Project:
We were asked Prevailing Community Development Corporation, a non-profit arm of Prevailing Ministries Church, to redesign a 12 block area of the Core City neighborhood in southwest Detroit with the specific charge to entice both former and newer, younger residents to move into the neighborhood. Prevailing’s program was general and expansive, calling for 450 affordable homes, market-rate condominiums and senior housing in addition to 30,000 sq. ft. of commercial space.

Site:
The site Prevailing assembled was completely vacant outside of the historic Kronk Community Center and Gym, which formally housed the internationally famous Kronk Boxing Club that produced Tommy “Hit Man” Hearns, Milton McCrory and Michael Moorer as well as several other world and Olympic champions. The city of Detroit recently closed the iconic and beloved center due to lack operating funds and Prevailing plans to convert it into a historic museum, private gym for the community and upscale condos at some point in the future. We were asked to incorporate that possibility into our master plan as well. Our initial internal and external discussions focused on 3 major areas of concern:

1. Crime: The perception and reality of poverty and crime in the area is a critical concern, for both the city as well as Core City. While the area no longer carries the factual burden of large concentrations of poverty, it still carries the symbolic burden, which on certain levels is the more difficult to shed. Thus, addressing both the real and the perception of poverty was imperative for the comprehensive revitalization of the neighborhood.

2. Place: A strong, identifiable “place” is crucial to attracting not only residents, but commercial and retail development as well; the latter being much more adverse to image and perception than perhaps residents who may be looking to pioneer a location.

3. Space: While there were growing rehab efforts in the study area, there are still a good number of vacant or underutilized residential and commercial structures. The need to minimize their deleterious effect on both the development of the project, as well as the future growth of the area, was strongly supported by the neighborhood.

Spatial Organization:
Our parti organizes the site around two greenways – an existing public park adjacent to Kronk and a new pedestrian greenway linking the newer and older neighborhoods. Leveraging the strong image and symbolism of Kronk, we organized the market rate condos around it, the park and greenway with the affordable homes spatially related to the existing neighborhood housing and along the passive greenway, which moves from the more modest to the more upscale housing units.

Introduction of Green Space:
In Detroit, a city of formally 2 million and now a little more than 800,000, the space available for development far exceeds the demand for housing and other types of physical development. With the number of vacant lots Prevailing planned to acquire, it was neither desirable nor feasible to fill each with a physical structure. The need to introduce green spaces is essential in creating a vibrant and unique urban community by managing the overabundance of space. Strategically located green spaces help to enhance the single family housing lifestyles, adding amenities for current residents but also to attract new residents as well. In addition, providing defensible and aesthetically pleasing public space encourages neighborhood activity, discouraging nefarious and sundry uses of adjacent spaces. There are several communal spaces of various sizes located throughout the design that provide multiple opportunities to enjoy being outdoors as well; several which serve as gateways – noticeable entries that mark passage into the neighborhood – advantageously located throughout the overall scheme. Of the 77 homes: 31% are sited directly on the greenway, 41% have direct views to the greenway and 49% have access to direct natural light from 3 rather than the 2 elevations typical of traditional row houses, allowing for additional light into the relatively small 24 x 35 footprint. Finally, the oxygen produced by the biosphere combats the build up of noxious gases from the I-94 Edsel Ford Freeway.

Phase I - Row Houses:
We studied the neighborhood housing types for commonalities that might inform our work; however, there was a strong desire from Prevailing not to directly replicate the current type. That tension provided us with the opportunity to introduce a housing type not indigenous to the city, but one that allowed us to maximize both units and green space while providing a unique offering for Detroit urban living – the row house. The implementation of the row house type allowed us to raise the number of units from 65 to 77, making the project more financially feasible for Prevailing.

During the design process, the community expressed concern about the repetitiveness of the row house type, thinking it may be both boring and incompatible with the surrounding housing stock. In the end, we designed 4 different housing types, each responding to various conditions on the site suggested by the neighborhood during the creative process. While the initial placement of each type is derived from the suggestion of the community, either Prevailing or the home buyer or some combination of the two may indeed determine the final location of each. The materials – brick, stone and wood – are consistent with homes in the area; however, as the CDC’s budget could not accommodate full brick or stone construction, we introduced splitface CMU’s strategically, but sparingly, into the design of the overall units.

We ultimately designed 2 types of 3-story units, with 5 different floor plans – a loft unit to attract younger residents and the non-loft space with a more traditional household, perhaps with children, in mind. Understanding some of the unique characteristics of Detroit urban living, exterior spaces connected to the home – porches, balconies and backyards in particular – are quite important. Yet, the development of the row house usually surrenders some private exterior space for more units. Our design provides several spaces where the residents can enjoy being outside. Finally, on each floor there are balconies and on the ground level, there is an expansive exterior porch adjacent to a private front lawn, providing several places where residents can sit, relax, cook and commune with family and friends typical of the traditional Detroit neighborhood aesthetic.