Summer 2021: Westside Neighborhood – English Avenue

Summer 2021: Westside Neighborhood – Engish Avenue


Today, approximately 44% of homes in the surrounding English Avenue Neighborhood are vacant and two-thirds of the residents live below the federal poverty line, and urgent neighborhood concerns include the existing service desert, hydrology challenges exacerbated by climate change, and mounting, external development pressures. However, the neighborhood is poised for positive change through the Westside Land Use Framework Plan (2017), which the community and city have already approved. A team of students and faculty engaged in field study analysis and existing conditions documentation including the following:

  • Building stock assessment and design guidelines for future builds 
  • Energy audits and high-performance options 
  • Water mitigation and reuse 
  • Urban productive gardens to address the food desert 
  • Urban greenspace 
  • Zoning 
  • Connectivity (mass transit + bike + pedestrian) 
  • Spatial morphology

PROJECT CREDITS:

Co-Directors:

  • Julie Ju-Youn Kim AIA NCARB 
  • Danielle S. Willkens, PhD, LEED AP BD+C

Project Team:

  • Maria Malloch
  • Katie Reilly

Students:

The work from this summer establishes the foundation for the Fall 2021 Graduate Design + Research studio.