EMERGING
from THICKNESS
DSFA detroit station for the arts
The traveler gets off the train. He arrives in Detroit for a business meeting. The monumentality of the station from the early 20th century shows his stability and posture. The heavy facade made of brick walls is punctuated by metallic emergences growing from the original iron bones. Three abstract squares and a new coping are exhibited to the traveler. These thin and light elements are working through the weight and the thickness of the building. The elegant pieces highlight and underline the structure of the old station. Poetry arises from the tight relationships
between the old and the new. The late lights are playing with volumes and materials and offer by contrasts a respectful link. The 4 emergences are resonnning with the programmatic rebirth of the central station : workshops for artists, exhibition areas, a conference center including a large auditorium, and some housing units (residences and hotel rooms). The lightning boxes reveal the inside uses. The traveler can imagine the hive of activity that reigns behind and aroud the strong walls, in the thickness, in the heart of the building.
First he get down under the railway before emerging in the first hall, where he can spend several minutes to walk through the temporary exhibition. Deeper in the station, the height of the historical ceiling lets the traveler hear the sound of the restaurant on the left. There he could later enjoy dinner on the refurbished original rooms. On the right, the main lobby, information center and shops. Then reaching the main entrance, in the large hall takes place an other exhibition. Here the traveler meet his client.
EMERGING
from THICKNESS hotel rooms
bar / terrasse
exhibition area
auditorium
atelier
gallery
main entrance / exhibition area
3
auditorium
ateliers area
4
5 2
common workshop
ateliers area 1 6
main entrance exhibition hall
restaurant gallery shops / lobbies
bar
showroom
access to the departure quay
exit
D A
B
A Main entrance hall Exhibition space B Galery,
information point, showrooms, shops, ... Lobbies
E
F C
D Service area E Waiting hall
Exhibition area
F Access to the
departure quay
C Bar
Restaurant
Redefined circulation for an optimum distribution of private and public spaces, with all security concerns
Public terrasse The never-used upper level is defined as a public terrasse, offering views and chilling spot with the bar
Residence for artists 240 Studios from 50 to 100m²
Emergences Common spaces and art center facilities : the only elements actually built during the rehabilitation : Common workshops / Exhibition spaces / Auditorium
Ateliers Open and free floors available for units up to 100m² On each floor stand the requiered number of studios for the atelier’s area
The traverler is a painter. Or a photographer or a film director. Maybe a dancer or a graphic designer. From the lobby, he is led to his apartment that takes place in one of the wing of the station. Once he left his luggage, he can enter the heart of the factory. The principal body of the building is empty. The entire floor is an open and free space, inhabited by a forest of posts and beams that let the light slipped from one facade to another. To favor the unchanging north light, the south elevation comes unstuck from the floors. The void creates an atrium, a link between the different workshops levels. Except this space managed between the wall and the floor, nothing have been done in the interiror. Here stands the original spirit of the famous abandonned building. Here and there some artists set their working units and share the plateau that is put in tension between the thick facades. The only element actually built is the common atelier : one emmergence fitted and working as a factory. This is the first step, the traveler will start working to create his own working space, then he could also do some big scale works. There are 2 common ateliers, with various heights. The fault along the south facade is fitted with a gantry crane that allows moving works from the common spaces to individual ateliers or exhibition rooms. During the residence of several weeks, artists can work night and day. This time will end and be concluded by an exhibition in one of the rooms or halls of the station.
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The traverler is fascinated by arts. He comes this weekend to visit an old friend, a photographer. Off the train, he walks through the exhibitions before he can get the keys of his room. The hotel stands on top of the station and gives to the room incredible views on Detroit. The room is also playing with thcikness : the duplex offers a room extended from one side of the building to another. Put in a distance from the facades, the metallic filters play with lights and the sky. At the foot of the hotel, the bar takes place in the never-used upper floor of the original station. Resonning with this historical use, the level stays empty. It’s a large terrasse in the open air, thought as a public space, open to everyone. The structure of the building is exposed and revealed : posts and beams, heavy facades. The bar is open, on the outside stand happenings and exhibitions. The traveler reach the atelier to meet his old friend. Then they can spend some times in the common space of the large workshop to discuss his work and exhibition to come.
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5 Retired from car industry, the inhabitant is enjoying spring time. On saturday evening, he enters the heart of the station and hang around the exhibitions. He reach to the public terrasse to enjoy a drink on top of the city. Here some dancing performances and sculptures take place. Curious, the visitor goes down to the exhibitions rooms. Here he hears about the beginning of the lecture in a few minutes : he reach the auditorium. It’s a spring night in Deroit, the DCFA is highighting the city and the sky, with the hive of activity coming back and giving the station a new life, a rebirth from the thickness.
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