1.
I've been working in the Center Peace Sherman Park neighborhood for the past year and a half – and I’ve spent that time getting to know the area, especially its neighbors, speaking with them in order to learn the social environment as well as the built environment and the connection between them. This neighborhood is one characterized negatively by what we might first see; empty lot after empty lot, followed by a neglected structure. These empty spaces fragment the neighborhood, but they do not define the social environment – and that’s what we don’t see just driving through. Neighbors know and look out for one another. They are interested and present in their communities. But this social network has no physical place to lean on here, making the struggle against larger issues - including poverty and a lack of resources – all the more distinct. |
2.
https://citizenarchitects2018.weebly.com/the-community-table.htmlcitizenarchitects2018.weebly.com/the-community-table.html The Sherman Park neighborhood is considered a food desert, meaning there isn’t much to eat and what there is, is largely fast, saturated, or wilted. The ½ mile radius around my site hosts a ratio of unhealthy, processed foods 4:1 to wholesome alternatives, leaving a host of issues from the immediate and obvious health implications, to the prolonged detriment to food knowledge and culture – a deep seated issue which cannot simply be solved by a new grocery store. Food is, in itself, gravitational. It’s something we all need and it’s something we all enjoy, making its ability to gather the perfect program for an architecture that seeks to do the same. I’ve spent the semester taking this problem of vacancies as an opportunity to reimagine urban neighborhoods as systems of mixed-use public places in order to fill in the gaps of this lacking food landscape.
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3.
I’ve taken three lots and designed them as individual parts to one program, representing the production, preparation, and distribution of food. These parts rely on one another to function fully. In order to design these places, I’ve further isolated characteristics of the vernacular. By doing this, we see the basic elements of architecture that are present in every project and this helped me understand that a wall is not just a division in space – it directs movement and it shelters us socially. A series of columns direct movement as well, but in a different way, open to beyond. These architectural elements create combinations – patterns specific to their place and an understanding of these patterns is used not to redefine the vernacular, but the enhance it. |
4.
I began the design process by looking at the existing. These vacancies are so many they create spatial patterns in the neighborhood and these patterns open up new opportunities. For example, one single lot cannot support a larger program like two adjacent lots can, and an empty house next a vacant lot offers different potential. An indoor/outdoor program or a caretaker’s home. These patterns zig-zag across the neighborhood – they are part of a system and so my project is also a system – making use of this wide opportunity of so many vacancies. |
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I’ve moved forward with the patterns: porch, stoop, low wall, active façade, and balcony. These are all familiar to us, but collectively, they define the vernacular architecture of Sherman Park. These patterns are understood by people, however subliminally, as pieces of a social contract which influences how people interact with place.
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5.
We start at the beginning of the system with production -An orchard on 37th street. Here I’ve designed a colonnade, which marks a lot as a place. In this neighborhood, I’ve observed empty spaces act more like walls between blocks – so the colonnade also functions as a bridge and invitation to cross over to 38th Street. The garden is made up of raised beds and hoop houses for an extended growing season, but the centerpiece of this lot is the pavilion. This is a space for gathering. It is open on all sides and it’s perimeter is one extended stoop, inviting activity from all directions. |
6.
From here, all harvest moves to processing at the Community Kitchen across the street. Here, food is prepared as grab and go, healthy alternatives to be sent to the corner store around the block. It’s commercial kitchen, however, serves many purposes: rent by culinary entrepreneurs, and education. The space might be used for cooking classes or demonstrations in the afternoon and be followed by a dinner event in the evening. I’ve extended the porch around the house, creating a more private outdoor space and allowing any events to expand out as well. This colonnade leads to the alley, connecting the front and back of the property. |
7.
Prepared food continues to the Corner Store to be distributed and, more importantly, to be shared. In addition to space for the sale of healthy foods, I’ve designed seating along the sidewalk and a porch and lounge for enjoying food and company. This rethinking of the corner store place-type not only focuses on health-conscious foods, but social interaction. It’s typical for people to hang around outside corner stores, but not often encouraged. The problem here is not with loiterers, but with the typical store's insufficient consideration for social infrastructure. Social infrastructure is for the sharing of space. An architecture which benefits the community also supports the sharing of resources, of meals, and knowledge. |
8.
It’s by these elements that I’ve evaluated the success of my programmatic goals. Architecturally, I judge success by the edges of the design. A good edge, whether it be a façade or interior, creates space as much as it defines it – allows for people to bleed into its thickness and gather – both formally and informally. There are edges which are totally public - they encourage pause and enjoyment of a space for everyone. There are edges which recede into a territory, but still face outwards and create connections. There are edges which are hardly there – they’re open to everyone, but still mark space for gathering. Finally, there are bounded spaces, which are private in nature, but necessary for different kinds of interactions and they shelter us. |
9.
From all of this, has come a more integrated neighborhood use pattern which prioritizes community wellbeing. A system of nodes and paths stitches this broken urban fabric together, connected by edges which interact between spaces and don’t simply divide them.
With this prototype for the food system, the neighborhood could begin to fill in the remainder of the vacancies according to their needs. Whether introducing occupational resources and training, childcare and education, or business incubation –we can use the environment that we know to intensify the existing strength in community and to imagine new places in an area fragmented by empty space.
From all of this, has come a more integrated neighborhood use pattern which prioritizes community wellbeing. A system of nodes and paths stitches this broken urban fabric together, connected by edges which interact between spaces and don’t simply divide them.
With this prototype for the food system, the neighborhood could begin to fill in the remainder of the vacancies according to their needs. Whether introducing occupational resources and training, childcare and education, or business incubation –we can use the environment that we know to intensify the existing strength in community and to imagine new places in an area fragmented by empty space.