In 2019, Peterson Rich Office was selected to transform an historic church into a new art gallery, performance space, and community center. Located in one of Detroit’s residential areas that has long been subject to population decline and urban blight, the renovated church will support an expansion of the client’s gallery operations and provide additional programming by strategically transforming the interior while leaving the exterior in its original form.

The project aims to be both local and global. It will be a new anchoring institution for the neighborhood, echoing the role the church once played as a space for community gathering, while also serving as an art gallery, lecture hall, and performance space for both local and global art audiences.

Part of a 3.75-acre master plan that Peterson Rich Office is developing with the landscape design firm OSD, the church’s adaptive reuse will be the first phase in the creation of a new creative core in Detroit. Future projects will include new artist live/work spaces, a bar/restaurant/cafe, and expanded exhibition space with art storage. True to the core mission of our clients, the master plan will feature key partnerships with local artists and community members.

Collaborators: OSD (Landscape); Silman (Structural Engineering); Salas OBrien (MEP); Above the Fold (Representation)