Noguchi designed many playgrounds, civic spaces, and sets for performance throughout his career; through these designs he hoped to activate ritualistic interaction that would channel the unconscious elements of our existence...
Sarah Cohen
July 6, 2023
The development of these “playscapes” or “playgrounds” is ongoing as they continually change to fit the needs of the modern child, and stretch the capabilities of design and technology. Following is a brief overview of the different architectural styles used in the design of playgrounds since their emergence, and the environmental factors that influenced this evolution...
Marissa Jezak
April 3, 2023
"A mile out of town the road goes into [the] forest and never comes out of it”. When young French writer Alexis de Tocqueville arrives in Detroit in 1831, intending to see some of America’s untouched wilderness, he describes vast forests on his travels from Detroit to Saginaw...
This text unpacks the history of trees in Detroit and contemplates new ways to incorporate forestry within the city
Leonie Hagen
April 4, 2022
As Detroit is seemingly slowly recovering, looking back at the development of Berlin might help to understand what could be at stake when imagining Detroit’s future; maybe Berlin can serve as a prediction of how Detroit’s urban landscape might develop if the wrong people are in charge. Just like Berlin a couple of decades ago, Detroit has the quite unique opportunity to redefine what kind of urban environment it wants to be.
Leonie Hagen
July 5, 2021
“An architectural extravaganza is hoped to return vitality to the doyenne of decayed downtowns—Detroit. But can architect John Portman draw crowds and keep them there? Will the transplant live but the body die?”
Leonie Hagen
April 26, 2021
The presence of clocks in public spaces provides a tool for the people while also sort of marking an awareness of the city’s own participation in contemporary society. When being mindful of timekeeping devices in the cityscape of Detroit, there are a handful to be found. Mostly Downtown in the Financial District, some seemingly randomly scattered across the city attached to various kinds of buildings. Some on abandoned mediocre buildings, some on very iconic buildings. Some on banks, some on office buildings, some on shopping malls, some on churches. A few working, most out of order. Some of those still working are set at a wrong time. Nobody seems to care, clocks have vanished from the people’s consciousness...
Leonie Hagen
February 1, 2021
Due to its sheer size, it is difficult, almost inappropriate, to describe the city of Detroit’s current condition with any one-sided perspective. It has recently been branded as “up and coming” because it has a Shinola Hotel, cocktail bars, and street lights that are turned on (in some locations). What can be misleading though, is the assumption that having a Shinola Hotel, and street lights, is all Detroit needs to turn into a healthy city. This raises questions of - Is that really enough?..
Riley Rinnan
January 18, 2021
When entire neighborhoods vanish from the physical space, and business corridors with their intertwined infrastructure disappear, there are questions we must ask ourselves: “How do we document these changes, and give back to the communities directly affected? How do we memorialize what a neighborhood once was? How can the function of open source data be expanded and utilized in the 21st century of “cloud computing”? What potential exists to archive our built environment and pay homage to structures that stand today and may not tomorrow?”...
Riley Rinnan
August 17, 2020