February 13

We've created a flickr page for your Ice House photos, which we'd like to include in our upcoming book. Please upload your images here. Phone and camera images are both needed.

Here's a shot of our film crew from photographer and Ice House collaborator Tom Stoye. Thanks for the great documentation.

Hello to Ice House Detroit friends

Since making the location of the house public we've been touched by the continued strong interest in our project. Just today there was a group of architecture students that had come in from Toronto to see the Ice House project. What we have decided is to open up a flickr community photo group where you can contribute the digital photos you have taken of the house. We are also interested in your cellphone images which you have documented in the recent weeks. If you would be so kind as to upload your images to this link with a photo credit, we would like to use one from every person for a couple pages in our book we will be self publishing.Thanks!

What's next for the Ice House property?

Thanks to our great crew (and Mother Nature for a string of cold days) we were able to finalize the icing of the house. Early yesterday morning, a professional lighting crew was brought in to light the Ice House Detroit landscape with painterly skill. The crew was directed by Richard Sands while Gregory photographed the project with his 8x10 still camera and directed an installation film of his own. This film was shot using a 35mm movie camera. The large lighting and film component which was completed early this morning brought our collaboration to another level, utilizing the architectural installation as a canvas for yet another form of expression. We will no longer be working our 24 hour shifts, but we are still interested in maintaining the dialogue amongst the citizens of Detroit. The neighborhood in which we decided to do our project is one of the poorest in the nation but after getting to know many of you personally we have been genuinely inspired by your perseverance in the face of systematic disregard and neglect. Thank you for your kind and generous support and for all of the stories you have been so willing to share.
For those of you who have not seen the home thus far, please feel free to view the project at 3920 McClellan St. (just off of Mack). It can be viewed for the next several days until the sun takes it back.

There are other questions which remain with regard to our project. Will the Michigan State Land Bank live up to their "intention" of using early release prisoners to deconstruct our home as opposed to the standard demolition? We have spoken to several organizations that are ready to walk through the home to agree that the inner wooden structure of the Ice House has maintained its integrity. The Detroit Salvage Warehouse was one such group which had been in talks with the state regarding this program. Let's see if the State can figure out how to put some of the citizens in this "far east side" neighborhood back to work with the new program of deconstruction. With the overwhelming number of empty homes in disrepair and the large amount of unemployed people needing jobs... It doesn't take much ingenuity to consider giving these contracts to the people that need it most and not these large demolition crews from the suburbs that do not appreciate the value of recycling building materials.

This digital photograph was shot a week ago. We will be processing the film from our large lighting set up this week. Stay tuned to see one of our final images in the near future.

You can continue emailing us your comments about the project, or leave a response to this post if you like.

It's a wrap! ...

Yep, that's right! It's a wrap. Stay tuned for upcoming images and video from the people from the neighborhood and production crew.

February 3

We came across this astrological reading for our project and it bodes well for us. Fingers crossed that the sun doesn't come out today!

We thank you again for all of the support and interest from both near...

... and far.



- Gregory Holm

February 2

Just around 7am Monday morning I was visited by an inquisitive gentleman carrying warm coffee. It wasn't long before we began sharing stories. Hours later, Lester had become somewhat of a neighborhood ambassador; taking hold of Matthew's video camera, he captured some good samples of what we have been experiencing all week.

We also discovered how to equalize the temperature from the attic space to the outside air. The temperature was brought down from 42 degrees to 24 in a matter of minutes by creating a cross breeze. This should keep the top portion of the roof from melting every time the sun comes out. As of this morning, I am finally confident that our project will not melt by our Feb 7 date of completion. This is when we will make our location public.

February 1

Hello all Ice House enthusiasts. First I want to send out a thank you to the many of you that have been stopping by with warm regards and hot chocolate! Hearing so many of your personal stories has been the most rewarding and motivating aspect of this project. Without the positive feedback and sense of excitement I have received from the local community, creating this tiny beacon of icy light in a mostly disregarded section of Detroit would not have been possible. I cannot stress that enough.
During my time here I have explored the surrounding neighborhood extensively and I would estimate that nearly 1 in every 4 homes is either in a state of disrepair or completely abandoned. And although many have chosen to view these conditions with apathy, my point of view is one of optimism for the future driven by a sense of nostalgia for this neighborhood's past beauty. Amidst the soaring oaks that line these spacious blocks remains a modern and organic grid filled with possibilities that perhaps the fresh eyes of a new generation will bring to fruition. The Ice House project seeks to demonstrate that in much the same way -- as building materials are reclaimed from the many abandoned houses in Detroit, so to can the affected neighborhoods themselves be repurposed through the creativity, spirit, and sense of community clearly demonstrated by the residents themselves.
-Gregory Holm