Wolverine's Undergrad Capstone Project

[RustTown]

From the report I'd dug up before "Reality vs. Perceptions An Analysis of Crime and Safety in Downtown Detroit", prepared by Michigan Metropolitan Information Center and Wayne State University, for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, the in the summer of 2005 CBD Proper has a working population of 73,849. This is the area the report calls the Downtown Visitors Area (DVA), and lines up with what is commonly defined as the CBD (i.e. river to the south, Fisher to the north, Lodge to the west (including Riverfront Towers), and 375 to the east).

http://www.tedconline.com/uploads/DMCVB_Ju...inal_Report.pdf

It's been at around 75,000 for years, now.

[detroitfan]

The Downtown Partership has employment at 80,500 in the downtown core

http://downtowndetroit.org/ddp/market_data.htm

[rbdetsport]

The Downtown Partership has employment at 80,500 in the downtown core

http://downtowndetroit.org/ddp/market_data.htm

[RustTown]

Actually, for that number in particular is in the list that says "Downtown Core (within freeways)," so, it seems its around 74,000 to 80,000.

[wolverine]

Alright, here's an early drawing of my ideas for the placement of Cobo

THE OLD:

THE NEW

Here's what the colors mean (I need to fix them on the old map)

OLD MAP

All Blue indicates it is part of the civic center. Light Blue are ramps for visitors and service. Dark blue is pedestrian walkways Blue shapes labeled with a P are parking.

All grey indicates existing buildings

All red is the people mover, circles are stations

All green is park space

All orange is freeway

All black is surface streets

Areas with the yellow dotted line means it would be an effected area for new construction

Areas with a pink line indicate they are public facing walls for Cobo

NEW MAP

Blue is again for Cobo, but the really bright shape is a hotel tower.

The darker blue indicates commercial or residential development as a part of the Cobo project

Yellow is parking...all underground accessed by service ramps

The rest of the colors are the same.

PREMISE

What I want to create is a civic center that is active at all times. It will be a large mixed used facility that is strongly integrated into the fabric of the city. My project will challenge the typical programatic uses of other convention centers. Allowing specifity to be an interestinng building for certain activities yet maintain large open functional space for large events like the Autoshow. Nearly all sides of this building are "open." I intend to engage the Riverfront, Hart Plaza, Jefferson Ave, a new park, a new commercial district north of the center. The detachment of smaller exhibition space into seperate buildings allows for the continuity of the city grid. Yet, the building will be organized and connected in a fashion that is effecient and functional.

With parking simplified, there is no reason for the tangled mess behind Cobo. Joe Louis Arena has been relocated, and all parking structures have been demolished. Jefferson right of way has been restored, and the imposing effect of vehicular infrastructure has been minimized. The result is a cleaner, more organized layout. This weekend I will build a conceptual model to respresent my ideas in 3d. I'll post images when I complete it.

[Zissou]

Looking very cool so far. I like your concepts. Curious, in the "New" Hart Plaza seems to extend out into the river a bit more. Is that deliberate or just something that happened when doing the concept rendering?

[dtown]

That looks awesome to me wolverine. Cant wait to see those 3d's.

[RustTown]

Wolverine, my eyes are probably deceiving me, but your idea for a new Cobo would be bigger than the old, right? The whole point is to get a bigger center out of this.

[Zissou]

Im assuming were looking at a facility with multiple floors. This makes sense when you see that some of the structure goes over Jefferson.

[wolverine]

The whole Hart Plaza in the River was an accident. I meant to push the greenshape back when I was editing the other ones but forgot. Oh well, I'll fix it before our pin up on Monday.

LMich, there will be multiple floors. This center will be much larger than the current Cobo. The larger volume may extend to the west for more open space. Currently the Autoshow is the only event that maximizes all of Cobo. Yet, the displays are becoming more divided. In fact, anyone who went this year, will have noticed walls were put up! The Autoshow may extend into multiple buildings in this instance. (linked by closed skywalks). I'm trying to follow the Philadelphia example where there is a reintegration of the grid, and specificity of buildings instead of one big box monolithic structure. I'm really not sure yet, I need to do sections to explore this.

Also this building does have multiple floors, the portions near the hotel tower will have up to 4 levels of smaller convention space, 1 of them will be a highbay space on the same floorplane as the main exhibition space. 3d concepts to come soon! Keep the suggestion, criticisms, concepts coming.

[tracer1138]

It's looking great Wolverine.

Are you presenting these on campus at any point?

I'd like to stop by the AA building and see the finished project, assuming that's where the review is and if it's open to the public.

[Zissou]

Wolverine the more I study your plan the more I really like it. Im looking forward to the next batch of renders. Im curious have you figured out a price yet? Im trying to see how this would stack up with whats being tossed out there right now for cobo.

[wolverine]

The price tag is nearing $2 billion unfortunately. The cost escalated with the reconfiguration of the Lodge freeway and the addition of a hotel tower.

Since U of M's architecture program is more design oriented, the whole cost idea has become less significant in the project. Oh well, fine by me!

In general, my instructor liked my proposal. There were just a couple things he found problems with. The northmost border (I forgot the street) has a few buildings. They are small 60's modernish, but somewhat under-utilized. I want to clear them out to extend the underground parking. I felt since they were being replaced by office/residential anyway it wouldn't make a big difference. He also had an issue with the demolition of a very old 1920's parking garage. I'm not sure if he was serious or joking, because at the end of the discussion he seemed to agree that my proposal for that area was fine.

He also didn't care for the area of Jefferson bounded on both sides by convention center space since my proposal calls for mostly commercial space on the perimeter to create an active urban streetwall. Well, the fact is you need areas that are entirely convention! How will people know where the entrances are! Besides, Jefferson isn't exactly the type of street to create an intimate environment on. I felt it allowed me enough straight-away for drop off zones on each side of the boulevard. So I plan on keeping this. Again, I explained this and he didn't challenge it, so I don't know.

My only personal worries about this project is that street wedged between the two smaller convention spaces. I'm having a hard time picturing that as an active street, but I think the link between Jefferson and the rest of the city at that point is important. Perhaps I can really strengthen that into a retail corridor somehow, by having stores and restaurants on the ground level of Cobo.

Whether or not this whole idea of commercial space on the perimeter will work or not isn't too much of a concern for me right now. I think the build up of commercial space anywhere in the CBD is necessary to connect the islands of retail like Woodward Ave and Greektown. It's proximity to the financial district will also be very beneficial. Heaven forbid I call that project "The Shoppes @ Cobo Centre."

[Zissou]

I am in agreement with you about Jefferson. The street isnt pedestrian friendly as it is and I think what you accomplished with restoring the street grid and taking Jefferson all the way through will have a much greater impact on downtown then storefronts or businesses fronting right there. Really though, the only place where there are actual businesses on Jefferson is east of Millender and west of UDM so its not that big of a deal. The retail on the street you mention might be tough to start but eventually there will need to be some street/street level link between that part of downtown and the area just west of the new convention center.

Its a solid plan, the only thing I dislike is the 2 billion dollar tag which assures that nothing like this will ever happen.

[Jasoncw]

I think having the space separated into different buildings is good. Convention centers are so big and vast and open. I think breaking it down gives a better mental image of the convention space to the visitors. The simplified parking is also a good idea.

I noticed you reworked the people mover, but it still curves all the way to the river front? There's a station there, but it seems like the first station in teh big building would be enough, wouldn't it?

I would be happy if this was made.

[wolverine]

Yeah, I wanted there to be a station the reaches the Riverfront, where people can get off for the Riverfront only.

Yeah, the 2 billion is very steep when with the current situation, people don't want to fork over the 700 million just to renovate it. There are ways it can get paid for though. For example, the building could be owned privately, like many other convention centers. Privately owned convention centers tend to be bigger and better in terms of what they have to offer to be competitive. In Detroit's instance, I think there can be both a little private and public investment. The city would still make money off this place by taxes.

