Bus Stop Reimagined

This project transforms Detroit’s underutilized and underserved bus infrastructure into vibrant, inclusive, and functional public spaces. With fewer than 5% of Detroit’s 5,091 bus stops featuring shelters—and even fewer offering basic seating—this proposal responds to an urgent need for comfort, safety, and dignity in everyday transit.

Inspired by community-made benches and grassroots interventions across the city, Sit On It celebrates Detroit’s maker culture while proposing a modular transit shelter that supports both mobility and community identity. Each stop is equipped with solar panels, lighting, emergency call boxes, bike racks, seating, charging ports, and community bulletin boards. The design prioritizes accessibility and is made from reclaimed and locally sourced materials, making it practical, replicable, and deeply site-responsive.

By integrating space for gathering, art, and services into a traditionally overlooked transit node, this bus stop becomes a micro public commons—a hub for movement, memory, and interaction. In reimagining transit as an everyday civic experience, Sit On It uplifts the role of shared infrastructure in shaping a more equitable, walkable, and connected Detroit.

Belle Isle Crossing

The Belle Isle Crossing project reimagines a historically car-dominated intersection at the edge of Islandview as a green, civic landmark that centers people, landscape, and community connection. By replacing overbuilt infrastructure with a pedestrian-first design, the project heals a long-standing disconnect between Detroit’s neighborhoods and one of its most cherished public assets, Belle Isle Park.

At the heart of the intervention is a sculptural, topography-integrated bridge that diagonally spans the intersection, forming both a functional crossing and a symbolic gateway. More than just infrastructure, the bridge becomes a shared urban space, housing a viewing platform, a small café, and accessible paths that invite gathering, rest, and reflection. Around it, a system of radiating trails for pedestrians and cyclists weaves into the surrounding neighborhood, linking residents to transit, greenways like the Beltline Trail, and new mixed-use development designed to foster walkable, connected communities.

Together, these interventions reclaim the intersection as a place of convergence rather than division; transforming it into a vibrant node of public life. The Belle Isle Crossing becomes not only a new point of access to the park, but a model for how cities can reimagine their most fragmented spaces as green, inclusive, and socially charged neighborhoods built around shared movement and belonging.

Dirge of the Unseen

In Detroit, vacancy has created room for both new ecologies and quiet acts of human care. This project explores what it means to maintain a city that no longer sees itself, and to do so in collaboration with non-human life (plants, birds, insects, and fungi). I designed a speculative network of micro-shelters that honor the hidden labor of both people and nature.

It is not preservation. It is not beautification. It is an acknowledgment that life persists, and often it is the most invisible forms of life that hold cities together.

The core components of the project are salvaged fragments of domestic life, each reimagined to support and celebrate non-human urban dwellers. A brick fireplace stands alone, its chimney crowned with a cluster of bird nest boxes, while its hollow flue and firebox have become home to raccoons and squirrels. Nearby, a partial wooden house frame, overtaken by climbing vines, serves as both a symbolic marker of past habitation and a living scaffold for birds, insects, and other flora. Underneath a staircase, stacked logs and insect hotels offer quiet refuge for pollinators and decomposers. A bathtub, partially sunken into the ground, collects rainwater to form a makeshift pond for ducks and small mammals. Even a discarded kitchen sink is transformed into a drinking basin for birds, its counter lined with cork to provide microhabitat for insects.

Each element gestures toward a city where vacancy and decay give way to renewed presence, and maintenance is shared between species.

STRATA: Modular Garden Bed System

STRATA is a sustainable, modular garden bed system designed to bring accessible green space to Detroit’s urban neighborhoods—particularly in areas affected by food insecurity, disinvestment, and lack of community infrastructure. Built from recycled aluminum and HDPE, the design prioritizes durability, repairability, and environmental responsibility, offering a long-lasting alternative to traditional raised beds that often degrade quickly or rely on non-renewable materials.

