This semester focused on a ‘lite’ comprehensive design integrated with studies of water, designing for water movement, water containment, water restraint, and water diversion. The sewer and stormwater systems in Detroit, MI are a combined, adding further strain when it begins to fill up; sending the overflow of both the sewer and stormwater into the river. Our projects on sites chosen in a specific area of Detroit address the issues of stormwater management and attempt to remedy any overflow by designs that restrain,

contain, or divert water in smart effective ways while maintaining a level of design standard for Detroit. This project looks to provide a mediation for the public between the river and park space while accomodating to the needs of housing residents living above the ground floor public corridor. The building acts as a system in a whole by diverting rain water on the roof towards apartment terraces and a facade system that acts to both slow down water movement to the ground but to also allow residents to live within the system.

Ben Rambadt | brambadt@umich.edu | brambadt.squarespace.com | 269.221.1226

RECHARGEUniversity of Michigan | Fall Studio - 2011 | Jen Maigret

This project was an adventure in discovering the massiveness and interior urbanisms of MegaChurches through GIS mapping practices, data research, trends, and integrated design. A MegaChurch is defined by a parish having over 2,000 members in its congregation. The Detroit Metro area alone has a concentration of 26 MegaChurch classified facilities with multiple

amenities that serve more than the sunday rituals. These interior urbanisms create opportunities for communities to come together for development, giving, and production. In this project I hoped to capture the essence of a Mega-Church with the production side of a vocational school dedicated to: dance choreography, film, stage performance, and music.

Ben Rambadt | brambadt@umich.edu | brambadt.squarespace.com | 269.221.1226

FAITHUniversity of Michigan | Fall Studio - 2010 | McLain Clutter

Normal is the image of Detroit that this studio is looking at to explore the small operations and people who make Detroit what it is in its own unique and Normal way. We began the semester researching aspects of Detroit over the past 50 years and how they have evolved or opened up

opportunities for the people who live there now. I focused on the hand-painted sign industry in Detroit and I’m proposing a facility that in an abandoned building that will be home to a writing and fabrication workshop to display Detroit’s own Normal.

Ben Rambadt | brambadt@umich.edu | brambadt.squarespace.com | 269.221.1226

NORMALUniversity of Michigan | Winter Studio - 2011 | Christian Unverzagt

This project with the Los Angeles River seeks to mediate the public experience of both recreation and education by exploring the possibilities of combining infrastructure and ecosystem at the edge of the L.A. River. The recreational encounter for the public is possible by means of varied surfaces, choreographing together: ramps, storm

drains, developed landscape, and trampoline or tensioned surfaces. These entities of tectonics help to create an experience for the public that is both leisurely and subconsciously educational as they glance the subterranean operations and the progressive ecosystem of the L.A. River.

Ben Rambadt | brambadt@umich.edu | brambadt.squarespace.com | 269.221.1226

MOTHER DITCH(Wallenberg Studio)

University of Michigan | Winter Studio - 2010 | Ellie Abrons

Ben Rambadt | brambadt@umich.edu | brambadt.squarespace.com | 269.221.1226

CollectionUniversity of Michigan | 2008 - 2010