach to the station from Bagley Ave. towards the Depository Warehouse and Roosevelt Park.
8.2
CHAPTER 8
The station thrived when mass transit connected it to the core and declined as the building lost its connection. Auto access was not a major urban design concern in 1912. There was a streetcar and bus drop off area, but no parking facility or easy pedestrian access from the city center, despite the station being open to passengers until 1988. “The decline of the American railroads led to the abandonment of the terminal itself in the 1980s.” (Hill, 220).
8.3
“Until recently, the building’s owners did almost nothing with the property. The building was essentially wide open for scavengers, homeless people, and urban explorers. In recent months the owners have been working to stabilize the building, and perhaps improve their public image. Crews have removed asbestos, debris, and trash; new windows and roof repairs are either underway or are promised.” (Lloyd Baldwin, Michigan Department of Transportation Historian) “The MCRR Depot is structurally sound and is viable for rehabilitation/restoration. Some have proposed restoration of just the depot portions, and would have the tower demolished. Personally, I oppose demolition of the tower, even to save the depot portion.
8.4
62
The cost to rehab/restore the whole would be astronomical, but I think it would be more feasible through a consortium approach, with each portion of the consortium taking responsibility for one or more floors.” (Baldwin) “The depot would need to be revisioned for multiple functions, office/professional, commercial/retail, logistics, entertainment, residential. I would love to see it become an intermodal facility, but reintroducing rail here doesn’t appear promising.” (Baldwin) The General Motors office building in the New Center district of Detroit was designed by Albert Kahn. The headquarters building of General Motors has been continuously used since its inception. It is a building of similar scale and volume to the Michigan Central Station. A combination of functional architecture, an attractive context and ownership by GM has continued its use. High ratio of surface area to floor and room to spread out has allowed it to remain adaptable and attractive.
8.5
CHAPTER 8
“Kahn completed the vast General Motors building on west Grand Boulevard between Cass and Second avenues in Detroit in 1922. Although only fifteen stories high, it was then the second largest building in capacity in the world after the Equitable Building in New York. The site chosen for the building was in the geographical center of the city, removed from the congested downtown area near the river. Since there was plenty of room to spread out, there was no necessity for reaching to the skies, and provision could be made for ample lighting and circulation of air. Hence four massive cross-wings were arranged so as to form large open courts.� (Ferry, 215)
.. .
Fig. 8.5: The General Motors Building. Fig. 8.6: Interior of Michigan Central Station. Photo by Andrew Moore.
Fig. 8.7 (Background): North Facade of Michigan Central Station. Photo by Andrew Moore.
8.6
64
ACTIVE RUIN PROGRAM ANALYSIS
9.1
CHAPTER 9
AN AESTHETIC OF TIMELESSNESS
Ruins expose the passage of time. Ruins are often associated with decay, but also embody a steadfast relationship with time. Ruins are markers of a different time, preserved by their collapse and abandon. The factories of Detroit are ruins. They belong to an era of prosperity that no longer exists, and a reminder of the wealth and power that the city once held. Ruins are able to remain important to the community that surrounds them because they show a past that is worth remembering. They have a strong attachment to the cosmic, and sometimes resurrect themselves. Their use may change. Adaptable structures can lay dormant for years. There is community value in ruins. 9.2
66
“
We have a mental need to grasp that we are rooted in the continuity of time.
�
(Palasmaa, 32)
The ruins of Detroit do not engage the community. They are inactive and hostile to the pedestrian. This proposal seeks to become an active ruin by forming an adaptable artifact structure which engages the existing context. This proposed edifice is a marker of time and place. It has an identity which remains flexible to many uses as time passes. The artifact has a stand-alone function as a community feature. The architecture of the artifact is intended to provide an inviting space regardless of the occupation type. Simple, durable and time tested construction methods ensure that the artifact to remains a permanent asset to the community. A true aesthetic of timelessness evolves from the passage of time. This aesthetic comes from graceful aging and a connection to nature, the elements and the cosmic environment surrounding us.
9.3
. . ..
Fig. 9.1 (Previous Page): Visualization by author depicting a space with a connection to the cosmic. Fig. 9.2 (Previous Page): Materiality visualization which studies the effect of light on First State materials. Fig. 9.3: Hadrian’s Wall in Scotland, dating back to the Roman Empire. Fig. 9.4: Ancient Stone Tomb.
