THE DETROIT SQUARE
As envisioned by the design firms Agence Ter, Akoaki, Harley Etienne and rootoftwo in collaboration with the Detroit Community
The Detroit Square (DSQ) is the winning design proposal of the DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections Competition from the winning team consisting of Agence Ter, Paris, France; Akoaki, Detroit; Harley Etienne, University of Michigan; rootoftwo, University of Michigan and Detroit; and Transsolar | KlimaEngineering, Germany. The goal of the design is to help the district’s cultural institutions and organizations catalyze transformation, vibrancy and resiliency in their community. The DSQ places emphasis on the cultural constellation of Detroit—the city’s artists, designers, culture bearers, mico and meso organizations, and stakeholders. The goals of the DSQ are to amplify the successful programs and activities that are already on site; produce shared amenities and assets; and create spaces of affordance and spaces of experimentation for novels forms of activation.
The Design team is diverse with knowledge and skills in all niches of disciplines that are integral to a successful and sustainable design process and execution. It’s made up of architects, planners, technologists, designers and artists.
Meet the team
The design team from left to right: Dr. Harley Etienne (University of Michigan), Jean Louis Farges, Anya Sirota (Akoaki, Detroit), Olivier Philippe (Agence Ter, Paris), John Marshall, Cezanne Charles (rootoftwo, Ann Arbor and Detroit), and Don Carpenter (Drummond Carpenter, PLLC).
agence ter, paris, france
An internationally respected firm bridges between urbanists, architects and landscape designers. Co-founded and directed by Olivier Philippe, they have a strong reputation for their attention and maintenance of existing conditions, context, and facilitating interactive exchanges to promote landscape as a vector for metropolitan change.
Dr. Harley Etienne, university of michigan
Harley Etienne is a noted author, researcher, consultant and teacher with a keen understanding of the way social, cultural and political contexts intersect with public institutions to facilitate urban neighborhood change.
Akoaki, Detroit
Principals Anya Sirota and Jean Louis Farges explore the ways culture and context prompt novel aesthetic environments. Their network building capacities, interdisciplinary design processes, and programming strategies are celebrated for creative innovation at the urban scale.
rootoftwo, university of michigan and detroit
Cezanne Charles and John Marshall co-direct a research and practice-driven hybrid design studio that instigates projects that test the materiality and consequences of technology at the city-scale. They make social objects, experiences, and works for the public realm which engage participants in civic future-making.
deasign team contractors
Arcadis with Rowe, Mobility Study
Drummond Carpenter, PLLC, Stormwater Management
Kidorf Preservation Consulting, Historic Consulting
Watch: Detroit Square Presentation
Imagine the Detroit Square
