Please join us for the closing reception and student presentations from AIA Detroit’s first K-8 outreach program, Architecture Building Communities: Detroit; a partnership with Cranbrook Academy and the Center for Success, and supported as one of the inaugural recipients of the Architects’ Foundation / Armstrong World Industries Foundation K-8 Architecture and Design Education Grant.

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Over the past 10 weeks, Educators from Crankbrook Academy and volunteer mentors from AIA Detroit have been meeting with students in the Center for Success after-school program on Detroit’s east side. Two groups of students met with their instructors and mentors each week to learn about a real City of Detroit Planning & Development Department initiative, just blocks away from the Center. After a group site visit to the Islandview neighborhood, mentors worked with students to illuminate the planning processes behind adaptive reuse, new construction, and urban redevelopment, and crafted their own visions for how they’d like to see their city evolve.

On Friday, February 2nd, from 3:00-5:00pm, students will present their projects to City of Detroit officials, members of the AEC community, and the general public. The event will take place at the Butzel Family Recreation Center, a community resource at the heart of the area of their study. Following the presentations, representatives of AIA Detroit, Cranbrook, and the Center for Success will share background on the formation of the new program, and highlight future plans for additional educational engagement aimed at fostering a more equitable and diverse pipeline into the AEC and Design professions.