FRAMING THE EMPTINESS
now that sociopolitical tensions between the inner city and the metro area have eased somewhat, downtown detroit is experiencing a gradual recovery. the inner city still bears more resemblance to suburbia than to a thriving metropolis, however.
our proposal for revitalizing the detroit riverfront embraces the emptiness, sense of open space, and silence permeating the detroit inner city as positive and noteworthy qualities of this postindustrial urban landscape and lends these specific qualities a physical, architectural form. the entire area between the renaissance center and cobo center is cleared of incidental, banal, and leftover structures. this creates a spacious, large-scale urban green area, including a park. at its eastern and western edges, the park slopes gently upward to a height of eight meters so that its basement can accommodate all of the existing infrastructure, such as atwater street, the detroit-windsor tunnel, car parking, etc. at the same time, this “lifting” of the green space at both sides creates an urban space with pronounced performative characteristics for those who spend time there: visitors to the park are both actors and audience on this double-sided “stage.”
ninety meters above this theatrical green space, the wire-frame structure of the DETROIT AIR STADIUM hangs delicately in the air as if weightless. this ring-shaped structure offers a spectacular new place for detroit residents and visitors from all over the world to visit. this is the inception of a new and unprecedented type of structure, one that condenses the emptiness by actively creating empty space. the poetic paradox of a shrinking city: the structure as framework, a framework instead of a volumetric structure.
the project's three elements – the DETROIT AIR STADIUM, the basin-shaped park, and the pier extending farther out into the river – set the stage for a breathtaking sense of freedom. this creates a suggestive, high-impact urban realm of possibilities, a noncommercial space that may help prompt new inspirations in terms of designing and crafting a postindustrial city. the site will offer a glimpse of the new detroit.