Braintree Electric Light Department

Brownfield Rehabilitation and Public Engagement

The Town of Braintree, MA will acquire former municipal electric light waterfront buildings that have been vacant for over 20 years. The neighboring residential community is concerned about the impacts of new development on the site and the local neighborhood association has recommended a riverfront park. However, the town is interested in redeveloping the property into a mix of uses that could help to activate the property, reuse existing, structurally sound buildings and stimulate the surrounding area. The site is within walking distance to a new commuter rail station, connecting the site to downtown Boston in a 20 minute train ride.

The design team established a community planning process and established three alternative redevelopment scenarios over the course of six months. Each scenario built from recommendations by the community about acceptable programs on the site and spanned a range of building scales. Residential, arts and business incubator plans each included an open space component, generating some economic benefit to the site but also maintaining an appropriate amount of publically-accessible open space and access to the river.

IMPACT: After years of acrimonious debate, a consensus vision for the site has emerged. The property is in the pre-development phase. Through an effective participatory process, there is now an alignment of goals between the surrounding residents and the Town.

THIS PROJECT WAS COMPLETED THROUGH THE COMMUNITY DESIGN RESOURCE CENTER-BOSTON. DESIGN COLLABORATORS: GATES, LEIGHTON & ASSOCIATES, WILSON ARCHITECTS, MATTHEW EMOND, WAYNE BENSON AND BRIAN GREGORY.

Chelsea Neighborhood Developers

Neighborhood Action Plan

The City of Chelsea and Chelsea Neighborhood Developers developed a partnership to significantly improve a distressed six block corridor.  The client sought to develop a plan for transformative reconfiguration of the dense neighborhood, including strategic demolition and rehabilitation, streetscape and pulic improvements and take advantage of the soft real estate market to begin implementation. 

The design team established a community planning process that identified priorities for actions to improve selected areas where traffic calming, safety, security and redevelopment could take hold.  Three community workshops facilitatated community identification of problem area and established near-term priority action items for the department of public works, the city planning department, the police department and the non-profit partner.   The impact of the effort began a process of regeneration from a distressed area into a healthy neighborhood by promoting affordable housing, establishing desireable public spaces and foster resident prosperity and leadership.

DESIGN COLLABORATORS: PERKINS + WILL, ICON ARCHITECTURE, KLOPFER MARTIN DESIGN GROUP

Jowonio School

Design and Development Plan

Jowonio is an inclusive, kindergarten-third grade elementary school for children with disabilities.  The school had outgrown its old facility and needed to locate a site upon which to build anew or purchase an existing building to renovate.  The design team developed schematic plans and models as well as a financial pro-forma and letters of support from over two dozen political, neighborhood and educational partners.  The project was presented as part of the Chase Manhattan Bank Community Development Competition and garnered $10,000 for the school. 

IMPACT: Non-profit partner used the money from the award to hire a consultant to identify a new building which met the school’s needs and to initiate a successful capital campaign.  The school has since relocated to the new facility.

THIS PROJECT WAS COMPLETED THROUGH THE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.

Wilson Park Community Center

Community Recreation Plan

Pioneer Homes was the first federally-funded housing project built in New York State and one of the first five public housing projects built in the United States.  Constructed in 1938, Pioneer Homes originally consisted of 678 family and elderly units.  However, due to the construction of an elevated highway nearby, important connections with the surrounding area became severed.  The area’s only recreational center was inadequate to meet the needs of the children and the neighborhood.  The challenge was to engage the users in the design of a new building and stimulate scholastic, service and athletic activities in the neighborhood through new programs and an expansion of the facility. 

IMPACT: New programs in the building are run with the assistance of five academic departments at the Maxwell School of Public Administration at Syracuse University.  The project was presented as part of the Chase Manhattan Bank Community Development Competition and garnered $25,000 for the school.  Non-profit partner used the money from the award as seed money to complete working drawings of the building and construct the new addition which is complete.

THIS PROJECT WAS COMPLETED THROUGH THE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.

East Side Neighbors In Partnership (ENIP)

Neighborhood Plan

The Eastside of Syracuse has undergone tremendous social and physical changes in the last 50 years including disinvestment, isolation of large scale public housing projects and the marginalization of local businesses.  The challenge was to design corridor strategies for East Fayette Street, design and program a year-round marketplace and develop an exterior landscape strategy for an important historic resource.  An inventory of residential typologies created models for infill development. 

IMPACT: Drawings and models were used by ENIP to seek local, state and federal funding.  Project did not advance beyond the schematic level.

THIS PROJECT WAS COMPLETED THROUGH THE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.

Southside: An Urban Village

Neighborhood Plan

Oakwood Avenue on the southside of Syracuse has the potential to be a primary commercial street for local residents.  However, existing businesses in the neighborhood lack the necessary concentration to generate a robust commercial district.  The challenge was to work with neighborhood residents to develop a vision for the neighborhood and identify priority issues to improve the quality of life.  The final plan established a framework for growth along key corridors and created an infill strategy to connect to existing neighborhood assets.  This project included representatives from the local AIA chapter. 

IMPACT: Initial engagement with neighborhood residents enabled future collaborations between the university and the city to mature.

THIS PROJECT WAS COMPLETED THROUGH THE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.

Westside: Community Park and Pavillion 

A parcel of former industrial land remained vacant following the demolition of the Ward Bakery Building.  Approximately $180,000 of federal money earmarked for the site was threatened to be lost if plans for the site’s rehabilitation were not advanced.  Volunteers worked with three adjacent non-profit organizations and residents on a neighborhood survey which identified active open space as a primary community need.  Five design solutions were developed and refined to a final composite scheme. 

IMPACT: The initial concept plans led to the hiring of a local architecture firm to complete construction documents. The park opened two years later.

THIS PROJECT WAS COMPLETED THROUGH THE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.