CHARRETTE 1999
Lower Cass: Corridor, Neighborhood, District?

First Annual Detroit Design Charrette—January 6–10, 1999

Introduction
The University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning hosted a design charrette focusing on the lower Cass Corridor in Detroit, January 6–10, 1999. This high-profile, five-day workshop brought together some of Detroit’s leading design professionals, eight of the nation’s top urban designers and graduate students from the University. It was a pilot event for an annual community design charrette hosted by the College.

Douglas Kelbaugh, FAIA, new dean of the College, saw creative and fruitful results with these urban design workshops in other cities and hopes they will help address some of Detroit’s challenges and opportunities. The Cass Corridor was selected because it is a pivotal area in the redevelopment of the city. Although organized by the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, several other programs and schools at the University of Michigan contributed students and resources. The event was co-sponsored by several Detroit companies and organizations. Participating groups included the City of Detroit Department of Planning and Development, Detroit Edison, The Greater Downtown Partnership, Wayne State University, University Cultural Center Association, University of Detroit Mercy’s Collaborative Design Center and other public and private entities.

Who was involved?
Over twenty distinguished design professionals accepted the invitation to participate for the five days of competition and collaboration. Many are nationally acclaimed guests from out-of-state; some are pioneers of New Urbanism. The team leaders, according to Dean Kelbaugh, who has organized more than a dozen such events, “represent as strong a group of urban designers as has ever been assembled for a community design charrette.” They co-lead one of five teams with a faculty member from the College. Another co-leader of each team was selected from local design firms, including Albert Kahn Associates, SHG, Hamilton Anderson Associates, Archive DS, and JJR.

Each team comprised about 15 University of Michigan students, primarily from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, along with students from the School of Art & Design and the Landscape Architecture Department. There were also urban planning students from Wayne State University and Michigan State University. Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of Duany Plater-Zyberk in Miami, Florida, brought additional students from the University of Miami, where she is Dean of the School of Architecture. There were other roving consultants, including a retail design consultant, an architectural historian and a public artist.

When was it?
The charrette took place over the first five days of the 1999 winter term, from Wednesday, January 6 to Sunday, January 10, 1999. There was a public slide presentation and discussion on Sunday evening, January 10, 6–10 p.m., at the Detroit Masonic Temple in the Crystal Ballroom. All interested parties and stakeholders, from local residents to Mayor Dennis Archer and the Detroit City Council, were invited. Follow-up design studios, which explored smaller-scale projects in the area, were led by the faculty members during the balance of the winter term. There was a public review of the studio results in late April. A booklet was produced that documents the results of both the charrette and follow-up studios. This booklet was distributed to stakeholders, participants, elected officials and interested citizens.

Where was it?
The teams focused on the area between Woodward Avenue (including the eastern frontage) and the Lodge Freeway (M-10), from approximately Canfield Avenue on the north to the Fisher Freeway (I-75) on the south. The charrette started with a bus/walking tour of the site and environs by the teams. This was followed by a briefing of all participants by civic and neighborhood leaders, as well as technical experts. The teams worked at the Detroit Edison headquarters overlooking the lower Cass Corridor area. To familiarize themselves first-hand with the neighborhood, students lived in a youth hostel close to the site during the charrette. All participants were on hand in Detroit on Sunday evening for a public presentation at the Detroit Masonic Temple.

Why?
Renewal efforts in a city need the benefit of creative physical design in their formative stages. Neighborhoods, districts, cities and regions are often planned with abstract policies and guidelines without the help of design professionals working directly in the community. Planning is an interactive process that involves illustrating and testing proposed policies and plans in three dimensions. Design is too powerful to be withheld until policy and programming are in place. This charrette was offered to the community in the spirit of generating ideas and illustrating new visions for a Detroit that is revitalizing itself.

