(Re) Housing: Speculations on the house and the city is an edited volume addressing the question of “missing middle,” affordable, urban housing in North America through three lenses: Reinhabiting the City Through Density, Protocols and Pro Forma, and (New) Domesticities and Collectivities. Within each thematic rubric there are three types of contributions: contextualizing essays and/or projects by professionals, academics, and policymakers offering a framework for understanding contemporary work under the theme; an establishing essay and set of case studies illustrating current examples in Detroit; and an introductory essay and set of speculative projects offering scenarios for new housing scenarios in Detroit. The city’s ongoing, if contested, urban revitalization offers examples through which we can explore innovations in building technology and delivery, new zoning protocols and financing models, and the design contributions of leading and up-and-coming architects, landscape architects, and urban Planners.
The book includes student work from multiple years of the Master of Architecture Systems Studio in collaboration with the city of Detroit. These projects are framed within the context of professional built and speculative architecture, and essays by architects, historians, and urbanists, many of which were presented in a symposium at Taubman College in fall 2019 sponsored by the College, the Graham Foundation, and the Urban Collaboratory and Poverty Solutions at University of Michigan.
With Lars Gräbner & Maurice Cox
Student Assistants: Jenny Scarborough, Jiasun Wei, Shoshanna Sidell, Meghana Tummala