In Detroit, the Histoic yet Abandoned Apex Jazz Bar Becomes the Site of a New Community Driven Typology.

Following decades of disinvestment and de-population, the fabric of Detroit has been left with a civic desert. Where amongst a blighted property context, the very institutions serving to bind community in voicing a pathway for their own futures are missing. This is no more evident then in the North End Neighbourhood. In response, a new typology is proposed where the traditional community center complex designed for highly mobile audiences and dense environments is decentralized to suit the fragmented fabric and economically constrained context of Detroit. Essential civic programs are no longer seen as the only solution but are paired with purposeful spaces for existing community organizations to appropriate and drive collective engagement.

Located at the gateway to the North End Neighbourhood, the project not only enables the efforts of existing on the ground initiatives but serves as a means of cultural preservation. Utilizing the abandoned yet historic Apex Jazz Bar site where famous acts like John Lee Hooker once performed, one of the few remaining Oakland Avenue assets can continue to define the culture of the community.

Serving as a means to introduce essential programming into the community, the existing garage structure to the South is expanded to become an flexible space for permanent recreation and event use. To the North, the Apex building incorporates four distinct spaces, designed for adaptability in accommodating any variant of community organizational use. The programmatic arrangement of both the interior quadrants and exterior common court encourage exposure and interaction between a diversity of users.

A simple programmatic mass and minimal structure facilitate an array of essential functions while highlighting the cultural value of the heritage facade.

Central Community Court / Garage Facing the Apex

While the garage creates a shell for activity, the community organizational space within the Apex encourages interaction and adaptation though exposed structure and an open framework. All organization spaces are connected through a common circulation core allowing individual initiatives and their audiences to seep into one another for unplanned engagement. Proposed is a simple, modest yet powerful new model for public infrastructure that is designed to stitch together the fragmented physical and social fabric of Detroit. By looking beyond traditional top down institutional programming and embracing on the ground organizations, these places can serve to form new relationships, new community and new collective voice when tackling the most wicked problems of today.