GREEN SPACE: MOCAD exhibit spotlights architectural design and sustainability

"Good design still happens in Detroit," says architect Brian Hurttienne. "We are up on sustainable design...it's part of our culture."

Hurttienne and his cohorts on the Urban Priorities Committee of the American Institute of Architects Detroit express that sentiment in a new exhibit that recently opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) entitled "Considering Architecture: Sustainable Designs by Detroit Architects."

In collaboration with the Urban Land Institute and US Green Building Council, the group has put up a show that explores seven projects -- urban and suburban, residential and institutional, large and small, proposed and built -- designed by local firms.

Projects showcased include:

• Hamilton Anderson Associate's Detroit International Wildlife Refuge Gateway, which will serve as the entry point to a county park in the Humbug Marsh area. The Gateway makes use of water turbines as an energy source.
• The Traverwood Library in Ann Arbor, designed by inForm, which integrates reclaimed ash trees into its bold design.
• A private residence in Bloomfield Township, which makes use of structurally insulated panels and illuminates how eco-friendly building practices led to the selection of materials that give the home a unique aesthetic. Hue Projects was the architect for the home.
• Rossetti shared its gifts with Denver in the development of a mixed-use transit-oriented development (TOD) that is significant in its acceptance to the LEED neighborhood development pilot program.
• Steven C. Flum, Inc. has designed an innovative multi-family housing project for Midtown Detroit that uses discarded shipping containers as the basis of its design.
• Indian Springs Metropark Environmental Discovery Center, designed by SmithGroup, makes use of Mother Nature for climate control.
• Housing Operative built a small single-family home in Detroit as a theoretical study in sustainability that has implications socially and economically as well.

The exhibit is multi-media and runs through July 27. In June, there will be several events that delve into details of the individual projects.

Source: Brian Hurttienne, AIA Detroit UPC
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh