The Silverdome in Pontiac seemed like a state-of-the-art football stadium when it opened in 1975. Then in 2002, the Lions moved back to Detroit and it seemed like a has-been stadium.
Now, it sits in ruins.
The Triple Investment Group, which bought the site in 2009 for $500,000 is now making a push to develop it.
On Tuesday, it announced a design competition and invited architects, designers, students, engineers and artists to submit tthrough April 12. The winning prize is $3,000.
The company said there are no rules, and designers don't have to incorporate the actual building into the plan.
On a website, the company writes:
We seek outstanding ideas that will redefine the site design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution.This open-ideas design competition aims to examine new visions for a campus of Retail, advanced technology research, development and manufacturing that is integrated within the community, the city and the world.
The participants should take into consideration the advances in technology, the exploration of sustainable systems, and the establishment of new urban and architectural methods to address economic, social, and cultural problems affecting the contemporary city including the scarcity of natural resources and infrastructure and the exponential increase of inhabitants, pollution, economic division, and unplanned urban sprawl.
There are no restrictions regarding boundaries, incorporating the existing Silverdome structure or not, program mix, GFA, height or density.