UCLA architect Greg Lynn reenvisions site of abandoned factory in Detroit

The United States Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the premiere showcase for architects and designers worldwide, is currently exhibiting a conceptual design by Greg Lynn, UCLA professor of architecture and urban design and the head of Greg Lynn FORM. The biennale, which opened to the public May 28 in Venice, Italy, will run through Nov. 27.

Greg Lynn FORM was among 12 of the best contemporary architecture and design teams from across America chosen to “re-imagine” four abandoned or under-utilized sites in downtown Detroit for the US Pavilion’s exhibition, “The Architectural Imagination” and answer the challenge of solving environmental and social concerns surrounding the postindustrial city in the 21^st century.

To do that, Lynn created “the Center for Fulfillment, Knowledge and Innovation” on a mile-long abandoned building that once housed a bustling Packard automobile factory in Detroit. Lynn’s reimagined complex would house robotic manufacturing, autonomous transportation and online retail, among other uses. With the help of a HoloLens, developed by Microsoft and Trimble, Lynn was able to move and insert virtual 3-D models as holograms into a real-world model, seamlessly crossing from the computer screen to the physical space.

“The technology enabled the architect to quickly analyze various scenarios in the context of the physical environment, consequently shortening the design cycle,” according to the online newsletter designboom.

To demonstrate this new technology, Lynn was featured in a video produced by Microsoft. The video was shot at a time when SUPRASTUDIO — UCLA’s highly selective post-professional master of architecture program taught by Lynn and other top architects at the department’s satellite IDEAS facility — was housed at the Hercules Campus in Playa Vista. This spring, IDEAS relocated to a new location in Culver City’s bustling Hayden Tract creative district.