Uniroyal Site Renderings

[rbdetsport]

The other day while enjoying the beautiful day of techno music and great sports in downtown Detroit I came across a rendering board in the lobby of the Ford Building. I am pretty sure it was SDG Design offices. I was eating at Jimmy Johns and I saw through the window these renderings:

West Side of Site-

East Side of Site bordering MacArthur Bridge-

Seems Pretty interesting to me! BTW, sorry for the blurryness. Tried to make it as clear as possible. Had to take the pic through the window since the office was closed.

[RustTown]

Not sure that's what I envisioned, to be honest. Uniroyal still has a very long way to go before shovels get in the ground, though. I think they are still fighting over how much those that polluted the land have to help pay for soil remediation.

[wolverine]

It's okay, but a bit monotonous looking. All the buildings look the same. Although it's just a concept, not what would actually be on the site.

[Jasoncw]

Something I 100% like about it is that the parking garages are inside the middle of the blocks, with the outdoor space on top. I also like the triangle parks. While they're not created by the same kind of geometry as the ones downtown, I still think it's a good characteristic to spread through the city. At the same time though, I question how much green space there is for the development being right next to the river walk and Belle Isle. I also like how the streets are continued from the other side of Jefferson. And I like how there is a nice street wall. I also like how the buildings are taller on Jefferson, but I don't know what I think about the fake building variety though.

It looks like the architecture is similar to a building they designed at U of M. While I don't think it's bad, and while I think it was appropriate for that project, I think that a project like the uniroyal site offers the opportunity to design a modern neighborhood. Immediately to the west of the site are a few historic buildings, but beyond that is a huge area of suburban urban renewal. To the north of the site beyond Jefferson there isn't much of anything. To the east is Big Boys. The only historic thing about the spot is what is no longer there. The only reason I can see to make it historical like that is to sell it to people who want to live in a historical building (but don't want to deal with a historical building) and who want to live in the city (but don't want to deal with the city). And it's hard to tell right now exactly, but I don't know if those buildings types or that historical architecture will actually be relevant to Detroit's history.

:: Hasn't worked on an architecture project since the semester ended ::

Thanks for getting the pics!