MUD 712 - FALL 2025
STUDENTS
Yin-Tuan Joyce Hsueh, Tianchang Li
PROFESSOR
Gabriel Cuéllar
The P.I.L.O.T. Project reimagines Ann Arbor as a “student city” shaped by students’ everyday needs, desires, and lived experiences. While Ann Arbor is often described as one of the most livable cities in the United States, its urban fabric is strongly influenced by the University of Michigan, where students comprise a substantial portion of the population. The project identifies a spatial conflict between students’ dynamic daily activities and the mono-functional residential enclaves produced by large-lot campus tissues. These master-planned housing complexes prioritize standardized living environments and private amenities yet overlook the small-scale, mixed-use spaces essential to student life. In response, the design proposes human-scale, mixed-use interventions that reconnect living, learning, commerce, and social interaction within a more inclusive urban framework.