Designed with Detroit in mind, STRATA beds can be installed in vacant lots, on rooftops, or within existing community gardens such as Lafayette Greens or sites supported by organizations like The Greening of Detroit. These beds are ideal for schools, public parks, and neighborhood initiatives—anywhere fresh produce, hands-on learning, and social connection are needed.

The design features flat-pack shipping, intuitive assembly, and optional water-wicking systems that reduce maintenance and conserve resources. With a height and structure optimized for ergonomic use, STRATA invites participation from people of all ages and abilities—empowering Detroiters to grow food, share skills, and transform overlooked spaces into resilient, community-owned green infrastructure.

AXIS: A Curbside Revolution

AXIS reimagines a single parking space as a solar-powered rest stop that transforms the biking experience in Detroit. Rooted in the city’s growing momentum to reclaim its streets for people, AXIS supports community-first mobility by offering essential amenities for cyclists—charging stations, seating, bike repair tools, and even local retail pickup lockers.

By integrating seamlessly with existing bike lanes and public transit routes, AXIS forms a flexible and modular network designed to serve hundreds of users daily. Each compact 9x20-foot unit promotes visibility, encourages sustainable commuting, and even offsets the carbon footprint of a 3-mile car ride—daily. Powered by solar energy and equipped with digital screens for local updates, these hubs also generate income through branded coffee sales and locker rentals, unlocking new employment and public-private partnership opportunities.

More than infrastructure, AXIS is a statement: Detroit’s curb space can serve more than cars—it can foster connection, sustainability, and access. It reclaims overlooked urban real estate to create a bike-friendly city built for people, not just vehicles.

RePark: From Cars to Community

RePark transforms Detroit’s downtown parking infrastructure into a network of vibrant, community-centered spaces that prioritize people over vehicles. Through strategic interventions, underused lots are reimagined as dynamic public assets—fostering walkability, wellness, education, and economic opportunity.

The project introduces three new hubs: a Healing Center focused on health and social services, an Urban Garden expanding green access and food security, and a Tech Skills Hub offering digital literacy and job training. These new anchors blur the line between architecture and landscape, inviting fluid movement and community interaction.

Rooted in equity and sustainability, RePark replaces static, utilitarian environments with adaptable, human-scale designs that encourage connection and creativity. It redefines how public space is used—offering a new rhythm of urban life grounded in care, access, and shared experience.

Catalytic Ecologies of Care

Set within Detroit’s McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, Catalytic Ecologies of Care is a community-driven response to the layered histories of displacement, environmental loss, and cultural erasure. Once a thriving wetland and home to the Anishinaabe peoples—and later Black Bottom and Paradise Valley—the area has endured systemic disinvestment through demolition, redlining, and neglect. Today, McDougall-Hunt is marked by vacant lots, fractured infrastructure, and a resilient community working to heal and reclaim space.

This project supports that ongoing effort through a series of outdoor micro-urban interventions, each designed to promote well-being, ecological restoration, and neighborhood connection. Three spatial typologies—The Nest (to exist), The Pitstop (to refresh), and The Junction (to connect)—activate underused parcels of land as nodes of everyday engagement. Each space integrates practical amenities like rain gardens, seating, conversation shelters, mobility buffers, and resource exchanges (like book or plant swaps), reflecting the neighborhood’s unique identity and grassroots creativity.

By fostering environmental stewardship and social resilience through small-scale, replicable designs, Catalytic Ecologies of Care reimagines the role of public space in shaping equitable, healing, and sustainable futures for cities and their communities.

A Multi-Use Green Community

This project transforms the former Uniroyal factory site along Detroit’s riverfront into a vibrant, eco-conscious neighborhood rooted in sustainability, education, and community engagement. Responding to the theme “Reimagining Green Neighborhoods and Shared Urban Spaces,” the design reclaims vacant industrial land to address pressing urban challenges—such as food insecurity, loss of communal gathering spaces, and limited access to green areas.

