Creating an Understanding of the Built Environment

Abstract

Detroit has always had a strong design heritage that goes beyond its architecture and into the fabric of everything it produces. This strong design sense has fallen off with the city, as it has fallen on hard times. Detroit however, is in the process of rebuilding, and with this growth comes many opportunities to reinvigorate its design past. Many cities that currently place a strong emphasis on design, Chicago, LA, New York, Copenhagen, all have prominent culture centers for architecture and design. By proposing a culture center for architecture and the built environment in Detroit, provides the city with the opportunity to place a stronger emphasis on design. The culture center will give the Detroit a knowledge and understanding of design in order to create positive growth within the city itself. This thesis follows the simple objective of promoting an understanding of the built environment for an urban culture. This objective was focused on throughout all processes of the design in order to create a building whose appearance and program reflects the objective. This was done through multiple studies of visual theories as well as urban form analyses.