Date: 07/29/2004

Detroit architect fuels urban revival - Detroit's heritage inspires

By Marge Colborn / Detroit News Design Editor
Ricardo Thomas / The Detroit News

The exterior of the Ferry Street East model is reminiscent of the dwellings that once lined Ferry. "Where history meets hip" is the development's motto.

DETROIT--If Detroit realizes its goal of becoming a world-class city again, Dorian Moore, 40, will be one of the forward-thinking architects to credit.

Before the long-anticipated turnaround happens, though, the soft-spoken Moore, who looks like a GQ model, has his work cut out for him. It's demanding work that is intrinsically rewarding, even though it means dealing with individuals (bankers, public officials, developers) who may not be as optimistic as he is about the core city.

The work is building and rebuilding Detroit's downtown and its beleaguered neighborhoods, block by block, house by house, with an eye on the future as well as the past.

"As an architect and urbanist, if you can preserve a piece of the city's fabric while also providing new, flexible use for the future, you get a lot of satisfaction," says Moore, named 2002's Young Architect of the Year by the Detroit chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Moore is vice president of Archive Design Studio, or Archive DS as it's usually known, in downtown Detroit. Mark Nickita, a fellow architect, founded the firm in 1991 and is the president. Kevin Borsay, a graphic designer and engineer, is the third principal.

Like his partners, Moore grew up in Detroit. The firm's name reflects their archive of 4,000 slides of architecture shot in urban centers around the world, including metropolises in Japan, China, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Turkey, Morocco, the Netherlands and Poland. In the United States, the trio has been to more than 40 major cities.

Ricardo Thomas / The Detroit News

Architect Dorian Moore, left, and Detroit developer Colin Hubbell, president of the Hubbell Group, discuss some construction changes for a new development just north of Ferry Street.

"Our travels have helped us gain a better understanding of architecture, design and urban issues," says Moore, who has a master of architecture degree from U-M as well as advanced studies in urbanism at Technical University, Vienna, Austria.

"Walking the streets, interviewing people, snapping digital photos, sketching and taking notes ó it all leads to a genuine understanding of what works and does not work in these diverse urban conditions."

Archive DS projects include the ambitious neighborhood regeneration strategy called the Far Eastside Project (Jefferson to Warren, Conner to Alter), Canfield Lofts, Lofts at New Center and Ferry Street East.

"Our focus is projects we think are important to build the city back up," says Moore, who is married to Carolie, a public health nurse, and the father of two daughters, Kiana, 9, and Aisha, 5. The family lives in a 1924 Dutch Revival home in Walkerville, Ontario, a historic community near Windsor.

Moore is one of only 1,428 black architects in the country, according to the National Association of Minority Architects (NOMA). (See below for a list of prominent black architects.)

In Detroit, a city of 950,000 residents of whom 80 percent are black, it's important to have an African-American architectural presence, particularly by someone who's familiar with the Motor City's good and bad history.

"Because of his travels and studies, Dorian has developed a world view and understands the essence of good urban architecture," says Colin Hubbell, 44, urban activist and developer of Ferry Street East.

"As an African-American architect and a native Detroiter, he brings to the table a local perspective that often times is missed by other architects who don't quite possess the sensitivity to the unique opportunities and challenges in Detroit."

From: The Detroit News

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