Should I stay or should I go? About five years ago, the Center for Literacy faced just this dilemma.

It’s a big decision for a nonprofit to relocate. There’s a lot to consider: how much and what kind of space is necessary (surprisingly difficult to figure out when you’ve made do for a long time), whether to lease or buy, and how a new location will affect clients.

Thanks in part to the Collaborative, the Center for Literacy is now making the leap from its original home, a “dysfunctional but full of character” Victorian house at 48^th and Baltimore, to a new 10,000 square feet facility at 399 Market Street.

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Check out the funny take on Mt. Tabor Cyber Village Senior Housing via a Philebrity reader’s cameraphone and footage of Greenfield Elementary School, co-star of the Philadelphia Water Department’s new video Green City Clean Waters.

Visitation BVM School, a recent recipient of design services from the Collaborative, is a finalist in the This Place Matters competition sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

One of a hundred finalists, Visitation BVM is competing for votes to win a grant of $25,000 to support its church, adjoining school, and community center. Visitation is the only organization in Philadelphia selected to compete.

Visitation BVM School has a diverse enrollment of almost 500 elementary and middle-school students. The Collaborative assisted the school in 2009, helping them develop a Request for Proposals to renovate space in the school as a new arts and sciences center. Visitation subsequently selected Claflen Associates, Architects and Planners for the project.

Cast your vote!

The view from Norris Square into the future St. Boniface Complex

What can a neighborhood do when a long-time neighborhood anchor stands empty? St. Boniface Church served the Catholic community of West Kensington for over 130 years. The late nineteenth century church complex occupies an entire city block on Norris Square. Along with the once-majestic church building, the St. Boniface site also includes a rectory, convent, school, and gymnasium.

When the Diocese of Philadelphia closed the church in 2006, it was a shadow of its former self – scaffolding had been erected to prevent falling masonry from hitting churchgoers and the congregation had dwindled from its mid-century heyday. Read Full Story

The Collaborative recently made a trip up to Brooklyn, NY for a tour of  once-abandoned factory buildings redeveloped by Greenpoint Manufacturing & Design Center (GMDC) for use by new, small manufacturing businesses.  Locally, GMDC teamed up with the Women’s Community Revitalization Project to serve as a client for Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites.  GMDC and WCRP wanted to explore possibilities for re-purposing a cluster of industrial buildings on Oxford Street as a mixed-use development that combines affordable housing with space for fabrication.

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Landscape improvements along 63rd Street in Overbrook Farms designed by Sara Pevaroff Schuh.

Pedestrians and drivers along the 63rd Street Commercial Corridor in historic Overbrook Farms will get a treat this spring when the sidewalk planters built by the Overbrook Farms Club emerge from the snow and begin to bloom.

The landscape improvements were designed by Sara Pevaroff Schuh, Principal of SALT Design Studio and a regular Collaborative volunteer, as part of a larger effort by the Overbrook Farms Club (OFC) to enliven its neighborhood commercial corridor, which extends from City Line Avenue to Woodbine Avenue. The initial idea for the project came from a master plan for the corridor that Collaborative volunteers developed in 2007 to provide OFC with a vision for revitalization and strategies for beautification, façade improvements, and site identity.

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According to Steve Culbertson of Impact Services, working with a diverse team helped the "design go outside of the box."

Impact Services Corporation, a social services agency that offers job training and supportive housing, has been headquartered in a former carpet mill in Kensington since the late ‘70’s. Last year, Impact Services approached the Community Design Collaborative for advice on how to refresh the exterior of its two “vintage” factory buildings and make them stand out along busy Allegheny Avenue.

The Collaborative redefined the project scope to address several overarching issues: how to reorganize the facility to function more effectively, how best could it introduce a new element to the site—affordable rental housing for some of Philadelphia’s neediest families reunited after homelessness, and how to add green space without sacrificing off-street parking.

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