Seth McDowell Architect, pllc

Opportunity Detroit asked designers to create compelling visions for a new, urban development on the 92,421 square foot site that for generations was the home to  Hudson's (also known as the "Big Store" and "J. L. Hudson's").  Hudson’s was the premier retailer in downtown Detroit, and one of the most important department stores in the country, but the anchor closed its doors in 1983, and the building was imploded in 1998, leaving a large vacant space in the heart of this great American city. The competition sponsors were looking specifically for a signature project, one that can play a significant role in the regeneration of downtown Detroit.

The contemporary city’s ability to act as a catalyst and incubator for the creative and experimental endeavors of avant-garde is challenged due to extreme economic pressures inflicted upon the urban environment.  This forces the most innovative makers and designers out of the core of our great urban centers. Our proposal for The Detroit Incubator for the Arts is an urban space aimed at attracting and supporting the creative, innovative minds and hands of the twenty-first century.  The project allows artists of all pursuits to live, create, exhibit and vend within a flexible, supportive space located within the heart of downtown Detroit.  

The program for the incubator revolves around flexible spaces for all forms of making.  The strategy directly links a dwelling space with a making space so that the domestic rituals are embedded into the artist’s creative exercises.  Each resident artist would have their own domestic quarters, while the making spaces are communal and shared within the MAKER community.  In addition to studio spaces and residences for the artist the northern quadrant of the facility is dedicated to public and educational activities for art, design, music and general making activities.  This piece of the facility establishes a connection between the resident artist and the Detroit community. 

The architecture employs shifting and stepping as a method for breaking up the building’s mass. This shifting allows for the creation of a complex sectional condition that reinforces the collective nature of the building’s program.  The exterior envelope is developed as a series of community terraces where artist, students and the public can co-exist.  This terracing provides dramatic views both externally to the city and internally to the community of makers.   

The site strategy for the building is to create four distinct public faces for the building that offer spatial variation.  However, while each side of the historic Hudson block is addressed with a different shifting technique, this difference acts to erode the building and unite the public institution of the Detroit Public Library with the important urban artery of Woodward Avenue.  This gesture is achieved by establishing a strong street wall on the Woodward elevation and then opening up the building to the library with a monumental scoop. 

The incubator offers an alternative for Detroit.  Detroit is a city that holds tremendous promise for the young, talented artist and maker.  As a city that is at the forefront of speculations about the future, it seems only fitting that Detroit embrace the excitement of the avant-garde and offer an incubator for generating thoughts and questions about the future. The architecture, like the project’s agenda, strives to instigate a new discussion about the role of the institution and the role of experimentation in the contemporary city.