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2024 -
Experimental Preservation & Memorialization
of Demolition in Detroit
- The Detroit Demolition Program began in 2014, with the aim of demolishing or deconstructing 40,000 blighted properties. In many ways, the project was, and still is, seen as a positive and long-needed move for the city of Detroit, as neglected buildings clear the way for new development.
However, the issue is not so clear cut. While many Detroiters have applauded the city’s demolition efforts, many also feel conflicted. There is something confounding about celebrating the demolition of so many thousands of homes in a city that has already seen so much loss.
This project, stemming initially from an investigation of the house that my grandfather grew up in (11794 Whithorn St.) is ultimately concerned with the engagement of design research, and a speculative architecture—a new memorial typology–that attempts to build on my previous research and academic inquiry in public monuments and memory by memorializing or monumentalizing the lost and soon-to-be-lost homes in Detroit. In turn, the project aims to preserve some memory of Detroit’s decline and the collective trauma that was faced by residents of the city.
Research from the first phase of the fellowship was presented in a group exhibition ‘Rough Cuts’ at Taubman College’s Liberty Annex in Ann Arbor, MI in April 2025.