DOTTED LINES

Library Street Collective's new cultural hub in Detroit, designed by OMA New York, is a signature rebuild that makes the most of the site's existing structures

-  SISKA LYSSENS

Ask Anthony Curis about Lantern, the new cultural and community hub in Detroit's East Village, and he'll give you a modest answer. On a rainy March afternoon in the Michigan city, known for its shifting fortunes tied to the automotive industry, he describes the architectural transformations redrawing the area, of which Lantern is part, as 'a by-product' of Library Street Collective, the gallery he founded with his partner in life and work, JJ Curis, in 2012.

And yet, the many changes happening in Little Village, as the burgeoning creative district is now known, are both intentional and sweeping and the Curises are behind them. There's the renovation of a 1912 churchturned-art gallery-and-library by Peterson Rich Office.

Next to it, a McArthur Binion and Tony Hawk-designed skate park borders a sculpture garden dedicated to the visual artist Charles McGee, with landscaping by Manhattan-based studio OSD. An adjacent rectory was recast into a guesthouse and artist residency by Detroit practice Rossetti, with interiors by Holly Jonsson Studio.

'When we first started meeting with the community members and stakeholders they said incredible, great - but we don't want it to be an island, we want you to do more,' Curis says about the response to their plans for the church, their first acquisition.