School of Architecture Building Renovation Plan & Masterplan

University of Detroit Mercy, MI, 1994 - 2000

Two fundamental concepts guiding future renovations were set forth in the Masterplan that Eisenbach authored in 1994. The first, “Building for Understanding,” imagined an environment in which the building design supports the inquisitive student. The second, a strategy of “building within the building” allowed the university to showcase the original Beaux-Arts edifice and offered a skeletal structure within which other architects and students could contribute. Following the successful design of the Ronald F. Titus Digital Studio which modeled these ideas, Sandra Laux and Eisenbach developed a detailed building renovation plan. This blueprint established a budget, timetable, and design to satisfy physical and spiritual requirements of the school. Slowly but surely, over fourteen years, this plan has been realized.

Partners: Sandra Laux, Allen & Laux Architects and Design Assistant, Lois Weinthal