2G1/3G4 - ARCH 552 - FALL 2025
Exuberance – a celebration of public space
At the intersection of Joy & Artesian, on Detroit’s westside, sits a parking lot where the community gathers on Tuesday afternoons for market day. It is a place to share time together over food, music, making and conversation; a space of shared experience and public expression. This activity is not visible other days of the week, when the site is simply pavement. How can design make the energy of this neighborhood evident everyday? How can the infrastructure of a place keep pace with the vitality and desires of its residents?
Students in this studio section were asked to design a public market incorporating cultural programming, small scale production facilities, and a community kitchen. Designs were challenged to incorporate sustainable systems and principles of the circular economy. Projects reimaginined relationships between producer and consumer, stewardship and ownership, and the rights and responsibilities of common space.
Through a series of research exercises and precedent studies at the start of the semester, students will investigate ways architecture can actively participate in the celebration of a neighborhood.