Yasmin Rehmanjee of Buro Happold | The Hudson’s Site in Detroit | Urban Redevelopment
Courtesy of Buro Happold
Urban Redevelopment
In today’s episode, we will be speaking with Yasmin Rehmanjee, partner and Co-Director of the New York office of Buro Happold. She has had two decades of structural engineering design experience, leading large-scale, multidisciplinary projects such as the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Today we will be speaking to Yasmin about the Hudson’s Site in downtown Detroit, a 680-foot mixed-use project that will pay homage to the late department store and tallest retail building in the world. We will also be speaking to her about the broader topic of urban redevelopment in cities like Detroit, and how it celebrates the rich history of the Hudson’s site.
The Hudson’s Site is an iconic building that integrates adjacent developments, including the Monroe Blocks and the Shinola Hotel. This site was known as the premier retailer in downtown Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s but sadly had to close its doors twenty years later when business began to decline. It is now being designed by SHoP Architects out of New York and will incorporate more than one million square feet of retail, office, residential units, and public space. Join us on this week’s episode as we talk about the Hudon’s Site project as well as Yasmin’s current design projects.
“When it’s completed, it will be one of the tallest buildings in Detroit and given its location and it’s going to provide some breathtaking views to the occupants. That we’re creating some wonderful spaces to invigorate the public realm so it will hopefully bring a lot of energy into downtown Detroit. And Detroit has such beautiful buildings. It’s got some amazing architecture, and Hudson’s will stand tall hopefully by their side. We really, really hope that it will play the role of the icon that it was meant to from the onset of the design.”
Courtesy of Buro Happold
About Yasmin Rehmanjee
Yasmin Rehmanjee is a partner and the Co-Director of the New York office of Buro Happold, a pre-eminent engineering firm with offices around the world. She has built an incredible portfolio of completed projects including the Hudson’s Site and Mercedes Benz Stadium. Yasmine leads large-scale, multidisciplinary projects including sports and entertainment, commercial development, higher education, and healthcare. As a passionate advocate for equity and diversity, she also works to better reflect the varied cultures, communities, and clients that her firm serves. This has led her to become a mentor and teacher for many of Buro Happold’s young engineers. Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about Yasmin’s personal journey.
Courtesy of Buro Happold
Episode Timestamps
2:35 – The majority of your career has been in the United States, in Chicago and New York specifically. And then you spent about a year in Sri Lanka. How would you compare working as an engineer in these two countries?
11:24 – Let's talk about the Hudson's Site. So the Hudson's Site, that's an iconic location in downtown Detroit, and tell us what makes this location really special?
13:57 – Break down that project for us by the numbers.
17:04 – Could you help us understand how on the project, the engineers and the architects work together on the design?
24:14 – I want to ask you about the design aspect of this process. What are the technologies and what are the innovations that you use to come to the conclusions that you just described?
30:30 – The Hudson's site was the home of a former flagship Hudson's department store. Tell us a little more about this store and the building in terms of its history.
34:04 – Talk to us about what a planning and design process looks like for something as iconic as Husdon’s.
38:00 – How do you imagine this building fitting into the skyline and the urban context of the city going forward once it's done?
Connect with Yasmin Rehmanjee:
Courtesy of Buro Happold
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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