Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies

More about the book

Lafayette Park, a middle-class neighborhood in downtown Detroit, boasts the largest collection of buildings designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, it stood out as one of Detroit's most racially integrated and economically stable areas, despite being surrounded by signs of financial distress. Through interviews and essays from residents, along with archival materials and new photographs, this work explores how residents engage with their unique modernist environment. It challenges conventional representations of iconic modernist architecture, focusing instead on the organic ways residents interact with the structures and how these experiences shape their daily lives. Originally published in 2012, just before Detroit's historic municipal bankruptcy, the 2019 edition includes a revised introduction and two new contributions from residents Marsha Music and Matthew Piper. They reflect on the neighborhood's evolution from 2012 to 2018, a period marked by the city's bankruptcy and subsequent transformation into a sought-after area for real estate investment. This examination highlights the dynamic relationship between architecture and community, emphasizing the lived experience over architectural intent.