At last night’s Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites Design Challenge Reveal, SMP Architects, DIGSAU, and Charles Loomis Chariss McAfee Architects demonstrated both serious-minded and fun-loving ways to reinvigorate old industrial sites.

Alan Greenberger, Deputy Mayor of Planning and Economic Development, began the evening by observing that the city is “a mosaic of industrial use mixed with residential uses. That’s how Philadelphia was built.” Finding creative ways to repurpose these old industrial sites—many of them empty and underutilized, some of them spectacular—for modern industry is an opportunity for re-knitting Philly’s neighborhoods together.

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Medium site for the design challenge located on Oxford Street in Kensington. Photo by Peter Kubilus.

Philadelphia’s stock of old industrial sites are full of character and connected to neighborhoods which can be assets for attracting the next generation of industries that are vital to the Pennsylvania economy.

On Thursday, May 27 the design teams for the Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites Design Challenge will reveal their solutions for remaking three old industrial sites, which seek to honor Philadelphia’s industrial heritage while looking toward opportunities that lie ahead.

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Preliminary design was recognized as a cost-effective, powerful tool for community development at last week’s Reinventing Older Communities, a national conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. As part of a conversation on the future of the community development industry that culminated the conference, John Bendel, Director of Community Investment at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, emphasized the need for strategic investments and the importance of funding predevelopment and feasibility studies. “A small amount of money at the right time goes a long way,”said Bendel.

One of the takeaway messages from Reinventing Older Communities was that a different brand of community development will emerge from the current economic downturn. Shrinking credit, falling house values and increasing foreclosures have made community development more challenging than ever, especially in older, urban communities.   But the policymakers, community development specialists, researchers, and investors presenting at the conference (including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke) put the spotlight on emerging ideas, strategies, and initiatives for reinventing and rebuilding communities, like green jobs, sustainable development, and new financing models for housing and business development that share wealth more equitably.

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The lanes are filling up fast for the 14th Annual Community Design Collaborative Bowling Ball, so make sure to sign up your team soon and get practicing to perfect your game.

You can test your bowling mettle against teams from over 25 firms and organizations. Prizes go to the best, and worst teams, as well as those who come dressed in the grooviest outfits.

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The Community Design Collaborative is featured in the latest edition of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. Connecting Dreamers and Designers, written by Collaborative staffer Haley Loram and Bernard Brown, presents the Collaborative’s special brand of highly-skilled volunteerism.

Nonprofits and corporations tend to focus on philanthropy as monetary donations rather than skills-based volunteering that takes advantage of their employees talents and abilities.  Nonprofits tend to be unaware of pro bono services offered  by for-profit companies, while corporations often under estimate the impact of skilled volunteers. The Collaborative works to fill this gap by helping nonprofits leverage the skills of design professionals and creating connections between design firms and community organizations.

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Six storeowners along North Frankford Avenue now have a new vision for enhancing their storefronts, thanks to the efforts of Collaborative volunteers who worked with the storeowners to develop conceptual designs for façade improvements.

Intern architects Michelle Shuman, Karena Thurston and Alexander Will and cost estimator Scott Dalinka volunteered with the Collaborative through its rStore program to work with the six business owners recruited by Theresa Hanas, Frankford Community Development Corporation’s Main Street Coordinator.

The improvements are part of Frankford CDC’s larger plans for revitalizing Frankford Avenue. As one of six neighborhood business districts in the Philadelphia area that participates in the Main Street Program, Frankford CDC has developed a multi-pronged approach to economic revitalization. The program encourages a strategic emphasis on Design, Promotion, Organization, and Economic Restructuring.

“Working with designers is awesome.  It puts ideas out there that the business owners and I would not have come up with on our own,” said Hanas.

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Al Spivey, Jr. and WNCA volunteer and park advocate Craig Ablin, flanked by some of Wisshickon Neighbors Park's oldest and youngest fans.

It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child. In Wissahickon’s case, it takes a neighborhood to raise a park.

Over the past six months, a team of Collaborative volunteers worked with the Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association on a master plan to revitalize Wissahickon Neighbors Park. Now, the Collaborative’s early design assistance has become a catalyst for a big boost in funding for park improvements.  During this weekend’s Love Your Park Day, park advocates learned that the park will receive $200,000 in city funding.

Wissahickon Neighbors Park was already earmarked for $30,000 in City capital funds when Craig Ablin, leader of  a WNCA committee to improve the park, shared the Collaborative’s plans and renderings with Councilman Curtis Jones.  WNCA’s compelling vision– and visuals– convinced Jones to make the case for more funding.  Read Full Story