HOUSE 3
Spring 2026 / University of Michigan / Studio Craig Borum + Claudia Wigger / MArch Y01
Project Collaborators: Ryan Britain, Yuan Tong Neo
Proposed Project Site: Avalon Village, Highland Park, Detroit
Embedded Files
Design Approach
Unit / Porch / 縁側
Our design approach began by observing and cataloging the local vernacular, quickly realizing the ‘American Foursquare’ home was by far the most common typology of the neighborhood. These houses typically have front and back yards, porches, and interiors that are divided into four quadrants. We sought to discover how this way of living could transform in order to increase density and foster an expanded sense of community within the neighborhood. We broke down the distinctions of interior/exterior and private/communal and rearranged the layout to provide the same quality of life and necessary functionality within a smaller footprint.
The porch was our area of emphasis as a social bridge between households and the thread of community. When we visited Avalon Village, Mama Shu declared herself to be an “avid porch-sitter”, her porch being the place she would sit with her journal, whiskey, and cigar, ideating on the future of the community. The porch has long been regarded as an important community connection point for neighborhoods, especially in Detroit. Its disappearance in modern American developments has both reflected and contributed to the notable isolation epidemic in the suburban United States. Thus, we adopted the Japanese concept of engawa space (a wooden veranda-like strip that acts as a transition zone between the interior of a home and the outside garden) into a new type of porch. This space would act as an integral part of the unit as well as a porch, with the capacity to transform in its levels of opacity, insulating properties, and, visual and physical connection to the street at the resident’s will. This allowed us to relocate typically isolated household functions into collective and engawa space.
Avalon Village
Highland Park has a deep history, one too expansive to cover entirely here. In essence, it is an area coming back from deleterious economic strife and flight via a community effort led by Mama Shu. Her vision for Avalon Village has been coming to fruition for several years now and continues to foster a resilient, safe, and connected community.
Amidst a backdrop of abandonment by the industry which used to sustain it (closure of the ford highland park plant), the demolition of its educational institutions (highland park high school closed in 2009 and demolished in 2022), and the rapid decay of middle class high density housing, the neighborhood of Avalon Village aims to reclaim its security and sense of community through a number of eco-conscious reconstruction initiatives.
Since the start of Mama Shu’s efforts, the community has seen its streetlights restored, previously abandoned buildings have been converted and new buildings constructed to provide safe havens for afterschool enrichment programs, the arts, and neighborhood connectivity. In our visit to the neighborhood, the importance of the ground and one’s connection to it was emphasized. A picture of the porch emerged as a kind of nerve running through the neighborhood, giving residents a place to sense, observe, relax, store, and live.
Our approach to collective space was to provide residents with autonomy and social connection. We wanted to go beyond the basic amenities and foster a more resilient community as modeled by Mama Shu’s vision for Avalon Village. We identified 4 categories of essential collective space: Garage, Clothing Care, Gathering, and Outdoor. The diagram below shows how those categories break down into different programmatic elements.
Clothing Care: Going beyond just a basic laundry facility, this project provides residents with clothing repair and creation tools. Clothing care and repair are often omitted from multi-family facilities. We wanted to allow residents to engage creatively and sustainably with clothing.
Garage/Workshop: In the spirit of resilience and autonomy, we wanted to ensure residents had access to repair their modes of transit. The garage has communal tools to care for cars, motorcycles and bicycles. We also created several workspaces for equitable access to technology and space. This includes a music production room, expanding on the desires expressed in The Homework House. The very first room they completed was the recording studio.
Gathering: It is important to note that not all units have a fully equipped kitchen. This depends on the needs of the specific resident. We created several communal kitchens that can serve all residents with adequate space and equipment. At each tower, alongside the kitchens, there are gathering zones for residents and visitors. There is a play room for children, an exercise center, and a flexible event space at the prominent front corner.
Outdoor: The layout of the building’s footprint creates three courtyards. There are communal gardens and porches throughout, and a playground in the middle yard.
section, long
ground level plan
level 02 plan
units, zoomed in.
Site
Native plants: American Beech, Sugar Maple, Witch Hazel, Flowering Dogwood, Trillium, Creeping Red Fescue, Foamflower recall the pre-industrial native landscape of this specific area of Highland Park. These species work together to create a naturally resilient ecosystem of flora and fauna, providing shade and comfort to the residents
The site’s topography is designed with gentle slopes toward the courtyard centers to guide stormwater to the natural landscapes of scattered fieldstone and natural planting. This allows effective water management , little to no required maintenance, and a biodiverse sustainable habitat.
Project Information & Statistical Data:
Address: 12808 2nd Avenue, Highland Park, Michigan 48203
Site Area: 37,500 sf (0.861 acres)
FAR & lot coverage: 0.92 @ 26% lot coverage
GFA: 34,527 sf
# of units & density: 20 units @ 23 du/acre (missing middle)
Height & stories: 58 ft, 5 stories
Materials & Construction:
The structure consists of CLT slabs, glulam beams, steel cable vertical bracing suspended from the roof, and CLT shear walls at the plumbing cores. All plumbing and mechanical systems are aligned (per tower) into a vertical core. The building is heated with a geothermal radiant floor heating system under a concrete screed layer. The cooling is provided through controlled natural ventilation using the facade’s panelized system. The towers were oriented for optimal solar gain, shading, and cross-ventilation. Additional shading is provided in the form of reflective curtains at the areas receiving the most intense direct sun exposure.
The project uses a double-skin facade system with a wintergarden condition forming the engawa space. This space is heated and insulated, but has a panelized exterior that allows it to open and be more external when desired. The outer skin is made of operable polycarbonate panels and metal rainscreen cladding. The inner skin is CLT walls with glass windows and sliding glass doors. This allows for a variety of thermal conditions in the home and the blurring of the boundaries between interior and exterior.
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