MLS Detroit Stadium in Michigan by ROSSETTI

Article source: ROSSETTI 

The development, designed by ROSSETTI and proposed by Rock Ventures and Platinum Equity, will mark the main entry point to downtown Detroit, forming a welcoming gateway to the city at the intersection of I-375 and Gratiot. The site is currently an unfinished jail site owned by Wayne County. ROSSETTI’s portfolio includes five Major League Soccer (MLS) stadiums – more than any other architecture firm in the world. 

Image Courtesy © ROSSETTI

• Architects: ROSSETTI
• Project: MLS Detroit Stadium
• Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
  
• Client: An investor partner group spearheaded by Tom Gores and Dan Gilbert
• Size: 15-acre urban site

Image Courtesy © ROSSETTI

Detroit, MI – ROSSETTI’s proposal transforms an important area of downtown Detroit into an active and healthy destination for a diverse mix of sports, entertainment, hospitality and retail. The design reflects a commitment to enhancing the public realm, balancing open pedestrian space and connectivity to adjacent areas and creating a world-class urban environment for the city. Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, with the acknowledgement of MLS Commissioner Don Garber, commissioned ROSSETTI to develop the plan.

Led by the addition of a dynamic 20,000-seat MLS stadium as a catalyst, the proposed project also includes a training facility, a podium for commerce and recreation, four towers containing hotel, residential and office space, and parking structures anchor the development.

Image Courtesy © ROSSETTI

During the press conference at the ROSSETTI offices, representatives from the stakeholders discussed the potential vision, impact and connectivity the project could bring to the city. Positioned as a 50-, 60-, 70- year decision, the project currently is at an ‘inflection point’ to determine whether Detroit should have a major sports and entertainment project or a jail at the front door of downtown. 

The design drivers for the project are placemaking, connectivity, porosity and vibrancy, with the synergistic mix of uses facilitating this site to become the major anchor for Detroit’s burgeoning 300-acre entertainment district. Focusing on the need to restore and repair the city’s infrastructure, ROSSETTI’s emphasis on connectivity will weave together disparate areas and bridge the center of downtown at Campus Martius with the Eastern Market, one of the city’s most popular destinations, along the Gratiot corridor.

Image Courtesy © ROSSETTI

“Central to the project’s design is porosity and creating an uninterrupted experience between the public realm and physical buildings. In it, we explore how to unite cities with nature, people with habitats, sports with culture. We endeavor to have all anchor developments facilitating pedestrian movement horizontally and vertically through a ‘green belt’ podium,” said Matt Rossetti, CEO and President of ROSSETTI.

The podium will be open to the public at all levels from the ground up to the park-like setting along the rooftop nature trail, an 8-10 block continuous elevated greenspace that connects all four towers. New civic plazas defined by movement and a combination of hard and soft surfaces will offer year-round programming and spaces for civic gathering. The energy generated from the interconnected development will result in a vibrant district, with public uses spilling out onto the streets and rooftops of Detroit and continuing the vitality and momentum that the city is currently generating locally, regionally and internationally.

The project’s next steps involve further discussions between the City of Detroit, Wayne County, Rock Ventures, Platinum Equity, the MLS and other stakeholders to develop a solution that resolves the needs of the criminal justice system and the vision for this new district. 

ABOUT ROSSETTI 

Founded in 1969 and based in Detroit, ROSSETTI is a boutique 85-person sports and entertainment design firm with an international portfolio of innovative arenas, stadia, training centers, and a variety of creative hospitality, workplace, public realm and mixed-use developments. ROSSETT’s portfolio includes five Major League Soccer (MLS) stadiums – more than any other architecture firm. ROSSETTI’s most recent projects include the world’s first motorsports stadium for Daytona International Speedway; a 10-year master plan to transform the United States Tennis Association’s 46-acre campus into a cohesive ‘Sports Spectacle’, including the re-design of Arthur Ashe Stadium which will open for the 2016 US Open and feature the largest retractable roof of any tennis venue in the world, and the new headquarters and training center for the LA Lakers in El Segundo, CA. In March 2016, Sports Business Journal named two of ROSSETTI’s principals on its annual list of “Power Players” in the design and development of Sports Architecture.

Tags: Michigan, USA

Categories: Mixed use, Stadium

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