The Team

Design Team

Agence Ter, Paris, France

Akoaki, Detroit

Dr. Harley Etienne, University of Michigan

rootoftwo, Detroit and University of Michigan

Project Management Team

Annmarie Borucki, Director of Arts and Culture, Midtown Detroit, Inc.

George Jacobsen, Program Director, Southeast Michigan Economic & Cultural Vitality, William Davidson Foundation

Felicia Molnar, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, Detroit Institute of Arts

Susan Mosey, Executive Director, Midtown Detroit, Inc.

Dan Rieden, Lead Landscape Architect, Planning & Development Department, City of Detroit

Michael Shaw, Program Director, Hudson-Webber Foundation

Tara Tuomaala, Program Officer, Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation

ccpi steering committee

Neil Barclay, President and CEO, C. H. Wright Museum of African American History

Anne Beck, Vice President for Administration and Finance, College for Creative Studies

Valeria Bertacco, Vice Provost for Engaged Learning, University of Michigan

Alex Bourgeau, Manager, Modeling and Mobility Group, SEMCOG

Robert Bowen, CFO, Detroit Institute of Arts

Antoine Bryant, Director, Planning and Development, City of Detroit

Melanca Clark, President and CEO, Hudson Webber Foundation

Robert Davenport, Associate Vice President, Facilities Planning and Management, Wayne State University

Jasmin DeForrest, Director of Community Sponsorships, Rocket Community Fund

Kathryn Dimond, Executive Director, Hellenic Museum of Michigan

Joshua Edmonds, Director of Digital Inclusion, City of Detroit, Department of Innovation and Technology(DoIT)

John A. Erb, Chair and CEO, Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation

Sue Gott, Campus Planner, University of Michigan

Christian Greer, President and CEO, Michigan Science Center

Neil Hawkins, President and COO, Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation

Danielle Jackson, CEO, University Prep Schools

Wendy L. Jackson, Managing Director, Detroit Program, The Kresge Foundation

Sam Krassenstein, Deputy Director, Office of Mobility, City of Detroit

Darin McKeever, President and Chief Executive Officer, William Davidson Foundation

Jo Anne G. Mondowney, Executive Director, Detroit Public Library

Susan Mosey, Executive Director, Midtown Detroit, Inc.

Xavier Mosquet, Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG - Boston Consulting Group

Oliver Ragsdale, President and CEO, The Carr Center

Rochelle Riley, Director of Arts and Culture, City of Detroit

Elana Rugh, President and CEO, Detroit Historical Society

Salvador Salort-Pons, Director, President and CEO, Detroit Institute of Arts

Ned Staebler, Vice President, Economic Development, Wayne State University and President and CEO, TechTown

Katie Trudeau, Deputy Director, Planning and Development, City of Detroit

Don Tuski, President, College for Creative Studies

Nate Wallace, Director, Knight Foundation - Detroit

Andrea Wilcox, Projects and Contracts Administration Engineer, Michigan Department of Transportation, Detroit Transportation Service Center

MaryAnn Wilkinson, Executive Director, The Scarab Club

Wojciech Zolnowski, Executive Director, International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit

Salvador Salort-Pons

Director, President and CEO, Detroit Institute of Arts

Salvador Salort-Pons joined the Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) curatorial division in 2008 as assistant curator of European paintings and served as head of the European art department since 2011, adding the role of executive director of Collection Strategies and Information in 2013. He also served as the Elizabeth and Allan Shelden Curator of European Paintings at the DIA and played a key role in the museum’s current strategic planning process. Salort-Pons was appointed director, president and CEO in October 2015, succeeding Graham W. J. Beal, who retired as director on June 30, 2015. With the tri-county millage in place and the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy successfully completed, Salort-Pons strongly believes the DIA is poised to move forward in engaging the museum’s local and regional communities as well as advancing its international profile. Ultimately, he envisions the DIA as the main square of the community where all will be welcomed, represented and united.

You can read more about Salvador here.

Maurice Cox

Director, Planning + Development Department | City of Detroit

Maurice Cox served as Mayor of Charlottesville from 2002 to 2004. He was an architect on the faculty of the University of Virginia. Cox is a former design director at the National Endowment for the Arts and a two-term City Councilor. In August 2012, Cox left Charlottesville for New Orleans, where he accepted the position of associate dean of community engagement at the Tulane University School of Architecture. In February 2015, he was named as director of planning and development for the city of Detroit.

You can read more about Maurice here.

Jonathan Massey

Dean, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning | University of Michigan

Architect and historian Jonathan Massey is dean and professor at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. In his previous position as dean of architecture at California College of Arts, his primary responsibility was for the vision, leadership, and administration of the CCA Architecture Division, which includes three accredited programs in architecture and interior design. At Syracuse University, he was the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, where he chaired the Bachelor of Architecture program and the University Senate.

Massey holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Princeton University as well as a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA. His professional training includes practice experience at Dagmar Richter Studio, Brantner Design Associates, and Gehry Partners along with teaching experience at Barnard College, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, and Woodbury University. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Transdisciplinary Media Studio and the Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative, which focus on the ways that history and practice of architecture and urbanism are understood and taught.

You can read more about Jonathan here.

