Academic Architecture Studio |  Spring 2022
In collaboration with Lauren Jasper

Vines in architecture are often a sign of neglect. In our project, however, we are subverting the idea of the vines being a sign of neglect, and instead use them to give our project visibility. Our intervention is a confession booth, and using it we want to bring light to the current histories of residents of Northwest Goldberg and neighborhoods that were neglected following Detroit’s industrial decline. 

Our booth is portable and can be adapted to its site. This booth acts as a place where residents can come and talk to a "receiver" that can either be a virtual live counselor or simply a recording device that archives the residents' testimony and becomes a catalog of current histories. These testimonies can then be used as justification for acquiring funding to improve infrastructure, upkeep, and general investment in the neighborhood.

In one way, the vines conceal and give privacy to whoever is inside the booth, especially when it is in the form of a room versus a wall. But they also have the potential to become screens and relay the narrative being told inside the booth to the outside world. The vines, therefore, are a way for us to expand and project the current histories outside so they’ll no longer be concealed.