Urban Anchors: Reviving the "Motor City"

Author

Alan Mota LopezFollow

Date of Submission

Spring 5-9-2023

Degree Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Architecture

Department

Architecture

Committee Chair/First Advisor

Ameen Farooq

Abstract

Currently, there are several large post-industrial cities around the world that are ridden with abandoned industrial buildings, these cities have also gone through a constant decline in population and culture while at the same time the rest of the world has done the opposite. The question at hand is what can be done for these cities to catch up with the successes of other major neighboring cities. The existing infrastructure and buildings left behind by these industries hold a great potential for re-development into proposed districts which would span a couple of blocks along a main street. The primary function for these proposed districts, would be to spark economic activity through a mix of different new markets and industries that can be performed rather flexibly in any shaped or sized venue, along with dedicated entertainment and enrichment spaces for a young adult demographic which is most likely to try new things such as relocating to a newly “re-emerging” city. The proposed industry revival in this exploration will use Detroit’s history as a case study, and revive the automotive industry with an electrical vehicle headquarters + plant as the economic machine for the urban anchor’s success. This research explores the urban vision for these districts to be a new anchor point for these cities from which further development can stem from and better the urban and social fabric. These districts provide a fresh face-lift to these over-engineered industrial facilities in Detroit, Michigan, which already carry a lot of local industrial character corroborating with social history to Detroit. This research focuses on the combination of adaptive reuse and ground up design with a set of urban and architectural programs in three main categories to develop an urban anchor to facilitate new developments around: workspace, entertainment, and living. These spatial conditions may overlap in some respects depending on the targeted city, the specific socio-spatial sub-categories under these main categories may vary depending on existing culture, historical industry, historical building context, and varying level of investment from different parties.