Tried to Detroit

Project Team:
El Hadi Jazairy
Dean Feldhausen, Tracey Weisman, Wendy Zhang, Ritwika Banerjee, Alireza Golkarieh, Kelly Koh, Jessie Lin, Jongbang Park, Bing Sun, Mark Vanden Akker, Ava Rahimi Farab

The task of looking ahead at Detroit’s educational system is an opportunity to explore possible new ways of envisioning relationships between pedagogy and urban environments. The aim of the research is to rethink learning facilities in the context of the paradigmatic city of Detroit following the work of Philipp Oswalt who revealed the potential of empowering the youth as a main agent of change in a situation of institutional weakness. The research will explore ways in which education typologies in Detroit could be reconfigured to adapt to the specific urban condition, serve the needs of local communities for education and public space and generate a landmark of a new generation of school facility. We will develop visions exploring new typological and curriculum approaches, reconsidering the thresholds between the institution and public space, reprogramming the type of activities, developing new spatial configurations to shape global citizens with adapted skills and knowledge for a higher local and global competitiveness.