The site is three lots in Detroit's Eastern Market, zoned SD1, on a corner. The building is set on the front and side lot lines, with a 10 foot setback at the rear. The Detroit Land Bank holds many non conforming lots like this. Small developers may not have the resources for prolonged entitlement work.

A commercial base is placed at grade along the street. Four townhouses are placed above it, in a row. Parking is covered and tucked to the rear, off the alley. The commercial space is a 2,200 square foot white box. Each townhouse is about 1,073 square feet, with three bedrooms. The commercial and residential space totals about 6,500 square feet.

Inside one unit, living, dining, and kitchen are open on the lower level, under the double height arch. The bedrooms are on a mezzanine.

Each townhouse is a prefabricated quonset hut built from structural insulated panels. The huts sit on a concrete masonry podium, clad in brick veneer, which holds the commercial space below. The hut works as structure, enclosure, and roof at once, from repeated panels. At each end, the arch is closed with glass, for light at both ends.

On the facade, the brick base runs the full length of the street frontage, with storefront glass and canopies at the entries. The storefront proportions and metal canopies set a human scale at the street. Above the base, the four Quonset huts are placed in a series to create repetition along the street edge.

The building is a low rise, mixed use prototype, designed to be pre approved. The design is intended to be sold with a difficult lot. Drawings that fit the lot are intended to replace months of entitlement work. The same form is intended for repetition on other non conforming corner lots, adjusted to each lot. A prefabricated form is intended to turn a difficult lot into housing and a storefront.