Two architecture students from Stuttgart who made an extended visit to Detroit this past summer were captivated by our city and its challenges. From their visit they adopted the CPA Building, the triangular six story structure across from Slow's and facing the MCD, as the focus of a project for their studies. They have erected the website CPA-Detroit.org do outline the project and develop interaction.



Constantin Hörburger and Jakob Rauscher where 'friends of a friend' who had helped me during an art project in Stuttgart so I was happy to have an opportunity to meet and tour a bit with them [and their artist companion Christina Schmid]. I can vouch for their sincerity and interest. I encourage any, who may wish to do so, to assist them in their effort. The letter below describes the project.

Dear Detroiters!

We need your help.

We are two architecture students from the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, Germany. We spent some research time in Detroit last summer and fell in love not only with the ruins but with you, the people of Detroit and your spirit. [that's when we met and yeah, you should pretty much all know us...]

Especially inspiring for us was the new way of life, that Detroit is developing: the growing sense of togetherness, the thinking of 'access' and the sharing of property. This way of life is more social, economical and ecological. We can learn a lot from Detroit if we stop looking at it as a failure but consider it a role model.

Because of the spirit of Detroit and the things we can learn from you we decided to finish our architecture studies with a project about your city. We suggest to create the “Commons Production Agency” - by reusing and transforming the old CPA [[Conductor's Protective Association) building on Michigan Ave. as the starting point of a new vision for Corktown and other neighborhoods of Detroit. We want to question the relation between property and access, the participation during the design process and the architectural form. We all know car sharing, but do we know 'architecture sharing'?

To answer this question we created the website www.cpa-detroit.org as a feedback and information platform. With short articles we will give your insight into our design process and the results, but more important will be your feedback, your knowledge, your comments, your critique, your questions and your suggestions. This website will grow as we and you will develop the project. We will update our process and new ideas, that are based on your feedback.

Feel welcome to explore the website and feel invited to give us your opinion and insight!

See you on www.cpa-detroit.org,

Constantin and Jakob