University Archives

The Market @ Mercy is a community-engaged design proposal that reimagines the Fisher site at the University of Detroit Mercy as a shared threshold between campus and the community. Market @ Mercy proposes a community food court and welcome center, connecting campus to community. Centered on food, gathering, access, and outreach, the design uses architecture to bridge the gap between students and local community members. The proposal responds to the need for a stronger sense of welcoming, both within the campus and the community, while supporting a resilient fresh food system and long-term community connection.

The design is organized around two distinctive forms with separate programs centered around a large atrium that acts as a bridge between them. The form on the north side is centered around culinary rentable spaces and permanent establishments, labelled as The Market. The form on the south side is centered around a campus welcoming center and TENN offices and food pantry, giving TENN a permanent space to further its outreach into the community. This organizational strategy allows the design to support both everyday campus use and broader public engagement.

Pop-up kitchens provide food to students and visitors while also creating opportunities for local start-up food vendors and emerging restaurant owners. This relationship is further strengthened through the adjacent greenhouse on the site, which directly connects to both TENN outreach programs and The Market’s pop-up kitchens, reinforcing relationships between food production, distribution, and community support. The decision to bridge the entryway defines a door to the campus through the building masses and establishes the campus edge not through the existing fence, but through the building mass itself. Through these moves, the design supports re-connection, resilience, and a responsive sense of welcoming between campus and community.