Detroit, Michigan, USA
Rotterdam-based architectural practice ΟΜΑ and Jason Long reinvent a former commercial bakery and warehouse building in Detroit’s East Village and transform it into a mixed-use arts hub.
Appointed by Library Street Collective, OMA’s project will revitalize the area as well as the existing industrial building — composed of three connected structures on a single parcel built at different times with each addition simpler than the building before it.
“The core of our mission in East Village is focused on creating an inclusive community centered around the arts,” explains Library Street Collective co-founder Anthony Curis.
“Progressive Art Studio Collective (PASC) and Signal-Return are two highly impactful nonprofits providing vital support and inspiration to the local arts community. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the neighborhood.”
Two local artist non-profits, Signal-Return and Progress Arts Studio Collective (PASC); affordable artist studios and art gallery; neighborhood-serving, creative retail; and a communal outdoor public space will occupy the renewed, 22,300 square-foot building.
Signal-Return and PASC will occupy approximately 8,500 square feet of the complex.
PASC is an art studio and exhibition program dedicated to supporting adults with developmental disabilities and mental health concerns.
Signal-Return is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and teaching traditional letterpress printing.
While different in disciplines and the communities they serve, both integrate art education, production, display, and retail to engage with and provide for the community.
OMA’s approach takes advantage of the building’s current state of disrepair, transforming an area missing both its roof and an end wall into a courtyard at the heart of the building.
Defined as the primary entry with multiple frontages for all tenants, the courtyard becomes a public, accessible gateway and an activity condenser.
Signal-Return and PASC’s diverse set of programs—art education, production, and display—are organized within and across the existing structures to maximize points of access and potential for community interface.
Production zones and artist studios create an active and inviting face to Amity Street; galleries line the courtyard to reinforce a public heart for the building, and neighborhood-serving functions are orchestrated on the opposite side of the courtyard to consolidate the most public amenities along Kercheval Avenue.
The existing, bricked openings will be opened strategically.
Operable windows are inserted at the studios to allow for ventilation; gallery windows are extruded to become art vitrines, and larger openings offer indoor-outdoor potentials for production spaces.
The south building faces the intersection of two prominent streets, Kercheval and McLellan, but is currently a solid expanse of concrete masonry (CMU).
Rather than imposing a new composition of windows, 1,500 holes will be drilled into the blank CMU walls and filled with cylindrical glass blocks.
This monolithic field of openings will subtly reveal activities within and become a glowing lantern at night.
Project: LANTERN (9301 Kercheval)
Architects: The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)
Project Architect: Samuel Biroscak
Design Team: Jason Long, Yiyao Wang, Cameron Fullmer, and Mariana Curti
Executive Architect: Metro Cad Group
Client: Library Street Collective