CHAPTER 9
Every living entity is linked to nature, the seasons and the passage of time. Lives follow cycles of change. Sensory variation occurs because of these cycles of change. Brick appears in different colors in the morning, afternoon and night. Fog and rain change the color of wood. A rock stays warm from hours of sunlight after the sun has set. Glass windows ring with the sound of pouring rain. Building materials reflect the cycles of nature when exposed to it. How does a building have a connection to the cosmic? It’s physical nature must connect and expose the user to the passage of time. A STRATEGY OF UN-ANTICIPATION
9.4
The facilitation of multiple conditions is more important than any one condition. Buildings should be informed the most by the factors which change the least. The integration of systems should be visible, changeable and removable. Technology will change, but the archetype form may continue for centuries. The characteristics of the archetype should be integral, compact and streamlined, with the highest priority given to a lasting, quality infrastructure. Simple construction methods are more likely to be relevant and understood as the user changes over time. Construction methods are only
68
“
All buildings are predictions and all predictions are wrong.
”
(Brand, 178)
as permanent as their weakest component. Simple construction methods are timeless. “Masonry buildings can endure neglect which would destroy other structures” (Brand, 122). “New work should be potentially reversible.” (Brand, 105) Rapidly changing elements should be able to separate from the more permanent elements. Technology introduces micro-elements into building systems. These systems are constantly being updated. They are singular and often rendered obsolete before they need repair. Detail exists in these systems, but they should not compromise or intersect with the permanent elements. A leaky HVAC system embedded in a building can rot structural walls. When visible and separate, it is quickly accessed and repaired. Visibility of the changing elements of a structure is critical.
9.5
A FLEXIBLE PROGRAM GROUNDED TO SITE
The challenge of programming a structure which follows the Principles of Adaptive, Continuous use results not in how to assign specific function to spaces, but more so in facilitating unanticipated functions. Therefore, building design is not connected to a specific program. Infinite hypothetical programs can exemplify continuous use, but none
9.6
CHAPTER 9 HIERARCHY OF TEXTURE
are absolute and final. They are “nested� within an adaptable space. SMOOTH
RELIEF
SMOOTH
RELIEF
RUSTICATED
RUSTICATED
9.7
AXIAL SECTION FACING SOUTH
EV T
NT
EN
PE
E AC SP
E
US
HO
P
M
RA
B
HU
E AC
E
US
HO
E AC SP
RR
NT
TE
OR
RI
ED
TE
IS
IN
RA
PE
T
EN
EV
9.8
The design must be spatially adaptable. Spaces must maintain an abstract function, but exist together in a specific harmony and hierarchy. The building designed must utilize the site in a way which allows for the accommodation of present and unforeseen user baggage. The hierarchy and harmony of spaces and form is informed by past archetypes and the changing context of the site. The size and extent of the building program is informed by the surrounding context. Michigan Central Station and Roosevelt Park are prominent features of a city focal point. They make up part of what is a high growth potential space. A structure built near these features should be designed for permanence and adaptability.
.
Figs. 9.5 and 9.6: Spatial analysis of the Michigan Central Station. Primary Spaces (in red) are flanked or supported by circulation (blue) or support (yellow) spaces. The large central blue space is interstitial: It creates separation between the Waiting Room and Concourse.
70
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARTIFACT
.
Fig. 10.1
CHAPTER 10
The active ruin is the artifact or skeleton which is the base for adaptation. Developing this base began by addressing the principle of Abstract Function and Specific Hierarchy of spaces in a building. A simple brainstorming of “universal spaces� formed the generic and open program. These universal spaces reoccur throughout time, building function and location. They are spaces derived from fundamental relationships between humans and buildings. These are spaces which are not tied to a function, but allow for many functions. The facilitation of multiple uses in these spaces is more critical than any one specific use. The goal is to establish a quantity of spaces based on site conditions. The program demands engagement of surrounding structures and places beyond the actual site limits. 10.2
72
The arrangement of spaces accounts for a partially uninhabited context. When tenants have left or dwindled, will a desirable and safe place remain? When a function changes entirely, is the sense of place affected?
