Utopian megaprojects of the 20th century, from Le Corbusier’s Ville

Radieuse to Paulo Soleri’s Linear City, are too often negated for their

megalomaniacal, individualistic plan for the future. With the tabula rasa

as their method for organization, such projects lack the contradictory,

contextual, democratic, “organic” process of city building.

Contextual, yet admittedly still megalomaniacal, this project uses the

city of Detroit as a found object (rather than a blank canvas), forming

the basis for a retroactive arcology that redefines urban density and

circulation. The central building district, a skyscraper-graveyard of

immense stratified floor area, is renewed and transformed by elevated

thoroughfares and programmatic diversity into a compact, self-sustaining

urban entity.

The experiment begins with an act of

urban contraction: as the city rapidly

loses population with the decline of the

automobile empire, Detroit is restructured

around a series of nodes.

The salvage industry flourishes as the

city dismantles the uninhabited zones

between nodes. Detroit becomes a center,

at least temporarily, for precious metals

and recycled materials. Eventually, the

regrowth of forest around the nodes leads

to a budding lumber industry.

‘MOTOR CITY’

‘DEMOLITION CITY’

Population departs

from the feeble,

dwindling fabric of

suburban lots, to

reinhabit structures

of massive bulk

(factories,business

districts, and mega-

malls).

Former components

in the machine

of the Motor City

are transformed

into independent

arcologies that

build on the unique

possibilities of

their preexisting

structures.

Setup: Node Cities

The central business district is reinterpreted in section. In the old CBD, circulation

between structures was limited to the street level, reinforcing corporate isolation and

preventing interaction across lofted spaces. The oppressive, inefficient, and energy-

intensive elevator is now replaced by a sloping viaduct that connects seamlessly to types

of ground transport (rail, pedestrian, bicycle), and that makes movement between elevated

levels possible. This extension of the street coils around the CBD, crossing itself several

times to form a lattice-work of external movement.

Case Study: Central Business District

Distributed Lattice Network

Decentralized Network

SKY FARMS

VIADUCT COIL

INDUSTRIAL BAND

GEOTHERMAL TUBES

UNROLLED SECTION

METRO-COIL MAP

CIVIC/FLATS

A coiling metro line runs in a continuous, self-

intersecting loop. Station stops are named by

altitude.

The new topography opens up the office towers

to new programmatic possibilities. As the viaduct

punctures each tower, it disrupts and redefines

previously homogenous commercial space. Lateral

communication at multiple levels brings an urbanity

to the former-stratified, isolated spaces. Vertical

mechanical conduits, once limiting the floorplans

of each tower to a repeating type, can now be re-

routed laterally, allowing for a greater diversity

of spaces and programs.

Notions of center and periphery are applied in section: civic, commercial, and educational

facilities stand about the grand viaduct, the piano nobile of the city. Apartments,

offices and studios take advantage of the light above. Traditionally peripheral programs,

agriculture, industry and energy, are located on the opposite extremes of the section.

Industries form a band of continuous activity below the coil; hydroponic farms proliferate

the highest strata; and the town’s energy is supplied by wind at the peaks and geothermal

energy in the caissons of the skyscrapers.

SKY FARMS

STUDIOS/FLATS

FACTORY BELT

CIVIC/COMMERCIAL

JUNK DEPOT/LUMBERYARDS

SKY FARMSHYDROPONIC

WORKSHOPS