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Interwoven Community
Civic Assets are collection of physical sites and buildings as well as the social processes and cultural practices making up a city's infrastructure. Looking at how public spaces provide services that help a community thrive. The architecture of the Interwoven Community aspires to reconnect the site to its surrounding context by creating access to living space and future economic growth.
Design for Equitable Community
In examining the site in context, there was a clear lack of civic assets and other community amenities that ensure a place can support a vibrant community. The site was previously home to military barracks and therefore was not equipped with community builders like small businesses, parks and other services. The biggest deficit was diverse food options. The project program required residential housing for the majority of the space so an intervention was needed.
Equality is about opportunity and access. By introducing a grocery store to the site, it creates opportunities for the future residents. In addition to providing jobs, healthy food retail also increases or stabilizes home values in nearby neighborhoods, generates local tax revenues, provides workforce training and development, and promotes additional spending in the local economy generated by the store and the new jobs it creates
Grocery as Civic Asset
It is proven that grocery stores help to develop stronger and healthier communities through access to resources, and through quality affordable housing. As one of the few full-service supermarkets in the area this grocery store will eradicate the areas large food desert.
The store will increase the staff’s contact with the community and provide additional jobs, Programming:
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Grocery pick-up,
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Coffee shop and outdoor dining
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Community room
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Medical tenant
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Grab-and-go section for the large lunch crowd
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Meat service counter
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Bakery
The opening of the façade at the coffee shop creates a more welcoming entry, provides sightlines into the store, and provides a much-needed function in an otherwise stark entry. Creating a community hub that is not just retail but a place to gather, relax, keep up with community events and activities.
Design for Integration
Park Paths follow direction of the street. This creates an act of re-integration of the site with the existing city grid.
Design for Well Being
Looking at well being wholistically means ensuring the architecture stimulates the body, mind and spirit of its users. The grocery store ensures food security, the community and play spaces give an outlet for the mind to grow and expand its creativity. Play also lightens the spirit. Mixing transparencies ensures good daylighting which is proven to lift spirits and foster spaces that people will enjoy. Wellness is also about connection , to each other and to nature. The site extends the park allowing the boundary of the site edge to blend with the park and create more green space for play, relaxation and outdoor activity.
Design for Discovery
A part of play is the act of discovery, play means learning and exploration. The process to come to this form is an act of discovery. Creating a grid based on the existing column grid and then creating a rule system to break that grid allowed for exploration with the form. Like building blocks continuing to stack and adjust to generate floor plans and sections. The design itself lends to user discovery through the play of transparency, allowing people to look in and observe the thriving activity then creating new interest for the site. The paths that follow the street allow for those on a leisure walk to continue into the park space and to the building from there, discovering the new structure and its community.
