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Detroit Photo of the Day


Allan

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Object orange seem to know what they are doing. No doubt the houses are hazards to kids' safety and a target to arson. The city of Detroit needs to stop worrying about demoing historical buildings downtown and get rid of this garbage instead for a better Detroit.

I couldn't agree more. I hage to admit it, but Detroit has more empty and decayed housing than the city will ever be able to renovate for decades. It's time to spend the money to bring down the worst-of-the-worst in neighborhoods where revitalization won't happen for years, and stop worrying about the market downtown, and let it handle itself.

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I tried to find the orange houses a few weeks ago and had the hardest time. I searched high and low, finally spotted them from across the Davison Fwy, meandered through the so called "streets", and then they disappeared again.

Then, the cops were out, and I figured it would just be best if I left since I'd surely be mistaken for drug trafficking...as has happened before. ARG.

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You've gotta love how that one column is holding up the entire front half of the building. The beam resting on top of that column is broken, and there's only about an inch of wood that is holding the entire front half of the building up. Once that goes, the front facade will fall in.

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Well then, I guess it's going to be an alcove instead of an atrium!

Here' another:

140133884_3be30beb49_b.jpg

This was one crazy building. Fortunately Ilitch has sealed the place up pretty well now. I remember having to be careful with every step taken because the floor would collapse. There are signs of stress everywhere, especially on the top floors were even the steel frame doors are starting to twist out of shape.

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Judging by those pics, I can move right in! ;)

Seriously you guys...Have you seen the Mid Med Lofts lately? The whole time I'm thinking that they are going to "gut" the building but the tore the whole damn thing down and now the only thing standing is the facade and not a molecule more. The whole building is going to be brand new and that war FAR FAR FAR beyond my expectations. That just doesn't happen here in Detroit.

But now since it does, it can happen to the Fine Arts. And to offer even greater possibility, if that did happen, that small, little gap between it and the Kales, can be filled in without interruption if a whole new building were to be constructed.

What are your thoughts, architect sensaes?

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I know Im about to take some heat for this, but...

Considering the horrible state the interior is in, and its awkward placement in GCP (in between 2 highrises, that space between kales), it should be demolished. Sure, the facade is relatively attractive, but if the facade isnt big enogh to fill that space w/ Kales, building a new building around the facade doesnt seem to make sense. But I think w/ a growing downtown demand, maybe after some of the "dinosaur" buildings are occupied and there is a demand for more residential a larger building (20 stories or so, match its neighbors) should be built. We have an abundance of awesome 20s architecture, but part of the Next Detroit should compliment that with new buildings, maybe more modern. Or maybe a new building can encorporate the design of current Fine Arts and restore prominance in a grander building. Or maybe something more modern

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Well, I completely agree that some height would be nice there. In fact I hate the 2 or 3 story building almost near the corner. It breaks the rhythm of the skyscraper wall. The problem I see here is nothing will likely get built in its place within the next 20 years, despite things picking up. At times its easier for a developer to be a "do good person" and fix up an old historical building and acquire some grants/loans to do it. Not to mention the scale of this project isn't big.

Saving the facade is nothing new. In fact it's very common in many cities concerned about saving their historical buildings. Typically these structures though are very old and the interiors are somewhat unstable or fire hazards. In Detroit's case, you have a lot of early 20th century steel/concrete buildings that are rock solid. These are usually the first chosen as they are easier to renovate. So you don't see too much of the "Plymouth example" (We always seem to remember that). The Fine Arts building renovation would require the facade to be mounted to a temporary supporting structure. Whatever is salvagable inside (doors, staircase, lightfixtures, etc) would be removed and then the building would be demolished.

At this point, I hope that someone acts fast and gets the facade secured. I do want that to be saved. I do not trust any contermporary architecture in Detroit quite yet. The last great building constructed was Comerica Tower, and Compuware is pretty nice. But 1 Kennedy worries me, and I really want whatever would go on that site to make a statement. I see all the great new buildings going up in Chicago, New York, and more locally Grand Rapids and I'm jealous.

Below I'm going to introduce another concept that allows for a new building but saves the existing facade. I know it will look funny at first but when you are at street level, it's completely different. Keep in mind that we would assume in Detroit's case the worthless theater portion would be demolished as well as the interior structure of the FA building. I would suggest that there be a large base that would incorporate the FA facade and then a narrow tower that is set back slightly deeper into the lot. It might terrace up or something, but relate to the surrounding buildings. Additionally, A large automated parking structure would exist where the theater is, and the tower would sit on top of that.

Here's an example of where it's done in Chicago. The Heritage Building at Millenium Park is one of my favorite buildings since it has been built. But I didn't know until recently that incorporated historic facades until I took these photos.

Here's a photo of the base:

heritage1.jpg

And here's what the tower looks like:

135793026_ab67c078ed_b.jpg

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Below I'm going to introduce another concept that allows for a new building but saves the existing facade. I know it will look funny at first but when you are at street level, it's completely different. Keep in mind that we would assume in Detroit's case the worthless theater portion would be demolished as well as the interior structure of the FA building. I would suggest that there be a large base that would incorporate the FA facade and then a narrow tower that is set back slightly deeper into the lot. It might terrace up or something, but relate to the surrounding buildings. Additionally, A large automated parking structure would exist where the theater is, and the tower would sit on top of that.

By "set back slightly," are you thinking that the tower setback would be as deep as the Heritage Building (which would basically put the tower on Elizabeth, where the theater is now) or only a shallow setback?

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Great example. I hope some creativity is used for the Fine Arts building. The type of structure you described would be perfect for that location, unfortunately I dont see that happening in the near future. I think the residential base needs to be built up around GCP before that will even be considered and we are years away from seeing that happen.

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By "set back slightly," are you thinking that the tower setback would be as deep as the Heritage Building (which would basically put the tower on Elizabeth, where the theater is now) or only a shallow setback?

Well, I'm struggling with my own idea of the setback. Because you basically have this wall of building facing GCP. I would imagine the setback would be shallow. Maybe I'll sketch something up later.

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It would be better to have the narrow end of the tower facing Grand Circus Park, and then have the entire thing stretch from Elizabeth to Adams. That would leave space to maintain the views from the Kales Bldg, and give the non-GCP units a view as well. I think it would work better if the tower rose slightly higher than the adjacent buildings. Similar to how the Chicago tower rises adjacent to the building in the foreground.

Edited by hudkina
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I would definately be in favor of something like that, even though I'm fine with the type of structure that is there now.

I haven't seen price points for Heritage Tower in Millenium Park, but I thought I remember hearing that they were pretty high. Could this have anything to do with that, I wonder?

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I spent my cinco de mayo shooting pictures at Cranbrook. Many of them im trying in HDR which stands for high dynamic range. Its combining several images together to create a really cool effect. This photo is the fountain outside the front of the art museum at Cranbrook. Im really pleased with it. :)

Hey Cranbrook can be included in Detroit pictures right?

141085291_dc35f653b5_b.jpg

Edited by Zissou
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Ahhh Cranbrook Art Museum. The place that broke my running streak of A's on my college transcript. I had to write a paper analyzing the architecture of the campus. My harvard graduate professor was a bit overly critical of my paper and wanted me to be a bit more 'poetic' (not that's a bad thing) and I got a B on that paper, worth half of my grade. Cranbrook is a beautiful place, but I'm going to avoid it like the plague until I get into grad school.

Beautiful HDR shot though. :thumbsup: That's all I'm going to say because if I look into it too deep that nightmare paper will come back into my head.

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