Avery House
John R Street
A restored 1890s brick and heavy timber mercantile building rising six storeys, with exposed timber framing and twelve-foot ceilings across twenty-two residences.Digital Architecture · Interactive 3D · Spatial Identity · Editorial Web · 2026
Sixty-eight residences and a digital twin in Brush Park, Detroit.
ARDEN documents sixty-eight homes across three buildings arranged around a private courtyard, pairing interactive architectural drawings with an open public record.
Experience ARDEN ↗Live project · arden.place
The site leads with the building. The record stays one step away.
Experience ARDEN ↗Overview
A development concept by Arch29.
ARDEN is a residential development concept and digital twin for a residential block in Brush Park, Detroit. Designed by Arch29 as a reference study for developers, it explores how historic preservation, contemporary masonry massing and real-time 3D on the web can replace commercial real-estate marketing with spatial storytelling.
Practice: Arch29 · Year: 2026 · Live: arden.place
The architectural program
Three buildings at John R, Watson and Brush.
Watson House
Brush Street
A companion six-storey restoration preserving the original masonry envelope and timber floorplates.Arden Court
Watson Street
A new eight-storey building faced in light Michigan limestone with bronze casement glazing, stepped back for deep terraces toward the Detroit skyline.The Courtyard
Centre of the block
A brick cloister planted with native redbuds and serviceberry on flagstone paths, kept free of cars by placing all ninety-two parking spaces below grade.The Ground Plane
Street frontage
14,000 sq ft of commercial frontage for bakeries, independent dining and studios, beside 6,800 sq ft of shared resident spaces: a thermal bathhouse, gymnasium, bicycle workshop and long reading room.The digital strategy
Architecture over sales.
Most residential sites rely on countdowns, scarcity pop-ups and flat floor plans. Arch29 took the opposite direction, letting the architecture, light and drawings lead every page.
Cinematic spatial threshold
Visitors enter through a twilight sequence calibrated to Detroit's spring light, opening into the block's materials: deep red brick, warm limestone and bronze.Interactive 3D assembly
A lazy-loaded three.js model lets visitors take the three buildings apart floor by floor, follow sunlight through the day, and find each residence within the block.Pinned editorial side-scroll
Key residences unfold in pinned horizontal sequences that cross-fade elevations and interior daylight without layout shift or trapped gestures.Device-calibrated performance
Phones and tablets use native touch swiping and responsive image tiers at 720 and 1080 pixels; desktop pointers keep smooth inertial scrolling.Vestibular and accessible safety
The site honours reduced-motion preferences. 3D views step down to static chapter layouts, and dialogs follow WAI-ARIA modal standards.The public record
Seventeen project facts, each with its source.
To show how a development can earn civic trust, ARDEN publishes a public record index alongside the residences.
- Parcel land area, zoning classification (SD2) and master site plan approval (SP-24-118).
- Historic District Commission review dates and Phase I environmental clearance.
- Tax incentive structure (NEZ PA 147) and baseline inclusionary housing allocation.
Each figure names the document, filing or agreement behind it.
Studio enquiries and dossier distribution
A studio-led intake, not a sales funnel.
- Direct channels for studio commissions, press and publication requests, and full architectural drawing dossiers.
- Rate-limited server functions, privacy-preserving IP hashing and honeypot spam protection.
- Quiet receipt confirmations with no marketing follow-ups.
Credits and specifications
Built by Arch29.
- Architecture and digital conception: Arch29
- Typography: Sentient Display and General Sans
- Frontend: React 18 · TypeScript · Vite · Tailwind CSS · three.js · Framer Motion
- Delivery: static edge hosting at arden.place
Common questions
Is ARDEN a real development?
No. ARDEN is Arch29's reference development. It is a development concept: Brush Park is real, and the imagery and specifications are illustrative. The live monograph is at arden.place.
Is the 3D model a finished design?
The buildings in ARDEN are a massing model: the volumes, heights and positions of the three buildings, drawn from the same data as the plans. The 3D layer itself is what a client keeps. On a real project, the architect's model is exported from their design software and loaded into it, and the assembly, the floor selector and the light study work the same way.
How accurate is the light study?
It uses the real position of the sun over Detroit and each home's orientation. Neighbouring buildings and trees are not modelled, and the study says so on the page.
Could this run on a real project?
Yes. The building data is structured to move into Sanity, so a sales team can update availability, plans and documents without a developer.
Why publish the record on a luxury site?
Because the people who decide fastest are usually the ones who can check quickest.
Does a public record guarantee support?
No. It does not remove disagreement or win approvals. It makes the claims, the sources and the open questions visible.
Who could use this structure?
Mixed-use and infill developers, residential and hospitality developers, master developers with builders and tenants to attract, and public-private projects where a municipality shares the explaining.
