Architect 2014-07.pdf

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ARCHITECT JULY 2014 WWW.ARCHITECTMAGAZINE.COM
Design Concept
A tAsk force recommended thAt the city of detroit demolish
40,000 dilApidAted houses to stAve off continuing blight.
ArcholAb hAs A better And more cost-efficient plAn.
The sight of Detroit’s thousands of neglected residential
lots, spread across hundreds of sparsely occupied blocks,
has become infamous, thanks to artists and the media.
Now imagine these properties brimming with ripening figs,
pistachios, mangos, and citrus. In the winter.
This is the vision of Afterhouse, a project conceived by
Abigail Murray and Steven Mankouche of the Ann Arbor,
Mich.–based research and design collaborative Archolab.
The process is simple and inexpensive: Repurpose the
concrete foundation of a derelict house to build a sunken
greenhouse that stays warm through solar heat gain and
the insulation of the earth to grow subtropical crops.
Juror Mimi Love noted, “This is a clever and hopeful
submission, considering the number of neighborhoods in
Detroit with which nobody knows what to do but turn out
the lights and walk away.”
The test site is an abandoned, fire-damaged house in
the Detroit-embedded city of Hamtramck. An insulated
greenhouse shed will rise out of the existing 25-footsquare
foundation. The south side of the shed’s gable
roof will comprise transparent, twin-wall polycarbonate
panels, supported by trusses built from standard 2x4s,
steel strapping, pipe, and cable. The other half of the
hardwood slats
existing foundation (below)
sip roof (beyond)
double polycarbonate wall
diy truss
planting
envelope
scrap sip planter box
hardwood slats
N
roof, as well as much of the building envelope, will
comprise structural insulated panels (SIPs) donated by
building supplier Insulspan. Hardwood cut-offs and slats
donated by local sawmill Hardwoods of Michigan will
become an exterior rainscreen and the interior decking,
while reclaimed corrugated steel siding will clad the
end walls.
Archolab strategically twisted the roof 30 degrees off
the local street grid to orient due south. The structure’s
base still fits the original foundation, so it is the walls that
will take on irregular shapes. A similar twist-and-tweak
operation could be performed on future Afterhouses,
regardless of each lot’s orientation.
At the front of the building, “where the house meets
the street,” says Mankouche, an associate professor of
architecture at the University of Michigan, the team will
establish a raised open-air planter for summer crops. Like
a conventional porch, the elevated garden will function as
a welcoming threshold, a protective fence, and a shading
device. In the winter, the living screen of plants will vanish
just when the greenhouse behind it requires direct sunlight.
“It’s very low tech, very inexpensive, but very clever,” juror
Gerardo Salinas said.
Ingredients
sip cut-offs
hardwood slat remnants
polycarbonate
diy truss