Buildings survive us. Hospitals become universities, churches turn into libraries and dance halls, warehouses re-emerge as art spaces. While their original functions may fade, their typological essence often endures. In this way, architecture resists shifting patterns of use and inhabitation through adaptation and reinvention.
Schools embody this resilience. As precise typologies–composed of classrooms, corridors, gymnasiums, cafeterias, and kindergartens–they are pragmatic and compartmentalized. Often arranged as pavilions, set back from the street and enclosed by fencing, they function intensely–but only for limited hours each day. When abandoned, they are often left to linger silently as civic ruins. Yet, in their genericity lies a powerful potential for transformation.

Detroit stands as a potent context for this investigation. A city rich in symbolic weight, Detroit epitomizes both the zenith of American industrial modernity and the stark consequences of its collapse. As population and services diminished, entire neighborhoods became sparsely inhabited. Amid this urban retreat, the abandoned school emerged as a recurring and visible marker.

This studio begins with a critical analysis of six vacant school buildings in Detroit, considering each as both subject and site. We will explore how embedded architectural typologies can be reinforced to support contemporary civic life, attuned to the specific character of their surrounding neighborhoods.

A series of typological precedents will guide our thinking–from Michelangelo’s adaptation of Santa Maria degli Angeli to Adolf Loos’ Villa Karma or Lina Bo Bardi’s revolutionary SESC Pompéia in São Paulo. These references will offer both strategic insights and polemical ground for students’ own proposals.

Each project will take one of two transformational approaches: expansion–extending the existing built volume to accommodate new programmatic needs, or reduction–selectively removing building fabric to recalibrate space for a new use. In either case, transformations will seek to reinforce the building’s urban presence while reactivating its social role. The goal is to produce architectures that serve as new civic landmarks, anchor points within Detroit’s evolving suburban grid. Through the production of drawings and models at different scales, students will explore architecture’s capacity to carry meaning forward through transformation.

The studio will work closely with community stakeholders, who will serve as project clients. Each student will develop a proposal around one of six hybrid programs that merge housing combined with urban agriculture, a new research and development center for Pewabic Ceramics, a music center and club, a special collections archive for the Detroit Public Library, a light industrial facility for timber structure fabrication, an artist residency and exhibition space.