At the heart of the community are expansive greenhouses, community gardens, and walking paths designed to reconnect residents with nature and one another. Indoor and outdoor areas accommodate local artists, educational programming, market spaces, and recreation—ensuring the development reflects Detroit’s cultural vibrancy while remaining truly community-owned.

Through native landscaping, solar integration, and flexible, multi-use zones, the project promotes both environmental healing and social well-being. It redefines what it means for a neighborhood to be inclusive, productive, and green—offering a replicable model for post-industrial urban regeneration in cities nationwide.

Greater Corktown Resilience Hub

This project gives form to Detroit’s vision of a network of resilience hubs—community-centered spaces designed to support neighborhoods before, during, and after times of crisis. Located at the intersection of 14th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Greater Corktown, the design builds on deep community engagement led by local nonprofits and grassroots organizations.

The architectural form is intentionally simple, prioritizing feasibility and sustainability. Passive solar strategies reduce energy demands, while the programmatic layout ensures adaptability and responsiveness to community needs. The building includes space for youth programming, entrepreneurial support, job training, flood relief services, and intergenerational resources. Key amenities such as a flexible performance space, outdoor court, retail zone, kitchen, and offices create a hub that is both functional and welcoming.

By combining everyday neighborhood needs with emergency preparedness infrastructure, this resilience hub reflects a powerful model of design rooted in equity, care, and collective strength—tailored for Detroit and scalable for communities nationwide.

LumenTrail

LumenTrail is a speculative biomimetic installation that reimagines Detroit’s urban walkways as living, glowing surfaces powered by nature. Inspired by the natural light-emitting abilities of dinoflagellate algae, the project features pressure-sensitive micro-chambers filled with bioluminescent organisms that illuminate with every step—creating an interactive and poetic public experience.

Set within the University of Michigan Center for Innovation in Detroit, LumenTrail embodies a vision for zero-energy, sustainable infrastructure that merges biology, technology, and design. This future-forward path activates underused corridors surrounding the innovation center, transforming them into luminous, responsive trails that engage both the senses and the imagination.

As both ecological intervention and artistic gesture, LumenTrail offers an alternative to conventional lighting—demonstrating how cities can learn from nature not just to light up space, but to bring it to life.

Community Center

In a world where social isolation is growing and shared spaces are shrinking, this project reclaims the importance of the “third place”—a communal environment beyond work, school, or home where people can simply gather, connect, and create. Designed as an inclusive, free, and accessible space for all Detroit residents, the Community Center for Detroit offers a vibrant alternative to commercial or transactional venues.

The center spans three floors, each dedicated to different dimensions of community life. The ground floor features a café, auditorium, event spaces, and a community garden. The second floor supports health and movement with fitness rooms, a basketball court, and training areas. The top floor celebrates creativity, housing studios for art, photography, 3D printing, sewing, and gaming. Built from sustainable materials and designed with equity in mind, the center fosters connection, joy, and lifelong learning.

This is not just a building—it’s a home for Detroit’s social fabric, a place where neighbors become friends and community takes root in everyday moments of play, expression, and belonging.

Modular Apartments

This project envisions a modular apartment complex in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, designed to address the city’s evolving housing needs while promoting sustainability, affordability, and thoughtful urban growth. Responding to the theme “Reimagining Green Neighborhoods and Shared Urban Spaces,” the design embraces modular construction as an environmentally responsible alternative to traditional building. Modular homes are inherently more energy-efficient and produce less material waste—qualities that make them ideal for a city committed to resilient and future-forward development.

The building is composed of vertically stacked, pod-like units that give tenants private bedrooms and bathrooms, while shared spaces are limited to larger communal areas such as the kitchen and living room. This setup allows young professionals and new residents to benefit from lower rent costs without sacrificing their sense of privacy or comfort.

Blending light, modern materials with brick elements that echo Corktown’s historic character, the structure strikes a balance between visual continuity and contemporary design. The result is a breathable, efficient, and cost-conscious housing solution that enhances everyday life and contributes to a more inclusive, walkable, and sustainable Detroit.