[statedude3]

The people mover does not have direct riverfront access. Maybe a station on that side would encourage more people to utalize this public space. I know it's not far from the financial district or ren cen stations, but we all know how people don't like walking around here.

oops...i didnt see the post right above me

[rbdetsport]

Wolverine, doesn't the auto makers want one floor of necessary space? I thought that the automakers didn't like having exhibits on 2 floors at the auto show?

[wolverine]

There is only 1 floor of continuous space. The lower, or ground levels contain smaller meeting rooms, banquet, concet spaces, etc. The only difference here is the additional space is joned by way of a connector over the road. The width of this will be determined when I start drawing sections and plans of the building. The largest massing you see contains an exhibit hall that is larger than the existing Cobo, but the portion across Jefferson offers even more space as the Autoshow grows.

[rbdetsport]

It looks smaller to me.

[wolverine]

That's because you need to take into account that the original mass of Cobo is filled with meeting rooms, concourse and service space within the entire volume where my larger mass is almost exclusively exhibitionn space with the exception of an area of concourse space along Jefferson.

I think I mentioned this earlier, but I have not gotten into the specifics of actual square footage of certain spaces. This is just a CONCEPT for the placement of various volumes of the project. I also stated earlier that large exhibition space may be stretched to the West as needed when the time comes to determining floor space. But actual square footages will be determined when I start making plans and sections. Cobo can't be designed in a week afterall.

[Jasoncw]

Yeah, I think you'll be able to get a lot more open space just by rearranging everything. Cobo's a bit of a mess. I think it'll work out really well.

[jas49503]

I just spent a week visiting San Diego's very impressive convention center. It contains 1.5 mill square feet on three floors and provides a nice example of which to model Cobo after. Just like Cobo it sits on the water, is on the south end of downtown, contains a nice park (plaza) next to it. there is also a great physical and psychological barrier to the south (opposite downtown) which would be similar to the lodge and bridge. It takes the form of wolverines new design for cobo except that it does not cross harbor dr. (similar to jefferson), and there is no hotel. the parking is underground similar to wolverines. On the water side there are several very nice terraces which I think add very much to the experience. I can tell you that when you are cooped up all day in some convention center that you want to get outside and look at some water for a break. across from harbor dr. there is a trolly and commuter rail, although I am not sure if the commuter rail stops there.

One of the things that make the center so nice is it's proximity to entertainment, dining and lodging. no attempt was made to provide any of this on harbor drive but it is abundently available within one block. If I were to suggest any changes it would be to eliminate the hotel and extend cobo even further along the river. I would place the people mover on the city side of cobo because it would be much more accessible to people not using the convention center. it would also preserve the waterfront's unobstructed views for several teraces that should be placed at every level. underground parking should be mandatory. there should also be a great deal of natural light within. The NAIAS requires much open space but there should be the ability to subdivide the space into many auditoriums seating as few as a hundred people and as many as 1000. there also needs to be a way to manage traffic in front or side including cabs and shuttle busses. the management of traffice is extremely important because many conventions require people to be transported in the morning and eventing with not as much during the day. the meeting I was just at had about 40-50k people that arrived around 8 am and left between 5-6 pm.

just some observations. If I can figure it out I will try and post some phots demonstrating what I was talking about since I"m not sure if I explained it properly.

[wolverine]

Okay, so we had our mid review (a project critique for you non-architects) yesterday on Monday. Mid-reviews are usually very tough because the critics are asking more out of you.

They were pretty hard on our class, but I'm trying to find the best way why. For example, a student would say, "I don't like the way the lodge freeway goes under the building in a way that Cobo hardly get seen, yet their proposal clearly showed a new Cobo with a freeway going beneath it! So basically, many projects with ideas that simply would not work. As for mine, I had a pretty good critique..not in that my project was perfect, actually they had many suggestions, but I found all of them very valuable.

First off, they like my idea. They thought that breaking apart Cobo into smaller blocks is good. They also thought a mixed use ideas was excellent and the hotel tower is great. In fact, everyone so far including my instructor has liked the idea of a hotel tower.

