Detroit Quonset Hut Village is an Architecture Award Finalist

True North Detroit has been chosen as a finalist for the 2018 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP). True North, a village made from nine prefabricated SteelMaster Quonset Huts™, is one of six finalists in the running for the top honor.

The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology established the prize in 2013 to recognize the most distinguished architectural works built in North and South America. The winner of the MCHAP will be announced in October.

In 2017, True North was one of the winners of the Architects Newspaper’s Best of Design Award.

Edwin Chan teamed up with developer Philip Kafka to create the unique steel Quonset Hut village through his real estate company called Prince Concepts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl29TuZgIn6/?hl=en&taken-by=princeconcepts

The village is in the Core City neighborhood of Detroit. It’s the first time in 60 years that this area has seen a major development.

This team designed the buildings at different angles and in different shapes and sizes to create open, outdoor spaces to enhance the community feel of the area. There are rental units inside a few of the buildings that range from 475 to 1,600 square feet, an Airbnb called QuonsetHaus, a small coffee shop and even a yoga studio.

The spaces inside of the buildings were specially designed to hang art for exhibits. Translucent and transparent polycarbonate allows natural light to pour inside of the prefabricated Quonset Hut, and crews used other affordable materials to keep the spaces cost effective.