The Process
On April 1, 2018, The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) launched the DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections Competition to find a design team to reimagine Detroit’s arts & cultural district. After three stages of the competition, the design team consisting of Agence Ter, Paris, France; Akoaki, Detroit; Harley Etienne, University of Michigan; rootoftwo, University of Michigan and Detroit; and Transsolar | KlimaEngineering, Germany, was announced as the winner. Their proposal, the Detroit Square, aims to connect all of the arts & cultural organizations in the district as well as residents and visitors, and give space for collaboration, engagement, expression, experimentation and unity.
The Design Team, along with the Steering Committee and the Project Management team, is working over the course of three years see their plans come into fruition—a project that is now called the Cultural Center Planning Initiative (CCPI).
The CCPI will work in three phases:
Phase 01: discovery and analysis
In order to develop a full understanding of a range of existing conditions, the Design Team will gather and review data; research and synthesize program; establish a foundation for the framework and concept development to evolve; and create modes of representation for participatory stakeholder engagement.
Phase 02: Framework and Concept Development
Using the analytical conclusions derived from Phase 01, the Design Team will continue to develop their concept to address the strategies to blur the boundaries between institutional interiors and the public landscape, and work with the institutional partners to come up with programming and outreach strategies.
phase 03: masterplan and cultural center planning initiative
The Design Team will develop long and short term strategies for the district project.
Timeline of the DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections Competition and the CCPI
JULY 2017
The DIA receives grants from the William Davidson Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Program to hire a landscape design firm to create a vision for a new plaza in front of the DIA
FEBRUARY 28, 2018
A design competition is planned to select a designer. Steering Committee appoints a jury of leaders in the fields of urban planning and design, architecture, curatorial practice and arts administration to judge submissions.
MARCH 1, 2018
Midtown Detroit, Inc. receives a grant from local foundations to join the DIA as a partner on the project, which is expanded to include the entire Cultural Center.
APRIL 1, 2018
The DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections International Design Competition is launched.
APRIL 30, 2018
The competition receives 44 submissions from design teams representing 22 cities in 10 countries
MAY 22, 2018
Jury selects 8 semifinalists to go forward in the competition.
JUNE 13-14, 2018
Semifinalists give public presentations in front of jury at the DIA.
JUNE 28, 2018
Jury selects three design team to move forward and create detailed designs: Agence Ter (Paris), Mikyoung Kim Design (Boston), and TEN x TEN (Minneapolis)
AUGUST 22, 2018
Design team finalists are announced to the public.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2018
Student design competition launched to run parallel with the professional design competition
JANUARY 14, 2019
Winners of the complementary Student Design Competition are announced
OCTOBER 10, 2018
Professional design team finalists participate in a public workshop with 300 Detroiters at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
JANUARY 23, 2019
Professional design team finalists present detailed plans to jury and public in the Detroit Institute of Art’s Rivera Court.
JUNE 10, 2019
The Detroit Institute of Arts and Midtown Detroit, Inc. announce the design team consisting of Agence Ter, Akoaki, rootoftwo and Dr. Harley Etienne as the winner of the DIA Plaza | Midtown Cultural Connections International Design Competition.
The competition ends.
July 1, 2019
The CCPI begins.
AUGUST 1, 2019 - JANUARY 31, 2020
Discovery and Analysis
Completion of topographic survey.
OCTOBER 1, 2019 - JULY 31, 2020
Framework and Concept Development
Completion of mobility study, parking survey, and storm water management study.
AUGUST 1, 2020 - JANUARY 21, 2020
Draft Masterplan and Cultural Center Planning Initiative
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.