So what is wrong? Well, they think the idea needs to be much stronger. Perhaps Cobo gets split apart even MORE. More retail, more restaurants, way more residential. They aren't saying the presence of a convention building needs to be totally eliminated rather, that no one wants to walk 2 blocks past a convention center, even if its divided up. Maybe I didn't make the retail portions strong enough, but I think they were looking at Jefferson. Otherwise, really no other complaints. In a good way, what they are asking of me allows more freedom in design, rather than such a heavy focus on practicality. I'm excited about that, but I still need to be cautious and not go crazy and make a seven level convention space or something lol. Anyway, after spring break we are going to be talking with our instructor and kind of go over what was dicussed and what will be our next move. It's possible my project is just about to get bigger.

Here's the model. PLEASE keep in mind the following things

This is NOT a model of the buildings appearance.

This model IS a representation of building massing relative to the city.

This model IS a indicator of the height of various portions of the building as well as areas of different program like hotel, convention, retail, etc.

This model WAS started the night before my review so Cobo was built in a bit of a rush. A lot more could have been added for detail, but I valued sleep more. In fact the people mover is absent in the model, but will be in the future. This is okay though, it was expected this model would be unfinished and will be modified as the project develops in the future. This version of Cobo is removable (note the paper overlay) so you will see several studies placed upon this model in the future.

BTW, hope you like the black reflective Detroit river. It's called being architectural. Just like how architects like to gray out surrounding buildings in fear they will distract from the importance of their building.

[wolverine]

Okay, so we had our mid review (a project critique for you non-architects) yesterday on Monday. Mid-reviews are usually very tough because the critics are asking more out of you.

They were pretty hard on our class, but I'm trying to find the best way why. For example, a student would say, "I don't like the way the lodge freeway goes under the building in a way that Cobo hardly get seen, yet their proposal clearly showed a new Cobo with a freeway going beneath it! So basically, many projects with ideas that simply would not work. As for mine, I had a pretty good critique..not in that my project was perfect, actually they had many suggestions, but I found all of them very valuable.

First off, they like my idea. They thought that breaking apart Cobo into smaller blocks is good. They also thought a mixed use ideas was excellent and the hotel tower is great. In fact, everyone so far including my instructor has liked the idea of a hotel tower.

So what is wrong? Well, they think the idea needs to be much stronger. Perhaps Cobo gets split apart even MORE. More retail, more restaurants, way more residential. They aren't saying the presence of a convention building needs to be totally eliminated rather, that no one wants to walk 2 blocks past a convention center, even if its divided up. Maybe I didn't make the retail portions strong enough, but I think they were looking at Jefferson. Otherwise, really no other complaints. In a good way, what they are asking of me allows more freedom in design, rather than such a heavy focus on practicality. I'm excited about that, but I still need to be cautious and not go crazy and make a seven level convention space or something lol. Anyway, after spring break we are going to be talking with our instructor and kind of go over what was dicussed and what will be our next move. It's possible my project is just about to get bigger.

Here's the model. PLEASE keep in mind the following things

This is NOT a model of the buildings appearance.

This model IS a representation of building massing relative to the city.

This model IS a indicator of the height of various portions of the building as well as areas of different program like hotel, convention, retail, etc.

This model WAS started the night before my review so Cobo was built in a bit of a rush. A lot more could have been added for detail, but I valued sleep more. In fact the people mover is absent in the model, but will be in the future. This is okay though, it was expected this model would be unfinished and will be modified as the project develops in the future. This version of Cobo is removable (note the paper overlay) so you will see several studies placed upon this model in the future.

BTW, hope you like the black reflective Detroit river. It's called being architectural. Just like how architects like to gray out surrounding buildings in fear they will distract from the importance of their building.

jasonq,

If you have photos of the interior of the center, please post. I'm interested in seeing them. I've only walked along the outside of the building last time I was in SD. As you mentioned, the center does incorporate a large amount of natural light, which is one of my goals with this project.

Additionally, I forgot to mention this, but I plan for this building to be environmentally friendly. I think that is very important with the fact that buildings account for almost 50% of our energy consumption.