Marina City, Detroit, Michigan, Pedestrian Thruway Plan

Marina City Detroit was one of Goldberg’s first adaptations of his famous Chicago complex. Although he designed several different versions of this unrealized project over the course of six years, in this early scheme the architect imagined building a complete resort community for downtown Detroit, including a swimming pool, tennis courts, a casting club, and even a small golf course. Most innovative, however, was the way these ground-level facilities were layered underneath a remarkable low-rise commercial complex and a cluster of three residential towers. Goldberg nicknamed the commercial complex the “Detroit Tube,” referring to the flattened ellipsoid shape of a remarkable elevated, drive-through concrete structure containing shops, parking, and an interior road. Marina City Detroit, like work in Chicago and Denver, reveals Goldberg’s ability to reveal expressive, sculptural qualities in mundane elements of the urban landscape, shares its playful interpretation of 1950s consumerism.