Each year the Collaborative provides more than 30 service grants to nonprofits. The grants provide organizations with the predevelopment design services necessary to getting their projects off the ground. Below are four of the latest projects from the Collaborative, all offering a unique vision for improving a community.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Hamilton Village
Project: Conceptual Master Plan for Expansion
The Idea: Creating more visibility for great community programs.
St. Mary’s, located near Locust Walk on University of Pennsylvania’s campus, houses a group of community programs including Neighborhood Bike Works, a soup kitchen run by students and a daycare facility. The conceptual plan proposes a new building nearby Locust Walk with a storefront workshop for Neighborhood Bike Works and a shared community space.
Philadelphia Rooftop Farm (PRooF)
Project: 2010 Pilot Project: Conceptual, Design for Residential Rooftop Planter System
The Idea: Transforming Philadelphia’s thousands of flat roofs into organic farmland.
PRooF’s mission is to create and sustain a citywide rooftop farm to grow and distribute vegetables to urban communities. The design study offers workable design prototypes for the standard, flat-roofed rowhome.
New Kensington Community Development Corporation
Project: Conceptual Neighborhood Master Plan
The Idea: Utilizing an old industrial landscape to revitalize a neighborhood.
This master plan proposes many ways to reframe Kensington’s gritty landmarks: a greenway along Lehigh Avenue, a community kitchen and servery near Somerset Station, and a mixed-use neighborhood hub at the now-vacant Orinoko Mills.
SHARE Food Program, Green Village Philadelphia, Common Market
Project: Design Charrette for an Urban Eco-Village
The Idea: Developing an urban green business marketplace.
Can a former ball bearing factory in North Philly become the nexus for a mixed-use green business marketplace? Over 40 design and sustainability professionals convened in April to sketch out ideas for making that happen—sustainably—on a five-acre site in Hunting Park.
Wow, that's a lot of project. Congratulations! Truly, you create inspiration with your designs. Keep us posted on the latest.
Wow, that's a lot of project. Congratulations! Truly, you create inspiration with your designs. Keep us posted on the latest.