MCR Matthew C Rheingans
Working in The Void
Traditional viewed negatively as an absence or emptiness. Void as also be read as the potential for new possibilities unconstrained by presence of the objects, understandings and conditions. The city of Detroit is one often characterized by void. Seen negatively by typical growth oriented urban theories the voids of Detroit provide fertile grounds for kinds of experimentation, informal urbanism and populist work that increases agency for the people living in these “voids� and empowers them to imagine new urban possibilities. Much has been made of the reinvestment in the areas of Midtown, Downtown, New Center, and Corktown but these efforts on concentrated pockets of vitality ignore that vast major of the cities empty space, the neighborhoods. The project positions itself as a way to work in neoghborhoods and capitalize on the DIY nature and resiliency of the people of there. Placed based schooling uses the outdoors and the city itself as a classroom to each kids in a project oriented way. This not only gets kids out in the city but also sparks their interests in projects that they implement through out the city, teaching kids community involvement and to pursue interests.
MCR
The Blot
Matthew C Rheingans
A blot is a unit of land between a lot and a block. Blotting is a common practice in Detroit where in a neighbor acquires adjacent lots that are abandoned increasing their own lot size. Using blotting as inspiratio a system was developed where in a classroom had an adjacent outdoor space. These blots added together to form the grounds of the school.
Residential lot
Classroom
Outdoor lot
100
30
40
50
45
60
75
Development of unit sizes using residential lot
Organization of the classes and their outdoor spaces
The classroom and out space as a unit
MCR Matthew C Rheingans
Place Based School
Plan