MICHIGAN AVE.
BREAKING DOWN THE DEPOSITORY
The intervention includes modifications to the Depository warehouse. The inside of the Depository Warehouse will be cut out to create more surface area, exposing the utilitarian inner workings of the building for new uses. Currently, there is an overwhelming amount of space within the warehouse, far too much for a developing program in its nascent stage. Exposing more surface area of the warehouse will make its spaces more accessible and malleable to new tenant’s usages. The modified 3-story warehouse could become a tiered multilevel mixed use structure, such as a ground level marketplace and commercial, or apartments on the higher levels. IN-BETWEEN SPACE
In-Between Space allows for light and views between the two buildings, and enough room for varied and
10.3
CHAPTER 10
]
unanticipated activity. It is an intimate space, not directly viewable from Roosevelt Park, but easily accessible and discovered. The In-Between Space will house an Attractor feature at its center. This feature’s intent is to bring people to the space and hold them there through desirability and interaction. This space should be tactile and pleasant to the senses. The Attractor exists as a centerpiece to a space. Therefore, it is context sensitive and not purely sculptural and stand-alone. The attractor is shaped by the space and in turn influences it. The attractor must exist as a compliment to the Depository warehouse and the new building in all circumstances. It exists to create an event, turning the buildings around it into active participants. DIFFERENTIATED SEGMENTS
10.4
Cutting out the Depository Warehouse mass and the In-Between Space informs the massing of the new building. The in-between space opens up towards the Michigan Central Station. The building program addresses street corners, street-front and the intimate in-between space. The building is segmented in three categories of program.
74
A high activity corner, or “Go To” segment faces Dalzelle and 15th Street, closest to the station front and Roosevelt Park’s center. Engagement at street level prevents the building from becoming a dead, inaccessible monolith. Fluctuating overhangs serve as a transitioning element between the sidewalk and building mass. The high activity corner is a hybrid of enclosure and semi-interior space. At street level, the high activity corner is a gateway to other areas of program. The strength of this segment is height and prominence. It serves as a high visibility beacon and lookout point. An axial flow-through, or “Go Thru” segment is public, open and sheltered. This segment is receiving space and hub for activity within and around. Natural light penetration, shelter and clear visibility to connected spaces are the key elements of this space. A boundary or supplemental corner, the “Go Around” segment creates enclosure for the in-between space. This segment has street frontage to 14th street, a secondary street. The site context lends the segment to containing support, service and distribution spaces. The volume of this space is discreet, not prominent. The generic flexibility of this segment will direct the pedestrian around the corner mass, towards the Attractor and into the enclosure of the In-Between Space.
10.5
CHAPTER 10
EV EN T
NO T
B HU
RA M PE D
LI PA VI
SLOW’S BBQ (EXISTING HUB OF ACTIVITY)
GO AROUND
RA M PE D
GO THRU
ON
GO TO
ATTRACTOR
10.7
GO THRU
GO AROUND
OP
EN
D IS E RA
EN OP
SE D RA I
LI
GH
T
W
EL
L
GO TO
10.6
MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION
BOOK DEPOSITORY WAREHOUSE
TERRACE TERRACE
10.8
ATTRACTOR
76
A CANVAS FOR ADAPTATION
11.1
CHAPTER 11
NEGOTIATING MASSES
A building’s mass must negotiate with surrounding masses on the site. In this case, the two prominent masses are the Michigan Central Station and the Depository Warehouse. Secondary volumes, voids and open spaces exist, such as the 2 to 3 story urban fabric of Corktown, which exists adjacent to the west side of the site and Roosevelt Park. The site demands that the building negotiates and interacts with the monumental abandoned structures on one side and the generic urban fabric on the other. 11.2
. .
Fig. 11.1: Visualization by author depicting the final building design at night. This view shows the GO TO segment and its open pavilion space at ground level. Fig. 11.2: Preliminary sketch of the GO TO segment by the author.
78
Taking the Park Revival proposal and major landmarks into account, the MCS exists as a major attractor on the site. Urban explorers and passersby are drawn to the station from the freeway. Many people come to explore the expansive park and take pictures of the station. Slow’s Bar-BQ exists as a destination restaurant and a legitimate commercial attractor. The positioning of the building masses accommodates for an interaction with the high traffic point of Slow’s Bar-BQ. The axis establishes a connection between the existing and proposed point of activity.
