OVER THE GARDEN’S BAR
Housing – Multifamily
Detroit, Michigan
Graduate – 3rd Semester Studio, Fall 2020
colab with Adrian DiCorato, Liyah George and Gary Zhang
Focusing on shared ownership, Over the Garden’s Bar offers an opportunity to attract a diverse economic population through the commoning of resources. The project suggests a living situation insulated from property speculation—where land is owned by the residents and residents help fabricate their built environment—offering opportunities for better relations between diverse residents. The project also aims to balance financing and encourages shared commercial ownership operations to offer revenue generation opportunities in the face of another period of growth in Islandview.
Located at the intersection between East Grand Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue, the close proximity of the site to Downtown Detroit and the riverfront makes it a valuable place for economic growth. This makes the site more susceptible to transformational change as there are more opportunities for increased rents and speculators have more chances to acquire property.
Commoning offers an alternative in this framework. It suggests a living situation insulated from property speculation — where land is owned and developed by residents —offering opportunities for better relations between diverse residents. Over the Garden’s Bar offers a sense of community by blurring the boundaries between public and private and encourages a sense of collective creation.
Building on the narrative of economic diversity, the project proposes a wide socio-economic offering for housing. The project proposes 3 typologies – the studio unit, the family unit (1-bed to 4bed unit typologies for families), and co-living units where 6-8 individuals share common living and kitchen spaces. The variants occur across both the village and the tower. This offer residents the option to choose a style of living based on their financial capability and need. The project revolves around the use of interstitial space and community landscapes. The common spaces occur as winter gardens in the tower, terrace gardens, and interior gardens in the ‘village.
