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freep.com
MOTOR CITY JOURNAL: Motown Center contest set
Planners have big dreams to revive Woodward landmark
December 4, 2002
BY BILL McGRAW
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Organizers of a new and vastly improved Motown museum are scheduled to take a major step today when they announce details of an international design competition for a landmark building on Woodward Avenue.
Planners of what is called Motown Centerhave invited more than 50 architectural firms to submit information. After a winnowing process, three to five firms will be selected as finalists, organizers confirmed Tuesday. The designs will be due in March.
Motown Center manager Tanya Heidelberg-Yopp said she hopes the selected firm will plan the new museum soon after. "We want a building that represents our city well, as well as represents all the elements that made Motown -- glamour, style and family," she said.
Planners want the center to be a high-tech facility of at least 100,000 square feet that contains exhibits, retail space, restaurants and entertainment.
The new museum would be an attention-getting addition to the slowly growing entertainment district around the Fox Theatre and Comerica Park, occupying the site of the former Motown headquarters at Woodward Avenue and I-75. The existing building likely would be demolished.
The small but popular Motown Historical Museum on West Grand Boulevard, in which Berry Gordy Jr. founded his world-renowned label in 1959, would remain open after the new establishment debuts. Gordy moved the company to Los Angeles in 1972.
Various people for years have floated plans for an expanded Motown presence in Detroit, but this is regarded as the most serious. Initial funding has come from Gordy and the foundation of Vivendi Universal, the Paris-based conglomerate that now owns Motown. A larger fund-raising effort will be launched in the coming months.
Heidelberg-Yopp said Motown Center wants to ensure that local and minority-run firms participate in the project.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Experience Music Projectin Seattle are noted for their unconventional architecture. She declined to be specific about the desired look of Motown Center, but "We don't want it to overwhelm the rich story we have to tell." |
