Ralph C Wilson Jr Centennial Park

Sports and Leisure Building of the Year

Longlisted

John d Angelo

• Architects

The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park is a landmark 22-acre transformation along the Detroit Riverfront, redefining the city’s relationship with its waterfront. Once a derelict industrial site, the area has been reimagined as a vibrant public park that serves as a new civic interface between Detroit and the river.

photo_credit John d Angelo — John d Angelo

Located within the park, Adjaye Associates’ William Davidson Sport House anchors its civic identity. The 28,000 ft² pavilion is defined by 33 steel columns supporting a sculptural concrete roof, crowned by an expansive skylight approximately 2,000 ft². Beneath this roof, a full-size Detroit Pistons basketball court forms the centerpiece of a flexible indoor-outdoor space designed for year-round use, day and night. Natural light floods the pavilion, reinforcing its openness while providing shelter and enclosure across all seasons.

Complementing the Sport House, two additional comfort pavilions provide restrooms and flexible community spaces. The main pavilion incorporates an adaptable enclosure system, allowing it to transition between open-air and enclosed configurations in response to seasonal and programmatic needs.

Together, these interventions establish Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park as a major public destination; an inclusive space that reconnects Detroiters with the natural beauty of the riverfront.

photo_credit Ryan Southern — Ryan Southern

The final scheme emerged from an extensive public consultation process. Between 2018 and 2021, six major public meetings engaged more than 800 participants, alongside broader outreach initiatives including school programs, block club meetings, and citywide exhibitions, reaching over 5,000 residents in total.

Adjaye Associates was established in 2000 and consists of a global multicultural team, stimulated by the broadest possible cultural discourse. The practice has studios in Accra, London, and New York, and has completed work spanning the globe. Renowned for a capacity to offer a rich civic experience, Adjaye Associates’ projects differ in form and style, yet are unified by their ability to generate new typologies and to reference a wide cultural narratives.

Adjaye Associates’ most well-known commissions to date include the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) on the National Mall in Washington DC, which was named “Cultural Event of the Year” by The New York Times and the Abrahamic Family House on Saadyat Island, UAE. Our robust architectural and urban design experience includes the new George Street Plaza & Community Building in Sydney’s Central Business District; the Winter Park Library & Events Center, a civic and cultural campus in Florida and DREAM Charter School, an adaptive reuse of an industrial warehouse into a 21st century STEAM learning environment in the Bronx.

Today the portfolio continues to evolve with urban placemaking, public realm, and sustainably-designed projects that support their communities, including the Cuyahoga Riverfront Master Plan in Cleveland, Ohio; the Marine Drive Accra master plan redevelopment scheme in Accra, Ghana; new headquarters for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Dakar, Senegal—the first net zero commercial building in West Africa; a series of District Hospitals in urban and rural settings across Ghana; the Isoko Centre for Humanity in Rwanda; and the Barbados Heritage District in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The firm has received widespread recognition for its contributions to architecture. In 2022, David Adjaye was appointed to the Order of Merit, selected by Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of distinguished service in his discipline. He was the winner of the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, considered one of the highest honors in British architecture for significant contributions to the field internationally.