BUILDING YARD CONCEPT
The building is a ruin which seems frozen through time. The project is considering the time factor. Indeed, the principle is to develop a new independent structure that reminds the building yard structure, a structure which considers the past but is new and build for future. This structure can be removed, depending on future needs of the city of Detroit.
NEW FACADE
The new facade is the backbone of the building. The large metal structure is like a canvas with the city's daily life artists working, exhibitions, events, visitors... So it transforms the image of the building from a dead icon element into something dynamical, always in motion.
EXPOSITION
Negotiate between old and new in an active and engaging manner. The process is the same for the whole city and for any construction element: evolving. Our intervention is materialized by an independent element that is added to the vessel but which does not alter the inner part of the structure. This independent element consists of floor, wall, posts and beams. Thus the Ground Floor, the main reception area, the new structure is a floor placed 5 meters high, providing access to architectural details that were previously invisible to our eyes. We use neglect to expose value.
TYPOLIGIES OF FLOORS
To have diversity on the floors, the concept is to mix the activities, the residences, the ateliers, the exposition, and the circulation. The project works on the floors with three different typologies: On the first floor, the circulation is central, using the existing walls, the activities are residences A South and the ateliers A North. The second floor is composed of an external circulation, on the new structure. In this proposition, rooms are traversing and there is an alternance between residences and ateliers. The third floor has the particularity to have interior and exterior circulations.
LOOP SYSTEM
The existing railway infrastructure is becoming an important connection to the rest of the territory in Detroit, the United States, and also Canada. Indeed it is only at this point that the rails pass through a tunnel to connect the city of Detroit to Canada. The LOOP system train is the physical extension of the DSFA. The cars are traveling and bring to the whole country exhibition and workshops.