11.3
EXTENDING THE AXIS
The new structure is an intermediate event along a greater sequence of events. An axis aligns the sequence. The “Go Thru” segment further articulates the axis, and extends it to its terminus, the far south side of the Depository Warehouse.
.
Figs. 11.3 to 11.6: Conceptual sketches used as massing studies. The volumes of each segment were experimented with in order to develop the right levels of openness and intimacy, according to the basic program which had been developed.
11.4
CHAPTER 11
The “Go To” segment exists as a destination point along the continuing axis. It must distinguish itself as an attractor and a point of gathering. To give it dominance and hierarchy, it is raised on a plinth, in the form of a high ceilinged pavilion. Any enclosed spaces are lifted above the pavilion, creating a mass that acts as a secondary beacon, never competing with the station for dominance in presence. 11.5
INTERSTITIAL SPACE
Major event spaces are connected to, but also distanced by the placement of interstitial space. Interstitial spaces provide a resting space along an axial and sequential progression through the greater structure. They serve as supplemental spaces to the major events, being the “Go To, Go Thru and Go Around” segments. Passage occurs within these secondary spaces, and minor attractions can happen within them as well. Interstitial spaces provide a more intimate place for activity to occur. Their scale relates to the greater structure, and relates to the event spaces by sequencing smaller scaled spaces along an axial path through the structure. 11.6
80
OPPORTUNITY-BASED GROWTH
The proposed artifact is not intended to be built on a speculative basis focused on profit. It is a lasting piece of urban framework intended to be inhabited and used continuously, for any tenant and user. It is a framework for growth to occur on an as-needed basis. Maintenance and modification upon this skeleton is crucial. Another crucial aspect is the retaining of past uses. Much like a good pair of shoes, or an aged face, the lines of wear and weathering expose a past. This graceful aging is an indicator of successful adaptive, continuous use.
..
Fig. 11.7: Schematic detail of a typical column at ground level.
Fig. 11.8: Schematic detail of the the interstitial space between the Go Through archway and the Go To Pavilion at ground level. This space contains ramps and a grand staircase. 11.7
CHAPTER 11
11.8
82
INHABITING THE ARTIFACT
The Active Ruin exists as an attractive and experiential space for any and all uses. Even as a ruin, it remains accessible and facilitative to all who enter and occupy it. In this way, the artifact maintains community value as it ages, weathers occupation, abandonment, retrofitting and modification in any order. User activity spawns adaptation. These spaces are a canvas for individualization and character to be painted on.
.. .
Fig. 11.9: Detail of a schematic section through the Go To Pavilion. Figs. 11.10: Schematic axial section. Figs. 11.10: Schematic section through the Go Around segment.
11.9
CHAPTER 11
11.10
11.11
84
11.12
CHAPTER 11
FRESH MARKET • 1998 11.13
86
CAFE • 2006 11.14
CHAPTER 11
SCULPTOR STUDIO •2010 11.15
88
11.16
CHAPTER 11
JAZZERCISE • 1983 11.17
90
CLOTHING STORE • 2003 11.18
CHAPTER 11
DANCE CLUB •2012 11.19
92
1993 11.20
CHAPTER 11
2008 11.21
94
11.22
1985
CHAPTER 11
11.23
2008
96
11.24
1987
CHAPTER 11
11.25
2012
98
11.26
1996
CHAPTER 11
11.27
2006
100
80’ 70’
50’
11.28
.
Above: Section of the Artifact facing east.
CHAPTER 11
95’
85’
11.29
.
Above: Axial section of the artifact facing South.
102
ROOSEVELT PARK
GRASS GARDEN
ATTRACTOR EXISTING WAREHOUSE FOOTPRINT
PARKING
11.32
GO TO
11.31
GO THRU
GO AROUND
CHAPTER 11
GROUND FLOOR
HIGH ACTIVITY AREAS
INTERSTITIAL SPACE
SERVICE CORES
ATTRACTOR
11.32
UPPER FLOOR
104
CONCLUSION
C.1
CONCLUSION
C.2
C.3
.
Top: Section facing south. Above: Section facing west.
