For the Detroit Institute of Arts, the proposal is a study in restraint—interventions that make the most of what is already there. The intent is not to transform but to refine: navigation becomes clearer, entrances more approachable, and commercial and leisure spaces more usable. The underlying question is not just how the institution survives, but how it remains relevant to a new generation of Detroiters.
The interventions are practical. They include centralizing ticketing to streamline the three-entry layout, activating the southern facade for commercial use, extending exhibition space with a modest addition at John R, consolidating children’s programming into a stacked wing, and adding a garden and café to the roof.
The grand entrance on Woodward Avenue is reconsidered, with design variations that temper its formal gravitas through contemporary and playful topographies. The approach is intentionally anti-monumental, trading reverence for a form of accessibility that makes civic engagement the point rather than an afterthought.
These changes reshape the plaza on Woodward Avenue, a link between the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Public Library. Flattened planes and stripped-back elements create a space that can host large-scale public events when the street is closed, suggesting a new kind of urban gathering space—functional, straightforward, and democratic.
2022
Midtown Detroit
Scale:
70,000 SF
Client:
The Detroit Cultural Center Association (DCCA)
Stakeholders:
Detroit Insitute of Arts
Principals:
Anya Sirota, Jean Louis Farges
Design Team:
Sarah Carter