A(n) Office, Promised Land Air

Rendered aerial perspective of industrial studios with pneumatic freight, housing, air-purification network, and a Canadian consulate. Speculative project for Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image Courtesy A(n) Office

BairBalliet, The Next Port of Call

Oblique drawing of dock, port of entry, customs checkpoint, and waterfront entertainment venues. Speculative project for Detroit’s riverfront United States Post Office seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Greg Lynn FORM, Center for Fulfillment, Knowledge, and Innovation

Model detail showing cogeneration plant, corporate research centers, and movable university collaboration spaces. Speculative project for Detroit’s Packard Plant seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image courtesy Greg Lynn FORM

Marshall Brown Projects, Dequindre Civic Academy

Towards a Coordinate Unit, handmade collage on inkjet print, 40x50 inches. Speculative project spanning Detroit’s Dequindre Cut greenway seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image courtesy Marshall Brown Projects

MOS, A Situation Made from Loose and Overlapping Social and Architectural Aggregates

Sectional drawing through a new framework for the everyday life of the city. Speculative project spanning Detroit’s Dequindre Cut greenway seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Mexicantown: A Liminal Blur

Model of interpretive layers of the Mexicantown neighborhood. Speculative project for Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image courtesy Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

Pita & Bloom, The New Zocalo

Axonometric drawing showing band shell, theater, and cultural center, part of a new neighborhood hub. Speculative project for Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image courtesy Pita & Bloom

Model of superblock using cross-laminated timber construction. Speculative project for Detroit’s riverfront United States Post Office seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Preston Scott Cohen Inc., Revolving Detroit

Model of post office, undulating roof, and entwined ramp and staircase. Speculative project for Detroit’s riverfront United States Post Office seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image courtesy Preston Scott Cohen Inc.

Stan Allen Architect, Detroit Rock City

Model detail showing observation tower and conservatory, part of a larger vertical botanical garden. Speculative project for Detroit’s Packard Plant seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice. Photo by Scott Benedict, Practical(ly) Studios.

Image courtesy Stan Allen Architect  

T+E+A+M, Detroit Reassembly Plant

Perspective rendering showing megamasonry mountain, formed by a new aggregate made of recycled building materials and supported by the Packard Plant’s existing columns. Speculative project for Detroit’s Packard Plant seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

Image courtesy T+E+A+M

Zago Architecture, A New Federal Project

Model detail showing federal building, which deploys novel architectural forms as a means of direct political engagement. Speculative project along Detroit’s Dequindre Cut seen in The Architectural Imagination, an exhibition for the United States Pavilion, Biennale Architettura 2016, Venice.

The United States pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale has unveiled 12 projects comprising The Architectural Imagination. Curated by Cynthia Davidson and Mónica Ponce de León, the exhibition presents the speculative work of 22 American architects aimed at developing four sites in Detroit.

The four sites for these theoretical projects include vacant land along the Dequindre Cut near Eastern Market, an abandoned light industrial building and its paved surroundings in Southwest Detroit/Mexicantown, a massive U.S. Postal Service sorting facility, and vacant block on the riverfront, and the derelict Packard Automotive Plant.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and organized with University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the exhibition will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in February 2017 after its Venice run concludes.

Read our full preview of the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale here.

Miriam Sitz was a staff writer and editor for Architectural Record from 2015 to 2020, during which time she served as the web editor, then senior news & web editor. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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