Prince Concepts

Caterpillar: 8 newly built apartments, with 108 windows, sitting in a newly planted 168 tree urban woodland. Located one block South of True North at 16th St and Forest.

Caterpillar is the second Prince Concepts' project using the Quonset Hut and expands the exploration. Like True North, Caterpillar was generously awarded and has enjoyed 100% occupancy since completion in March of 2021.

Each unit has 12 - 18 windows, 23’ ceilings and enjoys outdoor access via a deck/patio/porch that wraps around the entire structure.

The project was designed by UNDECORATED: Ishtiaq Rafiuddin and the Landscape Architecture was by DIRT Studio: Julie Bargmann.

A Quonset hut isn’t a design, it’s a tool - think about it the same way you’d think about a brick. It’s a tool to achieve a purpose.

With True North we used the Quonset hut to create a sculptural community with public and semi-private outdoor nooks that residents and neighbors, alike, could enjoy, marvel at and marvel in.

For Caterpillar, Prince Concepts challenged architect, Ishtiaq Rafiuddin, to create an 8 unit project within one massive hut. We used the Quonset hut as a 9,000 sf sculpture with 6 residences and 2 Live/Work spaces that anchors a public park where people can soak up the majesty of a new age monument.

True North was nestled between two existing structures and architect, Edwin Chan, therefore felt the need to match the scale that bookended the site. Whereas, Caterpillar landed in green and then camouflaged itself in even more green.

With both of these projects, we used the Quonset hut because we were trying to offer high quality space, of note, for an accessible cost. Inspired and accessible housing.

Because Caterpillar anchors a block that is home to an iconic Detroit Church building (across the street) and the vibrant Fisheye Farm (next door), but was totally void of any traditional residential homes, or anything but trees, for that matter, it demanded a different approach than the more urban, True North.

This mostly vacant block, with two unique uses, allowed for Caterpillar to go beyond the standard scale and program of traditional Detroit residential streets, which are often for single family homes. Caterpillar sits on seven merged residential lots and is 192’ long x 46’ wide x 23’tall.

This project was born from the imagination: we wanted the building to feel like a space ship landing in a forest and act like the Pompidou Museum in Paris - a foreign object anchoring a public space.

But also from the intellect. After building True North, I realized the strength of the Quonset Hut: if we minimize the amount of end-walls, we can then over invest in the quality of space within each unit.

The hut gives us more affordable access to high, or museum, quality space. We wanted to offer sanctuary inspired living spaces, surrounded by generous green space; therefore we challenged architect Ishtiaq Rafiuddin to create an 8 unit project within one massive hut. We could then allocate the savings from fewer end-walls into higher quality spaces and landscape.

We merged seven lots, created a jumbo lot, turned the structure sideways and, as Ish liked to say "we cut the building up like a sushi roll into 8 units."

End-walls are typically how light enter a quonset hut. Ish had a challenge - how was he going to get light into eight units within just two end-walls?

Ish did his research and discovered our hut manufacturer also makes window bays.

We took our savings from reducing sixteen end-walls down to two, then invested those dollars into 108 windows and 168 trees.

An icon sitting in an oasis with ethereal light piercing each apartment from both the East and the West. Spectacular.

The project offers:

2 - 1,300 SF "Large" Units on each end. These units have large sliding doors opening up to a 46' long dedicated private patio section on each side of the hut.

3 - 1,100 SF "Medium" Units.

3 - 750 SF "Small" Units.

All units have 23' ceilings, dedicated patio space and at least 4 operable glass doors for ventilation and another 8 windows for generous natural light.

All units feel sanctuary inspired and offer loft style, open space living. Bedrooms receive soft morning light with the living spaces enjoying the radiant sunset light. The attitude of the natural light changes throughout the day, but with every apartment having exposures to the East and West, the quality is always high.

We made the choice not to have second stories so that the focus of the project was literally the "space" it offered. Space for space sake. This project was an attempt at offering museum quality space for a regular apartment price.

Caterpillar and 5K were the first two significant projects completed after Core City Park. Building a park and working with Julie Bargmann was inspiring. It turned us on to "building" landscapes.

Caterpillar was as much a landscape project as it was an architecture project. We worked with Julie Bargmann to devise an inspired and significant habitat for our "spaceship" to land in. We planted 168 trees for this project. What a ratio - 8 Apartments built, with 108 windows installed and 168 new trees planted. Typically, new apartment projects are 200 apartments built with 10 trees planted.

We treated the site like a coral reef, inviting all life: we seeded the ground with clover, planted just one type of flowering understory tree (36 red buds), planted 49 Sycamore trees and then invited a random gang of all sorts other canopy trees to the party. And party it is, every year this landscape thrives. It's happy!

We knew we were entering new territory. We were certainly creating a conversation about what WE want multifamily projects to look and feel like. Inspired and special space for the tenant and a majestic landscape for the neighborhood.

Over investing in landscape makes sense. A building begins to deteriorate the day it's done, but a landscape only gets better. To be able to create and then watch our landscape improve over time is very gratifying.

We played with the hut, then played with the landscape, then - finally - we figured out how to connect the two. Ish had the strong idea to wrap the entire Caterpillar with a large deck.

As we saw it, we'd plant the sea, build the ship, and then give people a dock to sit on and enjoy and the habitat.

We didn't have an ocean front property, so we'd build the sea ourselves.

Apartments don't have basements, but the building does. We placed storage and all the building utilities in the 16'w basement below the breezeway to give tenants additional storage and so we didn't have to waste apartment space for water heaters and winter clothes.

We used a perfect half circle; a classic quonset hut. 46'wide x 23'tall.

First we put up the entire hut, then we went back and started taking out the windows. A simple central line of plumbing runs down the entire building. We insulated, drywalled, separated the spaces and then performed custom millwork for each unit, within each unit. We simultaneously built the deck and planted the trees.

Looking back, building this project was beautifully sequenced, creating harmony. I believe the simple plan, elegant shape, and inspired team contributed. We showed up to work each day, ready to push this idea forward. This wasn't complex geometry, like 5K, this project required repetition and rigorous work to make sure all the screws were tight, there are a lot of screws in a Quonset hut, but the simple plan helped the entire team always understand exactly what the next step was.

We loved the project and so did the rest of the architecture world.

The result has inspired. We always enjoy seeing life around and in the project.