Lantern, designed by OMA, has been inaugurated in Detroit

OMA’s first project in Detroit has been opened to the public in Little Village, a neighborhood-wide initiative conceived by Library Street Collective (LSC) co-founders Anthony and JJ Curis. Led by OMA partner Jason Long, the studio's redesign has turned the former commercial bakery and warehouse complex, built in 1900, into a mixed-use art hub and public space.

The 2,000-square-meter complex serves as the new home for two local non-profit arts organizations, Signal-Return and PASC (Progressive Arts Studio Collective), and also includes approximately 500 square meters of artist studios, galleries, and 370 square meters of creative retail.

OMA converted a building area missing both its roof and an end wall into a courtyard of about 200 square meters, which will serve as an accessible community space, gathering all public activities, using the state of disrepair as a new life for the project.

While the production zones and artist studios create an interactive and engaging façade on Amity Street, the galleries align with the courtyard to reinforce the public core of the building. The neighborhood services have been organized on the opposite side of the courtyard to consolidate the public functions along Kercheval Avenue.

In the North Building, bricked or boarded-up doors and windows have been reopened, extruded windows in the galleries become true art vitrines, and the former loading dock entries create large openings in the production spaces. In the South Building, which presented a vast concrete wall, 1,353 holes have been drilled into the walls and filled with cylindrical glass blocks, preserving its monolithic effect.

This field of small perforations not only reveals the movements inside the building but also transforms the building into a glowing lantern at night.