What we create

 

studio[Ci], a multi-disciplinary research team within the College of Architecture + Design at Lawrence Technological University, has been generously funded by the Ford Motor Company Fund to partner with Southwest Detroit through the Southwest Detroit Development Collaborative [SDDC] to create an urban design plan for our region’s first “net zero energy” community. We have made recommendations on how existing community initiatives can use vacancy, alternative energy solutions, density, natural systems and community empowerment to create a sustainable community. The team also focused on leveraging and enhancing the neighborhood’s assets and blue, green, gray and white infrastructure networks to inform the future urban form of the neighborhood.

Demonstration Projects 

studio[Ci] has been retained by the City of Southfield City Centre Board to help create a more sustainable, dense, walkable, bikeable, mixed-use vision for the Southfield City Centre District. Lead by Director Constance Bodurow, the Team is working closely with Terry Croad, the Planning Director of the City of Southfield and members of the City Centre Board, including Lawrence Technological University and other major land owners within the City Centre boundary.  studio[Ci] completed Phase I – which includes urban design plans, programming and illustrations for over 650K sf of mixed use development and public realm improvements in the City Center.  studio[Ci] completed this work in summer 2012, and is now working on Phase II, with a focus on developing the architectural and public realm site plan, coordinating Evergreen Road LID and non motorized improvements, and creating a vision for the Lower Evergreen/10 Mile District.  At the request of the client, studio[Ci] is coordinating closely with other city initiatives and consultants, including Giffels Webster and the Southfield Non-Motorized Plan.

See:
http://www.southfieldcitycentre.com/

The Next Generative Infrastructure for Detroit

Infrastructure networks are the systemic and complex over|underlay required to support a city and its associated region.  Infrastructure is a key determinant of future urban form, and plays a significant role in establishing a more desirable and sustainable condition for urban growth and change. Infrastructure defines the natural and built ecosystem of the city.  The convergence of multiple blue|green|gray+white infrastructure systems indicates the new geography of the city.

Detroit is rich with technological infrastructure supporting manufacturing, movement of goods and services and associated human settlement. Defining “blue|green|gray+white”: green infrastructure describes natural flora and fauna and related habitats, man-made landscape and greenway networks, precipitation collection, and criteria-rated buildings, sites and neighbourhoods; blue infrastructure describes the watersheds, floodplains, wetlands, and hydrology, gray infrastructure is entirely man-made, including highways, roads, rails, digital technology, and associated environmental impacts, and white is associated with telecommunications, energy generation and delivery.  The resultant complex networks range in scale from the local and regional, to international.