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| dc.contributor.author | Haines, Samuel | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-05-09T18:24:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-05-09T18:24:52Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-05-09 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10429/2575 | |
| dc.description | On the last day of classes, the day ends and the bell rings. The students run out of the classrooms, down the halls, and out the doors into the beginning of summer. The school, once known for being loud with the sounds of children learning and playing, makes its final sound as the floor squeaks from kids leaping outside, the doors then click shut, and the silence pours over the school. One hundred years, two hundred semesters, ninety-nine summers, and now it’s one-hundredth summer will be it's last. The kids move on, and the school stands still, left sitting, decaying, crumbling, waiting. Does its fate lie with demolition or will it find redemption through reuse? People’s connection to the built environment is important within a community, especially with a community anchor like a school. The neglect and deterioration of many Detroit’s schools relate directly to the condition of the surrounding neighborhood. The disinvestment towards the school spills out into the community, as the community begins to struggle more and more. Restoring these schools for new purposes helps to restore the communities' connection to the anchor and each other. Implementing a new function for these abandoned schools brings people into the building, consequently deepening the connection of the community that extends outwards to the rest of the city. Student enrollment in Detroit mirrored the city’s rise and decline throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. The large influx in the city’s population called for more and more schools to be constructed. However, many rising issues led to a decline in student enrollment and therefore, more school closures. The impact on the school’s condition and the community around it is directly related to the school's neglect. Some community members call for the reuse of these schools, meanwhile others embrace demolition to lift the burden of blight. Initiatives such as The After School Report have been created to advocate for the repurposing of these vacant schools, challenging the plans for demolition that many of these schools are slated for. Adaptive reuse of abandoned schools provides a unique solution to save historic landmarks and bring new life into them. There have been many projects utilizing the reuse of schools within Detroit. New purposes explored for these schools include residential, studio, and office spaces. There are also many projects which were not completed due to various challenges. Adaptive reuse of schools around North America suggests more successful creative functions. The creative opportunities that adaptive reuse offers for abandoned schools go beyond the traditional residential or office incubators typically developed. To support these creative new ideas, in 2023 the City of Detroit updated its zoning ordinances regarding abandoned schools. These changes promote new interest in developing flexible functions for potential developers and community organizations. Detroit’s vacant educational infrastructure is rooted in many communities spread across the city and has been in a constant fight to resist the common fate of demolition that so many schools face. To save Detroit’s abandoned schools, this research questions: ‘How adaptive reuse can breathe new life into these schools’? ‘How can communities be created within vacant schools’? ‘How can combining child care and senior housing be implemented in vacant schools’? The goal of this thesis project was to reconnect two generations that have grown apart through the redemption of a community anchor, creating a community within the school. This thesis exploration proposes a new fate for the closed Courville Elementary School. A new program is proposed to be implemented in the revitalization of the abandoned school. This thesis addressed a pressing issue of the lack of child care and provided a potential solution through the reuse of this school. The combination of two generations through the reuse of Courville Elementary brings two age groups at each end of the age spectrum together to create a new intergenerational programming. Highlighting the transformative potential of Detroit’s abandoned educational infrastructure, this proposal aimed to spark creativity and interest to save Detroit’s historic schools. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | This study is a comprehensive exploration of a trending topic within architecture, involving the redemption of the built form through the use of adaptive reuse. There are currently sixty-three abandoned schools located within Detroit, the majority of which have sat vacant for over twenty years. Almost a third of these schools are set to be demolished, as almost fifty have been demolished within the last fifteen years. This thesis aims to investigate how adaptive reuse can breathe new life into these vacant schools to save them. Questions that have risen with this investigation include how issues of senior housing and lack of child care within Detroit can be tackled through adaptive reuse. This thesis explores combining seniors and children to create an intergenerational community within vacant schools that helps to revitalize the school’s surrounding community. To explore these questions a school was chosen located in one of the Detroit districts most in need of childcare services. Elizabeth Courville Elementary School, located in the Grixdale neighborhood served as the vessel to explore this new intergenerational programming. This study provided a new glimpse into how two generations on opposite ends of the age spectrum can interact together to help each other in many ways. The idea of community is pushed throughout the design from the connection of residents to each other, kids, and the surrounding community all benefiting collectively. In conclusion, this thesis stands at the forefront of adaptive reuse to explore new programmatic functions that aid in restoring identity, community, and historic value. Adaptive reuse of school buildings can be applied across North America by encouraging innovative design thinking and challenging traditional paradigms. This study contributes significantly to the progressive evolution of adaptive reuse, highlighting the transformative potential inherent in reimagining neglected urban spaces. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Adaptive Reuse, Schools, Intergenerational, Childcare, Senior Housing | en_US |
| dc.title | Old Schools, New Ideas | en_US |
| dc.title.alternative | Bringing Life Back To Detroit's Abandoned Schools | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
