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Student: Megan Kaminski
Advisor: Scott Shall
Content Experts: Anirban Adhya, Eric Ward
The original 1950’s boom of suburbanization was a result of a range of factors, such as a need for increased housing for returning veterans as well as to support a growing automotive industry. This led to the creation of what is currently interpreted for ‘suburbs’ to be: repeating residential developments that emphasize automobile use, single-use zoning and private ownership. Additionally, this phenomenon has sparked the continuation of what is now known as ‘suburban sprawl’ in which suburbs are no longer merely defined as the ‘residential outskirts’ of a city but rather as the ever-growing prolongation of them. However, these original ‘purposes’ of the suburbs in conjunction with their exponential sprawl now exacerbates the growing issue of suburban decay on a national scale. As individuals- especially higher income individuals- continue to sprawl outwards, extending the ‘outskirt’ line farther out, the aging progenitor suburbs of the 1950’s are increasingly at risk of decay as redevelopment opportunities similarly move away. Not only this, but since these suburbs were initially designed for higher to middle income individuals, suburbs remain critically dependent on automobiles, single-use zoning and privatization and thus are unable to adapt as new socioeconomic shifts further demonstrate how these suburbs are built impractically and unethically. As such, current Suburban Renewal efforts face unique difficulties in suburbs as existing conditions and regulations continue to limit suburbs from adapting and changing from their original, restrictive, and now deteriorating states. In response to this emergent crisis, suburbs and especially the original 1950’s suburbs are in desperate need of a new Architectural Reformation that takes a phased approach. To test this claim, this thesis proposes to reimagine a ‘reaction-based’ framework of applying suburban renewal strategies on a larger and more practical scale.
To test this claim, a suburban site outside of Detroit will be used as a case study and a basis for existing conditions, code, and public engagement.
Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom
From Computer
Log in and start your Zoom session with participants
From Phone
To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera
