During the summer of 2009, rouse[D] hosted a design competition that challenged its participants to “come up with designs that will rouse the city of Detroit and encourage an evolution of our understanding of its unique urban environment.”   This international, open ideas competition further required design solutions to be “specific to the one-of-a kind condition Detroit presents.”  While the proposed design interventions were allowed to creatively fluctuate, all solutions had to be grounded in a site specific to Detroit.

Working independently from HAA, my competition submission focused on the recent closings of Detroit Public Schools throughout the city. During Detroit’s more populated past, many of the city’s neighborhoods had elementary schools as their community anchor.  Following the city’s population decline of the past five decades, these same neighborhoods have struggled to populate the very schools that once provided community stability.  Most recently, the Detroit Public Schools announced closure of 23 schools as the city grapples with mounting budget problems.  (For a more detailed of Detroit’s current depopulation conditions, refer to previous post titled HAA RESEARCH : Consolidating Detroit). My submission sought to address the reuse of one of these vacant elementary schools.

To ground the design submission, I selected Atkinson Elementary School located on Detroit’s East side. The design solution proposes to convert the school into a public garden. This concept provides many community benefits:

•Reduces the ecological footprint of the surrounding neighborhoods

•Generates a new “urban gardening” curriculum for Detroit Public Schools. Students and faculty can utilize the facilities for both core and extracurricular classes. The extracurricular classes will promote sustainable communities and social entrepreneurship among its students.

•Unites remaining neighborhood residents with proposed community garden facility.

•Generates possible revenue for community members.

•Educates all participants in year round gardening techniques, such as hydroponics.

This proposal offers innovative design and programmatic solutions to Detroit specific conditions.  More importantly, while the design is site specific to Atkinson, the overall concept is flexible and can be replicated at any vacant school.