The True North complex of eight residential "units" and one specially vacant green lot is built in the Cor City area, four kilometers from the center of Detroit. On its street, empty houses are combined with inhabited, as well as with wastelands turned into meadows. True North is designed to be rented to representatives of the creative professions, not fenced off from the surrounding city in any way, designed with the interests of local residents and the municipality in mind. All this allowed the project to become the smallest finalist in the authoritative Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, covering new buildings in both Americas (the largest contender for the award is the David Adjaye African American Museum in Washington, and the winner will be announced in October).
The developer initially wanted to use the so-called
Kuonset hangars are semicircular corrugated structures manufactured since 1941 for the US Navy. In addition to narrowly military needs, they were used as temporary housing, and after 1945 the surplus was sold to the population and often survived to this day. Newly built prefabricated houses of this type were planned to be erected on the site, and the task of the architect and former partner of Frank Gary Edwin Chan and his bureau EC3 was to adapt this example of mid-20th century design to the needs - and tastes - of the 21st century.
The 0.23 hectare site is occupied by eight houses of different sizes, from 44 to 150 m2 (total project area - 700 m2): this is the first new housing construction in the area in more than 60 years. Each house is set on a 10 cm thick concrete slab; it has a built-in radiant heating system. The end walls are made of polycarbonate, which at the same time protects the private space of residents and provides the interior with natural light. Also made of polycarbonate is an "island" with a kitchen, a bathroom, a technical utility room, a storage room.
Special attention was paid to the role of True North for the area: three public paths run through the site, and the houses are located so as to balance between optimal light and shade, privacy and openness. Thirty new trees were planted. It was after the demonstration of the project to the Detroit authorities that the developer managed to get the last fragment of the site, which was not enough to implement the plan.