Results
Article & team report photos

Participants

The design professionals invited to participate in this charrette represent as strong a group of urban designers ever assembled for this purpose:

Jonathan Barnett, Urban Designer, Washington, DC; Professor, University of Pennsylvania Walter Hood, Landscape Architect, Berkeley Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, U of Miami Dean/Urban Designer, Miami Glenn Smith, Landscape Architect, Boston, Massachusetts Mark Schimmenti, Architect/Town Planner, Knoxville, Tennessee David Sellers, Architect/Urban Designer, Vermont Buster Simpson, Artist, Seattle Gordon Walker, Architect/Urban Designer, Seattle

In addition, respected design professionals and community leaders from the metropolitan Detroit area participated:

Kent Anderson, Landscape Architect, Hamilton Anderson Associates, Detroit Katherine Ford Beebe, Urban Planner, Birmingham, MI Kofi Boone, Landscape Architect, JJR, Ann Arbor Robin Boyle, Associate Dean, College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, Wayne State University Dede Christopher, Architect/Renderer, Knoxville, TN Terrence Curry, SJ, Architect, University of Detroit Mercy Sonja Ewing, Architect/Planner, University of Detroit Mercy, Collaborative Design Center David Garnett, Architect, , University of Detroit Mercy, Collaborative Design Center Robert Gibbs, Urbanist and Retail Consultant, Birmingham, MI Raynal Harris, Architect, SHG, Detroit Eric Hill, Architect, Albert Kahn Associates, Detroit Dorian Moore, Architect, Archive DS, Detroit Jane Morgan, Community Planner, Detroit Kelly Powell, Architect, Albert Kahn Associates, Detroit Lillian Randolph, Planner, Michigan State University Center for Urban Affairs Tom Sherry, Architect, Hamilton Anderson Associates, Detroit Kevin Turner, Senior Designer, Planning and Development Department, Detroit

Faculty from the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TCAUP) included:

Robert Beckley, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Dan Hoffman, Professor of Architecture, Aseem Inam, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Douglas Kelbaugh, Dean and Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, Robert Levit, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Anatole Senkevitch, Historian/Preservation Planner, Associate Professor of Architecture, David Scobey, Historian (UM)

UM College of Architecture + Urban Planning Students:

(James) Carter Bean, Adam C. Berkelhamer, Joseph M. Berlinghieri, Lulu Chou, Dong-Ha Chung, Lisa R. Demankowski, Jill D. Dewey, Daisuke Doi, Jeremiah J. Doornbos, William Du Bose, Joseph B. Filip Jr., Justin L. Finnicum, Jonathan Furr, Simone A. Ghetti, Hoon Hwang, Suzanne Irwin, Danang Jati, Seon Woo Kang, Teresa L. Kangelaris, Soyoung Kim, Yeon-Joo Kim, Karin Klinkajorn, Moriah R. Kosch-Miller, Paul E. Kouri, John M. Krieger, Christopher Lanave, Jeong-Ho Lee, Kenneth Lo, Anne Lusk, Steven Ma, Michele Manning, Elizabeth Mathew, Talia McCray, W. Andrew Miller, Madhumita Nandi, Sae Won Oh, Henry Okeke, Jae-Pyo Park, Jacob J. Spruit III, Charles L. Van Damme, Jan Van Riel, Aaron J. Vermeulen, Justin Williams, Jason B. Wise

UM School of Art & Design Students:

Yvette Amstelveen

UM College of Literature Science & Arts Students

Erin Gilbert

UM SNRE, Department of Landscape Architecture Students:

Kevin Beuttell, Jamie Brown, Stacey Ebbs, Beth Foster, Chris Holben, Yu-Chien Liao, J.T. Newton, Chip Smith, Maria Chalgub

Michigan State University, Urban and Regional Planning Student:

Lashawn Early

University of Miami, College of Architecture and Urban Planning Students:

Keith Covington, Tatiana Pena, Shailendra Singh

Wayne State University, Department of Geography and Urban Planning Students:

Scott Benson, Christina Munson, Kristin Palm, Marion Shipp, Peter Zieler

Sponsors and Parcipating Organizations

Funders:

Participating organizations, in alphabetical order:

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