BLACK CARE IS HERE: NOMA LEGACY HEADQUARTERS
BARBARA G. LAURIE COMPETITION SUBMISSION
HIBA SALIH | SAMARTH VACHHRAJANI | CAMERON NAYMAN | RAFAEL JIMENEZ
NOMA LEGACY HEADQUARTERS
Our response was designed through a series of buildings that are built over time instead of a large intimidating architecture that consumes the site. Orchestrating a sequence of buildings over time creates space for reconnection between the existing community and their input in the design process. Reshaping the relationship between architecture and time, which has historically been a westernized approach to efficiency, sequencing combats this.
BLACK CARE IS HERE
BLACK CARE IS HERE
The people of Detroit are historically self-determined, resilient, and strong. However, the people of Detroit are also overlooked. black people of Detroit are currently moving out of the city to the suburbs for safety and better-funded school systems
As we begin to reimagine the site of Brewster Douglas Housing into the National Headquarters for NOMAS and resource center - we have asked ourselves how we can design with care and for care. How do we design for celebration of BIPOC communities and doing so while tackling a massive 600,000 square feet of programming? Our agency as designers in this historically charged site is important to be acknowledged - as outsiders and as designers. Our proposal seeks to not only engage in placemaking as a collaborative social process but also engage with the site not as empty land but rather as a land charged with history and culture.
first level HQ
second level HQ
site context
The entrance to the project becomes a public space - creating space for social gathering and connection. A communally weaved tapestry lines the building. People of the Community have full agency over the architecture itself and spaces within.
A central courtyard extends the public space into the building, creating a central hub from where different programs as they are built over time can be accessed. The courtyard allows for multiple programming for events and celebrations and for the BIPOC community to just be.
THE HOUSING
The last and final addition to the site was housing. The thick injustice that exists within urban planning is represented through social housing schemes that only perpetuated the tragic narratives of black folk. We wanted to change our typical approach and challenged ourselves by attempting a housing scheme that was modular for people that want and need a space to call their own. By stacking the first four levels of the housing scheme that could be repeated, we made sure that this building would provide equal access to green terraces for each user as a testament to the relationship that black folk have to the land. We saw that it was crucial to find a scheme that gave agency back to the community through green spaces and interaction with neighbors.
