Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer thanks the many volunteers, corporations, and individuals who donated services and funds to make the Greening of Detroit Park and Education Pavilion a reality. The park, which is the property of the city of Detroit's Bureau of Parks and Recreation, is located on East Jefferson Avenue at Rivard Street, east of downtown Detroit. The Greening of Detroit organization "adopted" the park in 1997 as part of the city's Adopt-a-Park program.

Detroit — Culminating five years of planning, countless volunteer hours (many from Detroit high school students), and generous monetary and in-kind donations from a variety of partners, the Elizabeth Gordon Sachs Education Pavilion at the Greening of Detroit Park on East Jefferson Avenue was formally opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 8. The park is located on Jefferson Avenue between St. Aubin and Rivard streets. Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer was on hand for the ceremony, expressing the city's thanks to the many volunteers who made the project a reality.

Structural steel for the pavilion was donated by the Great Lakes Fabricators & Erectors Association, with fabrication and erection of the steel completed by GLFEA member firm, Davis Iron Works, Walled Lake. "GLFEA wanted to be a part of the project and established a budget for it," Davis Iron Works' owner and president Frank Nehr Sr. said. GLFEA's approximately $30,000 gift allowed the association to become a "Gold Trowel" sponsor of the non-profit Greening of Detroit organization, which has been re-foresting the city since 1989. "GLFEA recently moved its headquarters to the 1001 Woodward Avenue building, (the former First Federal building) in downtown Detroit, and we're happy to be able to add to efforts at rebuilding the city," GLFEA Executive Director Jim Walker said.

Architect Andrew Zago explains his design that emulates a forest canopy that allows light in while it provides shade, protection from rain, and habitat at the Greening of Detroit Park Education Pavilion ribbon-cutting.

The pavilion consists of a black-painted structural steel frame on an approximately 30 ft. x 90 ft. concrete slab, topped with a roof constructed of 5 in. diameter polycarbonate tubes stacked 12 rows high. The tubes are slotted, baffled, and pitched so that rain can weave its way down through the rows of tubes and drain out the end, leaving the pavilion floor dry. It is designed to handle rainwater much the way a forest canopy of trees does, according to design architect Andrew Zago AIA. "And it works," Zago told the crowd of about 100 people at the ribbon-cutting. Zago, who devoted more than three years to the project, is owner of Andrew Zago Architecture, Detroit, and an assistant professor at the University of Michigan's College of Architecture and Urban Planning. To reach his design for the pavilion, Zago said he pondered the role of trees in the city of Detroit. He said he attempted to improve on their function – providing shelter, shade, and habitat – by creating something that also would provoke people to think about trees, how they work, and how they change in form and function as they age. Finally, he said he decided that trees give us insight into the structure or nature of one's existence. "Architecture should at least aspire to that," Zago concluded.

Also donating to the project were Robert Darvas, Robert Darvas & Associates Inc., Ann Arbor, (of Chene Park fame), who donated structural engineering services, and Steven C. Flum Inc., Detroit, the construction manager on the job. DTE Energy Co. donated electrical service.

The steel arms of the pavilion that extend to the north are hinged so they can be turned in to form an angle on that end, construction manager Steve Flum AIA explained. Eventually, canvas will be attachable to the angled end, providing more roofing. Several years ago Flum's company built townhouses in Corktown, the first new construction in years in one of the city's oldest areas.

Enjoying the shade of the new education pavilion are, from the left: Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, architect Andrew Zago, Andrew Zago Architecture, Detroit; and Jim Walker, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Fabricators & Erectors Association, Detroit. Zago contributed design services and the GLFEA contributed structural steel for the new pavilion at the park. GLFEA member firm, Davis Iron Works Inc., Walled Lake, fabricated and erected the steel pavilion.

The educational pavilion was built in honor of the Greening of Detroit's founder, Elizabeth Gordon Sachs, who kicked off the project on May 27, 1997, by planting a Little Leaf Linden tree in the park. Now it's one of 100 species of plant life planted there, and is part of the park's "prairie garden" – the original landscape design created for the park by Robert Grese, professor of landscape design at the University of Michigan. A gift of $75,000 from an anonymous donor allowed the Greening team to proceed with work on the pavilion. Plans are for the education pavilion to serve as an outdoor classroom to teach any interested groups, but especially Detroit school students, about "urban forests" and particularly about the Detroit urban forest.

Since the Greening of Detroit organization http://greeningofdetroit.com was founded in Detroit in 1989, it has planted more than 34,000 trees and seedlings on public land in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, in a volunteer attempt at replacing the estimated 500,000 trees that were lost mostly to Dutch Elm disease between 1950-80. The Greening organization and a small army of volunteers are trying to revive the days when Detroit was called "the City of Trees" and "the Paris of the Midwest" in part because of its many tree-lined boulevards.

Trade contractors who worked on the park project include: Gemelli Concrete, Romeo; GSH Industries, Cleveland, Ohio; Bohemian Canvas, Ecorse; Resnick Electric, Wixom; Mr. White's Plumbing, Detroit; Metco Survey, Warren, and Mastercraft Coatings Inc., Redford.

Detroit high school students are recognized for their volunteer efforts at the pavilion's ribbon-cutting Aug. 8th.

Greening of Detroit Executive Director Rebecca Salminen Witt, second from right, joins several of the non-profit group's founding members at the Greening of Detroit Park on East Jefferson Avenue at Rivard Street. Enjoying the new educational pavilion after the ribbon-cutting are, from the left: Ellen Kahn, wife of William Kahn, retired from the firm that bears his uncle's name, Albert Kahn Associates Inc., Detroit; Ralph Youngren, retired senior vice president at the SmithGroup Detroit; and Irene Walt, far right, local art expert and former art director for the People Mover in Detroit.

Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer converses with some of the many Detroit high school students who volunteered to work on the Greening of Detroit Park and Education Pavilion on East Jefferson Avenue following the ribbon cutting.

Wire mesh is used to hold the pavilion roof's tubes together and anchor them to the structural steel.