College for Creative Studies Master Plan Detroit, Michigan
Role
Planning / Landscape Architecture
People Involved
Andy Knight, Casey Elmer, Carley Lemmon
Typology
Master Plan, Higher Education Campus, Campus Planning and Design
Project Timeline
2024 - 2025
Collaborators
Interboro Partners, Dober Lidsky Mathey
A More Connected Campus for Creativity, Collaboration, and Community
The College for Creative Studies (CCS), located in the heart of Detroit’s vibrant cultural district, is a nationally recognized institution dedicated to art, design and creative innovation. Working alongside master planning lead Interboro Partners and space planning consultant DLM, MKSK helped shape a comprehensive campus master plan that establishes a flexible vision for the College’s future, strengthening campus identity, enhancing the student experience, and creating stronger connections between the institution and the surrounding city.
Spanning two distinct campuses, the historic Ford Campus in Midtown’s Cultural Center and the Taubman Center along Woodard Avenue, the plan reimagines how buildings, landscapes, and public spaces can work together to foster creativity, collaboration, and community. MKSK’s contributions focused on the overall campus framework, landscape architecture, and public realm strategies, identifying opportunities to enhance campus gateways, improve pedestrian connections and wayfinding, activate underutilized outdoor spaces, and introduce welcoming green spaces for gathering, learning, and artistic expression.
“For an institution dedicated to creativity and innovation, the campus itself should be an expression of those values. Our vision was to look beyond individual buildings and spaces to create a more connected, welcoming, and inspiring campus experience. By strengthening the relationship between the College's two campuses, celebrating its unique creative identity, and embracing its place within Detroit's cultural landscape, we see an opportunity for the campus to become more than a place to learn—it can become a place that inspires creativity, encourages collaboration, and brings people together.”
- Andy Knight, ASLA, PLA, Principal Landscape Architect, MKSK
Grounded in extensive engagement with students, faculty, and staff, the master plan establishes a phased framework for investment that celebrates the College’s creative identity while responding to evolving academic and student needs.
The resulting vision positions the campus itself as an extension of the creative learning environment, a more connected, welcoming, and inspiring place that strengthens CCS’s relationship with Detroit’s growing cultural landscape.
