chazhuttonsfsm: STOP STARING AT DETROIT’S...

STOP STARING AT DETROIT’S RUINS.

I posted some stuff about Detroit a few days ago, and now I’ve just come across some more fairly interesting (though predictable) images of decay and abandonment from a city that every photo essay preamble likes to remind us was once the forth largest in the US. As the local Detroit hipsters mention in this short doco on the current state of Detroit and the constant reproduction of this image

‘yeah, we get it, it’s abandoned, it’s huge’.

So why am i posting more images of Detroit? because this one (by Sean Hemmerle) comes under a slightly different banner than straight up ‘ruin-porn’, The photo is of the interior of Detroit’s Michigan Theater, which was originally built in 1926, it was used until 1976, at which point it was converted into possibly the most unnecessarily large and grandiose car park ever. I think that re-interpretation of space is brilliant, and I think it’s these kinds of developments in Detroit that should be getting the attention. Like these students who bought a house on the cheep and turned it into their own architecture laboratory - that’s the kind of opportunity that most archi student can only dream of (or at least live through CAD modeling). There’s got to be so much more going on in that city, with those kind of housing prices, coupled with so many vacant and incredible urban spaces it’s a sure-fire breeding ground for architecture / design related talent / projects. So where is it all?

- and if you’re reading this and you’re from Detroit, please feel free to educate me if I’m getting this all wrong.