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Architects: OMA
- Area: 2072 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:John D’Angelo, Jason Keen
Text description provided by the architects. LANTERN, OMA’s first project in Detroit, is now open to the public in Little Village, a neighborhood-wide initiative of Library Street Collective (LSC) co-founders Anthony & JJ Curis. Led by OMA Partner Jason Long, the former commercial bakery and warehouse built in the 1900s has been converted into a mixed-use art hub and public space.
Led by OMA Partner Jason Long, the 22,300-square-foot complex serves as a new home for two local arts non-profits, Signal-Return and PASC (Progressive Arts Studio Collective). It also includes around 5,300 square feet of artist studios, galleries, and 4,000 square feet of creative retail—all centered around a 2,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard that will serve as an accessible community space.
OMA’s approach takes advantage of the building’s current state of disrepair, transforming an area missing both its roof and an end wall into a courtyard at the heart of the building. Defined as the primary entry with multiple frontages for all tenants, the courtyard becomes a public gateway and an activity condenser. Signal- Return and PASC’s diverse programs—art education, production, and gallery—are organized across the existing tripartite site to maximize points of access and potential for community interface.
Production zones and artist studios create an active and inviting face to Amity Street, galleries line the courtyard to reinforce a public heart for the building, and neighborhood-serving functions orchestrated on the opposite side of the courtyard consolidate the most public amenities along Kercheval Avenue.
