Work on the OMA-led new LANTERN project has been completed in Detroit’s Little Village neighborhood.

The block-sized 22,300-square-foot complex serves as a new home for two local arts non-profits. Signal-Return, designed by Detroit-based M1DTW, and PASC (Progressive Arts Studio Collective) will occupy LANTERN's roughly 5,300-square-foot artist studios, art gallery, and 4,000-square-foot "creative retail" in the site's former North Building.

Led by Partner Jason Long, the design is centered around a 2,000-square-foot open outdoor community space lined by galleries. The project's brief called for repurposing a former commercial bakery and warehouse that had fallen into complete disrepair. Now, looking to create a Dia:Beacon or Bergamont Station-like cultural gateway to the East Side neighborhood, OMA's team reinvigorated the structure with spaces for art production, exhibition, and community interface.

A broad CMU wall on the South Building was drilled with 1,353 holes and filled with cylindrical glass bricks as a final notable flourish to the LANTERN. Outside, a sculpture garden dedicated to artist Charles McGee helps activate the new 3.5-acre Legacy Park space (which also comprises a skate park designed by Tony Hawk) created by OSD in the former church grounds beyond. The development includes the Peterson Rich Office (PRO)-designed Shepherd Gallery and Art Center inside a former church on the site.

Jason Long said: "In the renovation, we tried to work both with and against the former bakery’s solidity to make its transformation feel simultaneously familiar and mysterious. The result is a building that welcomes and emits light and creativity."

OMA is currently the subject of a new six-part oral history project called CONVERSATIONS featuring architect Richard Hall's interviews with early collaborators. The firm has also recently completed a renovation project in Singapore and the new Toranomon Hills Station Tower in Tokyo.

Library Street Collective founders JJ and Anthony Curtis added finally: "We've created a space that not only supports local businesses, artists, and non-profits but also fosters inclusivity, education, and accessibility in the arts. We look forward to seeing LANTERN's impact on the neighborhood and beyond."