CASE STUDY: Detroit School of Arts, Detroit
Owner: Detroit Public Schools
Architect: Hamilton Anderson Associates—Rainy Hamilton Jr., AIA, principal in charge; Kent Anderson, vice president; David Esparza, AIA, project manager; Tom Sherry, AIA, design lead; Paul Locher, AIA, project architect; Paul Weidl, AIA, design architect
Consultants: L&A Structural Engineers (structural); Albert Kahn Associates (mep); Kirkegaard Associates (acoustical); Schuler & Shook (theatrical); Archteck (broadcast telecommunication design); L.S. Brinker/Skanska Building USA (construction manager)
SOURCES
Exterior steel panels: Centria
Exterior curtain wall system: Kawneer
Glazing: Viracon and Advanced Glazing Limited
Green roof system: Hydrotech
Hollow metal doors: Ceco
Exit devices: Von Duprin
Anti-graffiti coating: Dumond Chemicals
Wood floor finishes: Dura Shield
Product Profiles
Culture Club
Two distinct curricula are skillfully choreographed to foster a beehive of professional-level arts activity
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Big but not overpowering
Of the school’s anomalous bigness, Sherry says, “We were very conscious to scale it down wherever appropriate.” Switching from masonry on the southern elevation to a dynamically fenestrated steel-panel-clad north face demonstrates such care. So do the placement of the anchors. The building steps down at its west end to terminate in the auditorium. Not only does the smaller volume acknowledge the scale of a neighboring church, but it also situates an optimistic public use on a street whose reputation for poverty and crime is perhaps overstated.
From the Detroit School of Arts’ upper levels, in spaces like the top-floor dining area (below), offering students views of the predominantly low-rise surrounding cityscape.
There’s nothing childlike about the school. Detroit Symphony Orchestra members give lessons to students, and at night, production facilities become the very grown-up workplaces for Detroit Public Television and the radio station WDTR FM. The old performing arts high school lacked even an auditorium.
While the architecture is similarly sophisticated, it, too, is defined by optimism. Sherry remembers that, back in the 1990s, Hamilton Anderson considered designing a marquee for the school. Far subtler is the glazed stairwell that marks the entrance to today’s iteration and quite literally highlights the young talents within. Inside, students congregate on the sixth-floor, in the dining area and media center, where they can soak up the city skyline and overlook the green roof—one of many sustainable features that helped the project win LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Hamilton Anderson’s design is both a palace of learning and a place to dream.
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