The $500 Detroit Design Experiment

With U.S. foreclosures only now beginning to decline, Detroit remains one of the hardest-hit American cities–one third of all lots of land are either abandoned or unoccupied.

The city, still the nation’s 11th largest, has faced numerous challenges over the years as American industry has seemed to lose faith in the burgeoning region. Still, many are talking about how to save the city, believed by many to be the prime example of neglected space and urban development in this country.

Recently, Fast Company featured a project by a group of research fellows from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning that were inspired to change the landscape.

Purchased at a foreclosure auction for $500, the graduates developed an abandoned home in nearby Hamtramck into an experimental shell for creative, sustainable architectural development.

The home took on a collective approach, using the structure as a design exercise in applying new and inventive ways of building shelter and habitable space.

The group rehabbed or recreated many conventions of the standard home, but added original thoughts, such as the double display/staircase idea by Thomas Moran, entitled Tables and Chairs (below):

The home will now be turned over to a Hamtramck, Michigan design collective, which will further experiment with its redevelopment and structure.

University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Fast Company: Young Architects Buy Detroit Home for $500, Turn It Into Design Lab