Taubman College Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Harley Etienne and Associate Professor of Architecture Anya Sirota spoke on Michigan Radio’s Stateside program about the plans for Detroit Square, a project that will reshape an 83-acre section of Midtown. Sirota and Etienne, along with Associate Professor of Architecture John Marshall, are part of the multinational, multidisciplinary Agence Ter team that recently won an international design competition sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Arts and Midtown Detroit Inc. The competition challenged urbanists, urban planners, architects, and landscape architects to imagine what a cultural district might look like for Detroit, and how to unify public space centered around the 12 disparate institutions that anchor the Midtown district.
“[When you look at the layout of Midtown], this plan has been underway for 100 years. This was always intended to be cohesive campus of cultural institutions,” said Etienne of the Midtown area. Etienne and Sirota spoke about their plans to construct walkways that will connect various Midtown landmarks, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Public Library, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Other elements of the project include meandering paths, carparks, ecotone zones, and a large green space for concerts and other public events. “We’re very excited to work with all of the stakeholder institutions, with the city, with the organizers of the competition, and really with Detroiters at large to figure out what is the best form that this plan might take,” explained Sirota.
Listen to the full segment at michiganradio.org/post/stateside-child-migrant-welfare-business-leaders-press-new-roads-tuskegee-airman-reflects
Learn more about Detroit Square at arts.umich.edu/news-features/u-m-faculty-win-international-design-competition-to-reimagine-detroits-arts-and-cultural-district
