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Connecting Culture and Nature in Detroit's Downtown Core: The Design of a Technical College Campus

This thesis addresses the City of Detroit`s transformation
from a thriving center of trade and commerce to its present
abandoned state. Due to the decentralization of industry
and massive suburbanization since the 1950s, Detroit presently resembles a ‘middle landscape,’ somewhere between
urban and rural.
This thesis proposes an urban design strategy for Detroit
that mediates between nature and culture, through the
vehicle of a design for a new technical college campus.
First, investigation into the ‘zone of in?uence’ explores the
city`s present conditions including its infrastructure, buildings, and its current relationship with the natural environment. Secondly, the ‘zone of control’ proposes a new urban
typology that is appropriate to the proposed college institution. Lastly, this thesis considers the ‘zone of effect,’ which
displays the in?uence the proposed campus could have in
promoting land development in the city`s residential areas,
Eastern Market District, and Rivertown Warehouse District
along the Detroit River waterfront.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:NSHD.ca#10222/15242
Date09 July 2012
CreatorsBraithwaite, Peter
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish

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