Focusing on the Grand River Corridor

January 8, 2001
Contact:
  • umichnews@umich.edu

Focusing on the Grand River Corridor

Focusing on the Grand River CorridorANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning will host its annual urban design charrette Jan. 12-16. Focusing on Detroit’s Grand River Corridor, this intensive, five-day planning and design workshop will bring together some of Detroit’s leading design professionals as well as top urban designers from across the nation and graduate students from several colleges at the U-M.

The charrette will culminate in a presentation of results on Jan. 16 at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria of Cass Technical High School. The public is invited to this presentation, which will provide the opportunity to view drawings and hear proposals from each of the four design teams.

The charrette will concentrate on a two-mile stretch of Grand River Avenue starting in downtown Detroit. This area offers many opportunities for development fronting the avenue, as well as in abutting neighborhoods—around the DTE headquarters, Cass Tech, Motor City Casino, Scripps Park, the HOPE VI project at Jeffries Homes, along the edge of Core City and Woodbridge Neighborhoods; and on and around the large vacant site of the former Wright School.

* * * * * * *

WHAT IS A DESIGN CHARRETTE?The short answer is that it is an illustrated brainstorm. The long answer is a five-day, intensive design and planning workshop in which competing teams led by design professionals develop design proposals and present them at a public review. It is meant to advance creative but feasible solutions to social, civic, and environmental challenges through civic outreach and community service. It can galvanize a neighborhood, jump-start real projects, or generate a vision for a neighborhood.

WHO WILL BE INVOLVED?Distinguished design professionals, community representatives, and faculty members from Taubman College will co-lead each of the four 12-member student teams. There will also be other consultants including several urban historians and a public artist working with the teams.

WHEN AND WHERE?The charrette will take place from Friday,
There will be a public slide presentation and discussion of the charrette results on Tuesday evening in the cafeteria of Cass Technical High School, to which all interested parties and stakeholders, from local residents to the Mayor and City Council, are invited. A booklet will be produced that documents the results of both the charrette and follow-up studios. This booklet will be distributed to stakeholders, participants, elected officials and interested citizens.

WHY?A city’s re-development efforts benefit from creative planning and design in the formative stages. Urban design is an interactive process that involves illustrating and testing ideas and plans in three dimensions. This charrette is offered pro bono to the community as a contribution towards the revitalization of Detroit as the city defines itself for the next century.

PARTICIPANTSThe visiting and local design professionals and faculty members participating in this charrette include:

Visiting Toni Griffin, Deputy Director, District of Columbia Department of Planning, Washington, D.C. Chris Lee, Johnson & Lee Ltd. Architects Planners, Chicago, Illinois Kit McCullough, Urban Design Associates, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Roy Strickland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Heather Thompson, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina George Thrush, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

Local Robert Gibbs, Gibbs Planning Group, Birmingham, Michigan Abe Kadushin, Kadushin Associates, Ann Arbor, Michigan Elisabeth Knibbe, Knibbe Architects, Ypsilanti, Michigan Mark Nickita, Archive DS, Detroit, Michigan Kevin Turner, Greater Downtown Partnership, Detroit, Michigan

University of Michigan Yvette Amstelveen – Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Art and Design Robert Beckley, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Taubman College Charles Bright ­ Lecturer in History, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Robert Fishman, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Taubman College Aseem Inam ­ Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Taubman College Douglas KelbaughColeman Jordan, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Taubman College Malcolm McCullough, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Taubman College Douglas Kelbaugh ­ Dean and Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Taubman College Peter Pollack, FASLA, Visiting Professor, Landscape Architecture, School of Natural Resources and Environment Rebecca Poyourow, University of Michigan, Arts of Citizenship Robert Self, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Michigan Society of Fellows, University of Michigan

Sponsors: University of Michigan

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Arts of Citizenship Program
Office of the President
Office of the Provost Detroit Edison Participating Organizations: City of Detroit
Office of the Mayor
Planning and Development Department University of Michigan
School of Natural Resources and Environment
School of Art and Design

 

A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban PlanningCass Technical High SchoolSchool of Art and DesignRobert BeckleyCollege of Literature, Science, and the ArtsAseem InamDouglas Kelbaugh