Pergola for The Enterprise Center CDC's Walnut Hill Farm: "This work evokes a sense of stewardship, pride and responsibility-- people working together to create something, " says Beth Miller, the Collaborative's executive director.

The Collaborative received recognition in soul of our community: physical beauty means a lot, a Flying Kite post by Lee Stabert. Reporting on a recent John S. and James L. Knight Foundation study on how and why people become attached to their communities, Lee admits, “Philadelphia has a hold on me—its ancient brick sidewalks, corner delis, narrow streets and murky rivers. It’s an innate attachment. Maybe even love.”

The Knight Foundation study found aesthetics are a powerful part of Philly’s pull. Says Lee, “In some ways, this should come as no surprise… History might have gifted us some aesthetic advantages, but maintaining a beautiful and livable city is an ongoing effort.” She credits Community Design Collaborative and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society as groups devoted to nourishing that bond.

An idea from the Collaborative’s Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites Temporary Reuse Design Charrette has got legs and is on the move! The charrette brought together a diverse group, including designers, artists, community groups, and developer and Philadelphia native David Belt, the keynote speaker, to consider ways to enliven vacant sites through temporary installations.

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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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A team of Collaborative volunteers is working with Cedar Parks Neighbors to create design strategies for redeveloping the commercial corridor on Baltimore Avenue from 49th to 52nd Street. The volunteer team led by David Hincher, an architect at Kieran Timberlake, recently held a community meeting to get neighborhood input on design ideas and to discuss visions for revitalizing the corridor.

Read the University City Review article about the project.

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.