Flint, Michigan was once home to GM, serving as a vital hub in the American automotive industry. But in the 1990s, it emerged as a bellwether for Rust Belt cities, plagued by financial mismanagement and an outsized foreclosure rate. This spring, the city launched a competition that asked architects to reimagine one of its many empty lots—and the ethereal winner was recently unveiled to the public.
https://gizmodo.com/catch-some-shade-under-this-illusive-flying-house-sculp-5992344
The downtown Flint parking lot where the competition took place isn’t actually “empty.” It was once home to several Saginaw Street buildings—which were eventually razed—and later, a parking lot. But since then, according to the Flint chapter of the American Institute of Architects, it’s become a staging area for all kinds of public events: parades, races, markets, and so on. In its own way, it’s a vibrant public space.
So, the idea behind the AIA’s Flat Lot Competition wasn’t to make use of an abandoned space—it was to give the burgeoning public space a shelter and pavilion. “The Flat Lot will be a new center and symbol for the city,” explained organizers in the competition brief, “an attraction for regional visitors, and a site that amplifies the many existing events that help define cultural life in Flint.”
The winning design came from London studio Two Islands, which imagined their proposal—called “Mark’s House”—as a monument to a fictional Flint resident named Mark. The house is wrapped in a thin mirrored skin of mylar, creating the illusion of a Tudor-style home that floats above the parking lot. Under its gables, an undulated mass of lights show the faces of 882 donors who supported the project. [Images via DesignBoom; Gavin Smith; and Jacquie Gagne]
Update: According to many in Flint, these photos have been altered—and many local residents are less than happy with the results of the project. More on the controversy is here.
