Macro Sea's David Belt sets the bar for the interim use charrette. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Check out Plan Philly’s post on the Collaborative’s  interim use charrette, Infill Philadelphia: Boldness redefines ‘community center’ .

Thomas J. Walsh writes:  “Planners, designers and architects attending a day-long design charrette last Friday did not need to be told to be creative, and adapt, when it comes to the short-term re-use of vacant, urban industrial sites – of which Philadelphia has more than its share.

They probably didn’t need any nudges in the direction of going green with their approaches, or to be bold.

From an inspiring guest speaker and critic, though, they just might have gotten a new take on an old saw for a valuable take-away lesson: ‘It’s a lot easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.’

That was the advice of David Belt, president of the New York-based design firm Macro Sea and one of the guys behind Brooklyn’s celebrated dumpster swimming pools.”

Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites is becoming part of the public discussion about job creation and green economic development.  In a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article, A New Use for Industrial Sites: Industry, Beth Miller, Executive Director of the Community Design Collaborative  and Thomas Dalfo, Vice President of Real Estate Services for the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, championed Philadelphia’s older industrial buildings and lots as good places to re-establish small manufacturing in the city.

Dalfo noted that new industries are cleaner, quieter, greener and less space-intensive than their predecessors– a better fit for urban neighborhoods. “Philadelphia has the best chance of any city” to pull off an industrial renewal, Miller added. “Philadelphia has it in its bones.”

Miller and Dalfo cited  Globe Dye Works in Frankford as an example of the industrial reuse and remix in Philly’s future.

The Center for Architecture announces the third edition of Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City, the most comprehensive book on the architectural treasures of Philadelphia. Authored by John Andrew Gallery, the guide provides descriptions and photographs of over four hundred of Philadelphia’s important buildings, seven walking tours, historical timelines, and short biographies of Philadelphia architects like Frank Furness and Louis Kahn.

Available at www.aiabookstore.com or the AIA Bookstore and Design Center, 1218 Arch Street.

Pennsylvania’s Fresh Food Financing Initiative is gaining national prominence for funding fresh food retail projects in under-served communities and raising the vitality of the both communities and their residents in the process. Top Obama officials visited the bustling new ShopRite in West Parkside yesterday to see the impact of FFFI firsthand.

ShopRite’s attention to the nuances of customer service and preferences shows that supermarkets are not all the same. Revisit Infill Philadelphia: Food Access for even more ideas on how to break the mold and bring fresh food back to urban communities.

The June 2009 issue of grid features Jerome Shabazz

Check out the latest issue of grid magazine for a feature story on the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, a 2005 Community Design Collaborative project. The  Collaborative’s early design assistance helped founder Jerome Shabazz plan and fund eco-friendly improvements to turn this former granite quarry into an urban environmental learning center.

Also, Collaborative volunteer Allison Kelsey shares her recipe for Smashed Potatoes and Broccoli in the In Season section.

grid can be found in the AIA Bookstore.

Angelo's internship with the Collaborative is part of MetEast's Big Picture Learning curriculum. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Our interns are always wonderful, but it’s rare for one to get national coverage!  Angelo Drummond, a 17-year-old junior at MetEast High School in Camden, N.J. and a current Community Design Collaborative intern, was featured in an Associated Press story on Saturday, June 27: No dropouts from this Camden, NJ, high school that has been picked up locally and by newspapers and websites in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Miami, San Franscisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle.  Read Full Story

Image courtesy of SMP Architect, Viridian Landscape Studio, and Meliora Environmental Design.

Greenfield Elementary School picked an instructive day to celebrate the groundbreaking of Greening Greenfield, its innovative project to “unpave” and plant its playground.  The week began with a commuter-hour cloudburst, and the all-day forecast called for thunderstorms mixed with “isolated storms”.  Luckily, this project’s all about managing stormwater. Inga Saffron explains the connection between Greening Greenfield and Philly’s new resolve to capture stormwater runoff in today’s Changing Skyline column. Hopefully, Greening Greenfield will be the first of many projects that exchange concrete and asphalt for permeable surfaces. Read Full Story