The ideas behind this thesis arose from the end of an actual building’s life. This building was an Elementary School in Sylvania, Ohio, built in 1929. There was a palpable change that occurred on the site and within the community after the building was demolished. The building was an anchor within the community, and its successor, on the same site, created a different perspective of everything around it, from the site itself to the surrounding buildings. This old building was a community asset, and when it was removed, I felt a deep feeling of emptiness within myself and the community. The Active Ruin is a community asset, by becoming a strong feature of the site which connects and unifies several elements around it. It is, in itself an anchor. The community will choose its program, or leave it empty as an urban monument.
106
No matter how the active ruin is used, its primary purpose is to be permanent and available for habitation. The climate can be brutal in the winters and summers. The active ruin will always be open and inviting, as a form of shelter, or habitation. Michigan Central Station also had a profound effect on the development of this thesis. It is an unmistakable marker of resiliency and permanence. This building stands in defiance of decay, and is internationally cherished, by Detroiters and tourists alike. The history of this building is fascinating, and it stands majestically and stubbornly, like Greek Temples or ancient menhirs. The difference between this former railroad station and the many ruins across Europe, is that the controversy, dearness and potential are equally prevalent. This is a ruin which wants to be inhabited again. It wants to be occupied because the community has respect for it. Whether the designers of Michigan Central, Warren and Wetmore anticipated vacancy or not, they designed an active ruin. This thesis strives to approach architecture as a legacy to the future. Buildings are markers of time, and just like a human life, the future benefits from looking at the past.
CONCLUSION
108 C.4
BIBLIOGRAPHY Barr, Nancy. 2011. Detroit Revealed: Photographs, 2000-2010. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts Brand, Stewart. 1999. Clock Of The Long Now: Time And Responsibility: The Ideas Behind The World’s Slowest Computer New York: Basic Books Brand, Stewart. 1994. How Buildings Learn New York: Viking Bush-Brown, Albert. 1960. Louis Sullivan New York: George Braziller, Inc. Collins, Peter. 1965. Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press Cousins, Garnet R. and Paul Maximuke. “Detroit’s Last Depot,” Trains, August/September 1978 Czarnecki, John. “Gelfland Partners Architects,” Contract, November/December 2011 Davis, Howard. 1999. The Culture of Building Oxford: Oxford University Press Delicato, Armando and Julie Demery. 2007. Detroit’s Corktown USA: Arcadia Publishing Ferry, W. Hawkins. 1970. The Legacy of Albert Kahn Detroit: Detroit Institute of the Arts Ferry, W. Hawkins. 1980. The Buildings of Detroit: A History Detroit: Wayne State University Press Fortmeyer, Russell. “All Aboard,” Contract, November/December 2011 Goldsworthy, Andy. 2000. Time New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Hiss, Tony. 1990. The Experience of Place New York: Vintage Books Hildebrand, Grant. 1974. Designing for Industry: The Architecture of Albert Kahn. Cambridge: The MIT Press Hill, Eric. 2003. AIA Detroit: Guide to Detroit Architecture. Detroit: Wayne State University Press Hyde, Charles. 1980. Detroit: an Industrial History Guide Detroit: Detroit Historical Society
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Kavanaugh, Kelly. 2001. Detroit’s Michigan Central Station Charleston: Arcadia Publishing Lidwell, William, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler. 2003. Universal Principles of Design Gloucester: Rockport Publishers, Inc Marx, Carl and Frederick Engels. 1998. The Communist Manifesto, A Modern Edition London and New York: Verso McHale, John. 1962. R. Buckminster Fuller New York: George Braziller, Inc. Moore, Andrew. 2010. Detroit Disassembled Bologna: Damiani Editore Mrozek, David J. 2008. Railroad Depots of Michigan: 1910-1920 Charleston: Arcadia Publishing Palasmaa, Juhani. 2005. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Puppi, Lionello. 1973. Andrea Palladio Boston: New York Graphic Society Speyer, A. James. 1968. Mies van der Rohe Art Institute of Chicago: Chicago Trachtenberg, Marvin. 2010. Buildings-In-Time New Haven and London: Yale University Press Watts, Andrew. 2010. Modern Construction Handbook. Vienna: Springer-Verlag
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