Development: The Auburn




Soon to be?

Backtrack.  

Very few things perk anyone's interest like new developments within the neighborhood, and in this case it’s a 50 unit apartment complex that just broke ground on the corner of Canfield and Cass.  After reading massive amounts of architectural criticism literature lately (and checking out the sole rendering of this new building), I'm curious to add my thoughts to the mix.  That said, I’m proud to introduce the first of our ongoing segment: “When Criticism ATTACKS!”  This week’s segment, the Auburn: Midtown….

 



Existing

  
To start, this soon-to-be building may appear a little boxier and a tad more bland than other developments nearby.  Yet I am certain it will add to the dynamic urbanism of the area.  Development in Midtown area has slowly been trickling from Wayne State down along Cass Avenue, with former brownstones and factory space shifting use thanks to our good old friends ‘market force’ and ‘desirability’.  This development will also continue the ongoing charge that business has been taking recently, plunging back into the throat of the formerly shunned Cass Corridor.  As older, former working class residents pass on or seek greener pastures in the suburbs, they depart as a far different legacy is taking shape.  Nearby WSU continues to invest in creating an 'on-campus' life for students, helping to shape a truly diverse environment of foreign, local, and regional visitors.  Such diversity has helped to spurn one of the few upticks in population within the city this past decade, one which is also continuing to spread south.  Partly, this is due to the massive physical barrier the local highways create to pedestrian traffic to the immediate north and west.  Yet business has been quick to follow suit, helping to encourage growth by lapping up formerly vacant sites and spurning development.  With Slows BBQ adding a second location to their resume, the Green Garage preparing to usher a new generation of businesses into the fray, and the ongoing staying power of both Traffic Jam and Mario’s, the local future couldn’t be brighter.  Over a billion dollars has been shelled out these past few years into the area, and it shows in earnest.  Many who visit have found that the affordable housing market has combined with a true rarity to the Metro-Detroit region: a total walkable environment, where bicycles have as much (dare I say more??) free reign as the fabled automobile.  With any luck, the Auburn will be done by the posted fall 2012 deadline, welcoming a few hundred more residents to the already eclectic mix.

The Design.

 The Auburn will continue recent efforts at New Urbanist colonization, adding zero lot lines and eclectic ground floor franchise developments to an area ringed by shotgun style apartment complexes and late Guilded-Age period homes.  It takes a cue from the arrangements of other contemporary developments, such at Studio One Apartments (2008) on Woodward/Forest and the new Union Apartments on Cass/Warren.  Also similar to those developments, this project is likely to be a vast improvement over the glazed stronghold that is the University Towers just to the north, one of the more startling places to walk by at night.  I'm sure the views from the top of UT are great, but the fact that it is so removed from the street, and that the tree canopy keeps we pedestrians concealed from view is alarming!  However, the Auburn will likely connect UT’s physically detached residents to a growing trend of street inclusion, and perhaps also tie development into the condos next door at 55 West Canfield as well.  No longer will these structures hang in the corner like kids in detention, waiting to join up with the rest of the group.  Instead, they will likely linchpin to create a more cohesive whole for nearby urbanites.



Balcony/Door Detail



Looking at the design layout: things seem strait forward, with mirror image units above simple storefront glass.  The vernacular is likely to be metal/plastic panel, with a true design delight veiled in the hidden-in-plain-sight balcony-door detail.  The exterior apartment doors seem to fold inward towards the living space, with a mesh or glazed panel keeping the more clumsy of residents from tumbling outside.  It’s a small thing which will likely have a big impact for inhabitants during summer months, creating a literal connection to of their living room to the outdoors.  It is also a counter argument to the often empty balconies seen everywhere in midrise construction, often wasted space during our long winter months.

Corner Design!

Yet what seems most odd of the overall layout is that the corner patio, spectacularly highlighted in the rendering, is that it is so plain.  As an extension of a cafe or restaurant, the activity this space generates will certainly add to the vitality and safety of the entire area during the summer season - similar to Cheli's outdoor patio or Hockeytown Cafe's in Downtown.  Yet the two story wall above the patio seems to serve little more than as simple signage and/or mechanical venting, looming over what is sure to be fantastic hangout.  Imagine how neat this façade could have been if semi-glazed, lit like a recessed torch at night, welcoming weary homebound students after a long day at class.  Inviting others to take a further stroll into the shimmering unknown; lounging in a common room overlooking a busy patio, baristas and patrons exchanging weary glances over a cup of joe.  Of being pedestrians below, chuckling at the sight of residents high above in glass elevators, coming to and fro like tunnelers in a mini ant farm.  Let the poets dream, I suppose…

End?

I am delighted that this project appears to burry parking in its caboose, and will make use of a corner I was certain was owned by local utility company to service the 400 foot antenna directly to the rear.  You’ll notice that tidbit didn’t make the rendering, yet will certainly be interesting hello to those wishing to live beneath.  Still, I’m a tad jealous in a way; for years, I lived next to a 1000’ antenna in Southfield which was speckled with ice in the winter, and decapitated by fog in the fall.  As a landmark, it is hard to ask for anything better: 

            “Just meet me under that massive tower, up on the patio for a quick bite!”

Yet if Studio One's parking structure retail is any indicator, it is likely that the retail space of this building will remain 'window only' advertising for the foreseeable future.  Regardless, the brief hint of landscaping surrounding the Auburn only makes this designer pine for repeat of the kindly planters seen Downtown. 

Until then, I look forward to hearing ongoing construction noises throughout the near future.  Next time, I will try to spy out such developments earlier, see if I can't add my voice to the growing volume that comprises ‘activist criticism’.  Better pictures soon, I promise!