Mario Moore

Artist

Mario Moore (b. 1987) is a Detroit native, currently residing in New York City. Moore received a BFA in Illustration from the College for Creative Studies (2009) and an MFA in Painting from the Yale School of Art (2013). He has participated as an artist-in-residence at Knox College, Fountainhead residency and the Albers Foundation. Moore’s work has afforded him many opportunities—from multiple exhibitions and featured articles including the New York Times. A few places his work has been exhibited include the Charles H. Wright Museum, George N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Some of his solo show exhibits have been seen at Winston-Salem State University’s Diggs Gallery and The Urban Institute of Contemporary Art. His work was also included in the Studio Visit Volume 31 (2015) and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s catalog, Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art (2014).

Visit Mario’s website here.

Juanita Moore

Former Jury Member

Former President + CEO | Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Juanita Moore retired from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in July 2018. You can read more about her retirement here. Jo Anne Mondowney, Executive Director of the Detroit Public Library, replaced her on the Jury.

Juanita Moore was the President & CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, MI), the largest museum of its kind in the nation. Prior to assuming that post, she served as Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum and the Gem Theater located in the 18th & Vine Historic District (Kansas City, MO). Dr. Moore served as founding Executive Director of the National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN). In that capacity, Dr. Moore oversaw the construction and opening of the museum located at the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Julie Bargmann

Professor of Landscape Architecture | University of Virginia
Founder + Principal | D.I.R.T. Studio

Julie Bargmann is internationally recognized as an innovative designer in building regenerative landscapes and with interdisciplinary design education. Her graduate design studios and courses focus on the design potential for productive futures of fallow cities. Applying this research at her small design practice D.I.R.T., she explores the past and present industrial operations and urban processes in relationship to ecological systems, cultural constructs and emerging technologies. Along with a degree in sculpture from Carnegie-Mellon University, Bargmann earned a masters in landscape architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design followed by a Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Bargmann's work was awarded the National Design Award by Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Museum. TIME, CNN and Newsweek, along with national and international design publications have recognized Bargmann as leading the next generation in making a difference for design and the environment.

You can read more about Julie here.

William Gilchrist

Planning and Building Director | City of Oakland, California

William Gilchrist has 35 years of planning experience. He was

director of place-based planning in New Orleans, focusing on the city's design and development strategy, since 2010. He was previously a senior associate at AECOM in Atlanta and planning director in Birmingham, Alabama. He has a master's degree in architecture, a master's degree in management and a bachelor's degree in design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

You can read more about William here.

Cara McCarty

Curatorial Director | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

As Curatorial Director, McCarty’s primary responsibility is overseeing the Museum's collections and helping to shape the exhibition program. Major initiatives at the Museum are done collectively, with each division playing a role in decisions. One of the most visible outcomes of the newly renovated Museum is that they have 60% more gallery space for exhibitions, including one floor devoted to showing Cooper-Hewitt's vast collections. McCarty has also been very involved in the Museum’s major renovation, which re-opened in Fall 2014.

You can read more about Cara McCarty here.

Jo Anne Mondowney

Executive Director, Detroit Public Library

Jo Anne G. Mondowney, an innovative, award-winning library administrator has served as the executive director of the Detroit Public Library (DPL) since 2009. She brings considerable expertise to the Director’s position including five years as Director of the Flint Public Library. Ms. Mondowney’s library career began in Baltimore, Maryland at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. As an established leader in the field of Library Science, Ms. Mondowney chaired the American Library Association’s (ALA) Budget Analysis and Review Committee and is a former treasurer of the ALA/Black Caucus. Ms. Mondowney received the 2002 DEMCO/ALA Black Caucus Award for Excellence in Librarianship and in 2013 was recognized as one of Detroit’s Women of Excellence.

Richard L. Rogers

President | College for Creative Studies

Richard L. Rogers is president of the College for Creative Studies (CCS). During Rogers’ tenure, the College has more than doubled its enrollment and physical space, established seven new undergraduate departments, launched its first graduate programs, expanded to two campuses, and developed community outreach programs reaching 4,000 inner-city youth annually.

Rogers co-founded and serves on the governing board of Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies, a K-12 school of art and design co-located with CCS’s design programs at the College’s Taubman Center.  He also co-founded Design Core Detroit, an economic development organization within CCS, that champions design-driven businesses and their role in strengthening Detroit’s economy.  Prior to CCS, Rogers served as vice president and secretary at the New School for Social Research (now The New School) in New York City.”

You can read more about Richard here.

Is the Detroit square the final design?

The Detroit Square is the winning proposal of the DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections competition. As the design team tries to implement the main components of this original design, it should be noted that the final design will be impacted by the findings of the 18-month planning process.  

When will the project be complete?

The project management and design teams have developed an 18-month timeline for this planning initiative, estimated to be completed by February 2021. A framework plan and implementation strategy will be developed that will include phasing, long-term development options and maintenance strategies, along with cost estimates, renderings and animations. 

How can I get involved as a community member and give my input?

The CCPI hosts events year-round where community members and other stakeholders may attend and engage with the CCPI project management and design teams either through public forums and workshops, walking tours of the district, and other surveys, etc. 

PLEASE NOTE:  A series of community engagement activities are currently being planning for the remainder of 2020. A strategy for how to best engage with the public during the stay-at-home order and beyond is being explored. Stay tuned for more information.