According to The Architect's Newspaper, Shin Shin, a California-based architectural firm founded by two sisters who were born in Detroit, recently launched "Four Corners," an exhibition at Woodbury University in Burbank Calif. that explores reuse possibilities using abandoned mansions in Detroit. The imagined scenarios are set in the city's Valley Park neighborhood. The concept splits a typical home into two different uses.
Each scenario programmatically divides the home in half, leaving the top floor as a modestly-sized private residence while transforming the bottom floor into a commercial space that generates income and provides much-needed amenities for building community. The four different family types—the bachelor or young couple, the single-parent, the nuclear family, and the empty nester—are coupled with a complementary commercial program, creative service spaces, an outdoor theater, a recreation center, and a garden cafe, respectively.
Because the clash between the public and private may seem outlandish at first, the exhibition goes to great lengths to demonstrate the viability of their proposals through scaled-up construction drawings and highly detailed 3D-printed models. The models, in particular, draw the eye to the more playful aspects of each design, including silly straw-like columns, rock climbing facades, and over-inflated acoustical padding. While the firm currently has no plans to make their vision a reality in their native city, they hope to come up with other, like-minded proposals to guide Detroit through its current era of revitalization and growth.
