Dan Pitera
(1962)
USA
|
|
Dan Pitera |
|
|
|
A graduate of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Dan Pitera is director of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, attached to the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. The Design Center is a not-for-profit organization whose brief is to enable other similar structures to have access to proper architect’s services. Dan Pitera is also a member of the board for the project Shrinking Cities International Research, which is run by Philipp Oswalt, where he is in charge of the project involving Detroit and the issue of population shifts from the inner city to the suburbs. Dan Pitera’s work reflects an interest in materiality and architectural design, its reactivity with other disciplinary areas and its existence as a political and cultural event. In his own words: “Instead of filling in gaps and recreating a city in the image of its past, Detroit should inject new life into abandoned spaces, and get rid of ghosts without destroying buildings.” As a result, the Design Center has, in particular, transformed a ruined house into a temporary art installation. “We must define urban density other than as a sum of buildings and structures. […] We must rely on the creative potential that already exists in other cities which have experienced this type of situation, and turn it into nothing less than a strategy.” He currently pursues an international career as a political and social activist through architecture. |