Motor City Morphologies : Constructed Ecologies of Detroit's Midtown Area by Daniel Fougere

Motor City Morphologies Constructed Ecologies of Detroit's Midtown Area

Despite prevailing images of Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blight and decay, the city is not a homogeneous, static field in a continuous state of depression. Rather, it is a multi-layered network in which outcroppings of vibrancy, expressed in the built environment, co-exist with conditions of dissolution. This book takes a transect through the center of Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Midtown area, discerning the morphologies of constructed ecologies and their corresponding species of buildings and infrastructures. Within this area, encompassing the blocks along Cass, Woodward, and John R, we identify four ecologies, initially defined by prevailing ground conditions. These are Rivers, Savannah, Impermea-Plain, and Archipelago. Each of these is colonized by a variety of built objects, their shape and arrangement conditioned by institutional and social forces. The experience of each ecology is distinct, and directly related to the built environment. The ecologies and their corresponding species form a network, host to the vibrancy and decay of the physical environment.

Table of Contents

Mapping 8/11

Rivers 12/19

Savannah 20/27

Impermea-plain 28/35

Archipelago 36/43

Streets 47

Greater Downtown Detroit

Figure / Ground

Archipelago

Impermea-plain

Savannah

Rivers Morphologies 11

Rivers Infrastructural Formations 12/19

Rifts and plateaus shape the concrete-covered earth in the landscape known as the Rivers. This ecology is networked throughout and around the midtown region, at times isolating it from and at other times connecting it to the surrounding city. Within the area of investigation, it forms deep rifts and a dramatic geography, marking barriers while also bleeding into adjacent ecologies.

Its depth and slope corresponds to its surroundings, classified into a number of formations. The ecology protrudes into the adjacent Savannah, forming an alluvial floodplain colonized by Heat Islands at which point cars may stop, marking a steady erosion of stillness into this neighboring ecology. Additional infrastructural species include Trenches, Carriers, Bipedal Valves

and Sedimentary Byways. Certain building species also colonize the Riversâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Blocks, which originated in other ecologies, but which form the perimeter of the Rivers; and Skeletons, also abundant throughout the Impermea-Plain, large parking infrastructures through which the automotive flow of the Rivers washes.

SPECIES

Trenches Massive depressed roadways below the level of the rest of the city

Sedimentary Byways Secondary streets cutting laterally across the major

Sedimentary Byways

Carriers Major streets (Cass, Woodward, John R) stretching from Detroit's center outwards

Bipedal Valves Pedestrian crossways

Heat Islands Open-air parking lots

MAPPING

Rivers Ecology

Skeletons Heat Islands Carriers Bipedal Valves Sedimentary Byways Trenches

Rivers Species 17

DIAGRAM

Savannah Objects in an Abandoned Field 20/27

The Savannah is abandoned grassland in a state of transitionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;overgrown and lowdensity, with buildings dispersed throughout. Because of the large amount of empty space, the species are classified in relation to the space of the ground they inhabit. Because of the low-density and stand-alone quality of the

buildings, what becomes legible is their size in relation to one another, as well as the density of their distribution. The ecology is in a state of erosion as (1) a field with continually dissolving fabric and (2) an entire object undergoing fission, being split in two by the forces to the north and south, magnetized by the corridor of Woodward

Ave, which constitutes a distinct region within the Savannah. Within this dissolved organization are a diversity of building types, land, and distributionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;large Biggies, Flat-Landers, and Villages occupy the same barren field as the ornate Relics and the isolated Solos, fragments of a once-unified semi-suburbia.

SPECIES

Solos Stand-alone houses

Villages Medium-scale complexes

Flat-Landers Single story, often faceless

Biggies Large, tall buildings covered with windows

Relics Ornate, geometrically complex buildings

MAPPING

Savannah Ecology

Relics Biggies Flat-Landers Meadows Villages Solos Heat Islands

Savannah Species 25

DIAGRAM

Impermea-plain Structures Amid the Concrete 28/35

Impermea-Plain is a landscape of sun-baked and winter-worn asphalt, shaped by two opposing forcesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the tendency towards huge collectivity on the one hand, and suburban individuality, structured by nuclear families, on the other. Market forces and the institutional Archipelago to the north have made Impermea-plain a popular destination for human inhabitants, who populate the various Outposts,

newly built Turrets, and remnants of previous eras, Relics. The tendency towards bigness occasionally sprouts Skeletons within the fabric of parking lots, spiraling concrete structures extending the trajectory of cars to their resting place several stories above the ground level. From these, inhabitants visit the various institutions, in the nearby Archipelago. The various surface lots, or Heat Islands,

which accommodate visitors to the ecology on the ground, on the other hand, have deteriorated the first system of the American dream, warping its grid and linear organization to produce Clusters, building formations of varying height and material, like the aggregated materials comprising the concrete that sustained this ecologyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development.

SPECIES

Clusters Agglomerations of buildings with roofs at various heights

Skeletons Parking structures

Turrets Large monuments, often clad in glass

Relics Ornate, geometrically complex buildings

Outposts Single-story, isolated

MAPPING

Impermea-plain Ecology

Turrets Clusters Outposts Relics

Skeletons Heat Islands

Impermea-plain Species 33

DIAGRAM

Archipelago Manicured Lawns & Instituions 36/43

The richest of the four ecologies is the Archipelago, forming a sanctuary shaped by large-scale institutional investment in the area. It contains two primary forms of organization—(1) Temples, Ingressors, and Grazers—large, stand-alone monolithic structures in the ecology’s center, and (2) Villages—smaller scattered species

at the fringes. Underlying these two species is the ground—in much part lush and manicured, feeding off the richness and vibrancy of the ecology’s culture and controlled by forces of authority. The urban morphology is one of varying scale and density. At all edges of the ecology, the species are vulnerable to cross-pollination

with built forms from the adjacent ecologies. Smaller accesses on the north and south sides attest to the ecology’s permeability. The mass and dispersal of the architectural species keep the Archipelago intact, preventing infiltration of decay from the surrounding regions.

SPECIES

Skeletons Parking structures

Villages Medium-scale complexes

Grazers Large-scale institutional complexes

Ingressors Cultural institutions clustered around walkable spaces

Temples Monolithic, free standing monuments

MAPPING

Archipelago Ecology

Grazers Villages

Ingressors Temples

Skeletons Heat Islands

Archipelago Species 41

DIAGRAM

Postscript

It is no secret that Detroit is plagued with blight and decay, especially near the urban core. This has been a well documented topic in the news surrounding the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bankruptcy process. However, when one looks closer and examines the neighborhoods of Detroit one may be surprised at the vibrancy that remains in certain areas. The work in this book seeks to arrive at an understanding of Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s midtown by framing its urban ecology and categorizing the species that inhabit it. Motor City Morphologies introduces its readers to the growth aand burgeoning life here, an area rife with potential for a variety of possible modes of inhabitation.

University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning arch552

| Networks Studio | Fall 2014 Kathy Velikov