Makers in Detroit
In Detroit, we like to make things. Here's a short snipet on a class tour I took where we checked out Omnicorps. One of the many Maker-spaces/incubators in the Motor City.
Last week, my studio class was studying active groups or "agencies" that are located throughout Detroit. One of them was Omnicorps, located just kiddie corner to the Eastern Market. Detroit is filled with these kinds of spaces. Very unrefined, but highly active with people who are looking to start anything from a movement to a business.
What can we take from a place like Omnicorps? How does it define space? Normally in architecture and design, it is our goal to give a particular space a designation. Omnicorps is different, the first thing you notice walking in is how little separation there is between the different users. It's almost as if the space is built in layers, of these projects over the top of one another. Omnicorp's interpretation of space is not based on area or volume, but ideas. What does that mean? It means the ideas of the users defines how they use their space. One of the studios former students, Paul analyzed this throughout his project, by recording the movement of the users in the space. His findings show little structure or containment. He recorded these paths throughout the spaces and overlay them onto a plan of Omnicorps. The paths seemed to have taken this amoebic form as ideas evolved throughout the space. A user would start at their desk or drawing board a majority of the time during the hatch of their idea, then as it evolved into a reality, the user began to expand outwards to utilize resources, sometimes regressing to a particular location.
Omnicorps serves this kind of idea of space because of it's resources. It contains many tools and levels where ideas can cross paths as they develop. This is a healthy environment for ideas. Here's more images of the tour.
Click HERE for more information on the Omnicorps space and what they are about.