StAR Gaze
Graduate Architecture Studio | Fourth Year
The Ghostown Peninsula, like many areas around Detroit, is an abandoned site that once thrived with life. Located in Pontiac, just 20 minutes from Detroit, the remains of 50 low-income apartments stand, their foundations now left to time. Enveloped in near darkness, far from the growing city lights, the starry night sky above the peninsula invites wonder and contemplation. But what is the future of this place?
This project reimagines the peninsula’s future by offering an immersive Augmented Reality (AR) experience. Using transparent OLED screens, visitors can explore the cosmos through overlaid constellations, black holes, and astrophysical animations, all synchronized with the real night sky using infrared head tracking. The experience is enhanced by projected graphics, animations, and sound effects, presented on 3D topographies made from styrene sheets. These projections are carefully manipulated to align with the physical forms, offering an engaging, immersive encounter. One element of this was a proposed “VR Phone Headset,” where parts of the drawing were adjusted to appear straight when projected onto the full-scale head mold.
