This project began with the purchase, via auction, of a burnt out shell of a house in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood in 2013. BAU is the architect and the developer for this single family house. The project that is now finally built is the product of 7 years of dealing with City officials, neighbors, a lawsuit, taking the project to the local community for their input and blessing (which was not easy to get!), soil testing, and other hurdles that come with infill projects in well established neighborhoods. On its exterior, the house takes its cues from the neighboring architectural language - the pitched roof, volume, breakdown in storeys, materials, window ratio and sizes, and porch and translates these into simple, clean lines. The porch is formed by “cutting out” the space from the ground floor - leaving the floor above to cantilever. While this gesture was different to the other covered porches (which are read as added on to the front facade and have their own roof), the typology did originally exist in the neighborhood. The interiors of this house follow a different language, but one that still takes its cue from its context. The main living space is sunken in the basement but is two story. The windows that provide light into this double volume space are placed above eye level from the exterior, thereby providing substantial light into the space but no views down into the space from grade. Along the northern interior wall of the house runs the entire flight of stairs, with landings at each floor, and an extra landing at exterior grade to allow for a back door entrance. The kitchen and dining area overlook the living room below, separating the spaces but at the same time allowing them to connect and be read as one space. The top storey consists of the private space of the house - the three bedrooms. Colors are used on the guardrails to differentiate the floors - Bright yellow for the garden level, black on the raised ground floor, and grass green on the top floor. Color was also integral to the design as it was an inexpensive way of showcasing the volumes and forms of the house.