Notes from the Field: Summer 2024–Golden Hammers, Youth Advocacy and DesignRVA

Storefront for Community Design inspires equitable community-driven design through our innovative education programs including low-cost design and planning assistance and design workshops.

THE golden hammers awards 2024 are open!

These awards were created in 2000 with a goal of honoring excellence in neighborhood revitalization projects throughout Greater Richmond. Storefront for Community Design and Historic Richmond will partner for a seventh year to host the awards program to recognize professionals and community members improving our neighborhoods through restoration, adaptive reuse, new construction, placemaking, urban design, and historic preservation.

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Design Session | Design and Planning Assistance

We provide community members with affordable design and planning assistance at an approachable level through one-on-one advice, conceptual sketches, and plans of action from volunteer professionals. Learn more about Design Session.

Tactical Urbanism for speed safety

How do you slOoOw down? This past semester, we got to work with our very own mOb studio alumni, Lucy Bolin, during her internship at the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility (OETM) who asked @middleofbroadstudio to come up with ideas rooted in tactical urbanism to reduce speeds and increase transit safety in high need areas. Check out the OETM’s whole plan at rvaconnects.com.

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Tactical Urbanism concepts for the OETM’s Richmond Connect’s “Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper” plan.

The mOb studio team presenting their concepts in class

Design Workshops | City Builders

We convene project-based learning opportunities focusing on real-world issues in the built environment and encourage youth and young adults to discover and design solutions that create effective change in their lives and communities. Learn more about City Builders Design Workshop.

City Builders summer

design workshops

Armstrong Leadership Workshop:

We kicked off the summer with a dynamic one-day workshop in collaboration with Armstrong Leadership students. The workshop engaged participants in a design challenge, encouraging them to think creatively about a commercial property in their neighborhood.

Gilpin Conservation Corps advocate for safety infrastructure at the Charles S. Gilpin Garden:

A significant highlight of our summer was our involvement with the Gilpin Conservation Corps at the Charles S. Gilpin Garden. Led by Danielle, our Design Lead, students engaged in maintaining and improving this vital green space. They received education on safety infrastructure and were empowered to identify local issues and advocate for solutions at City Hall. This initiative equipped youth with valuable advocacy skills and is a powerful example of civic engagement.

Special Thanks to our partners at the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility for hosting a mock city Council meeting for the youth to practice. And to Kinfolk Community for collaborating with Storefront to educate and engage youth through civic engagement.

Design interns

Design interns riding the GRTC PULSE

We kicked off with a design charrette to reconfigure Storefront’s office

This summer, we welcomed three interns from the Mayor’s Youth Academy and two from Partnership for the Future. These young adults have been exploring various careers in design, gaining hands-on experience, and contributing to our programs. Our interns have had the opportunity to explore several iconic spaces in our city, transforming the city itself into a classroom and learning more about how to use spaces.

They visited Urban Hang Suite, The Branch Museum, The ICA, and Common House each providing unique insights into urban design, interior design, and architectural history.

Special thanks to our Design volunteers Sabiya Davis, Stephanie Hernandez Diaz, Mecca Harris, and Danielle Worthing Porter for providing our interns with professional expertise in your fields!

City Builders selected to attend Virginia Tech Inside Design & Architecture camp!

Through a collaborative partnership with Virginia Tech, a pair of our former City Builders participants had the incredible opportunity to attend the Inside Design and Architecture program at Virginia Tech. This immersive experience was led by Hanbury Community Design Laboratory designers and took students on a deep dive into the fields of design and architecture for a 1st year student. Through hands-on workshops, lectures, and studio projects students explored concepts and techniques in architecture. 

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Thank you for coming out to DesignRVA!

The second annual DesignRVA was a fantastic time!

Thank you so much to our amazing event host, Seven Hills School, partners, exhibit hosts, Advisory Council, Board and the many, many volunteers that make this event possible!

In case you missed it, DesignRVA is our annual community day that introduces youth and their families to the design of our region. Through interactive activities led by community-based organizations and design professionals, youth explore and learn about their role in the creation and improvement of the places where we all live, learn, work, and play.

“ “If I could change anything in my community…it would be less stuff that emits fossil fuels into the air.””

— Patrick, Age 8

DesignRVA offers opportunities for children and their families to interact and engage in hands-on activities to raise awareness about four critical needs of our area as identified in the Richmond 300 master plan (health and wellness, housing, land use, and transportation).

We had over 200 attendees of all ages come and take part in various activities centered around the design and planning of our city. From housing, bus stops, front yards, art installations and pocket parks, elements filled a map envisioning a greater Richmond informed by youth voice.

Conversations around policy, the built environment and planning spanned across the next generation of City Builders.

Anya Shcherbakova (Design Session Manager), Sarah Pritchard (Advisory Council Member) and Kai Banks (Youth Innovation Director) at DesignRVA. Photo by Kylie Heald, Fultz & Singh

A special shout out to our presenting sponsors: Virginia Housing, Genworth, Highwoods, SingleStone, Lynx Ventures, TowneBank and Froehling and Robertson!

Without this funding, we wouldn't have been able to provide this free event at the level of intentionality and quality to our community.

Did you attend and have feedback? Let us know on the de-brief form!

Thanks to each and every one of you!

With gratitude, Kai and Anya

News, Resources & Opportunities

• Local project Bensley Agrihood on pause due to zoning issues (Article)

• Statement from Girls for A Change on Bensley Agrihood

• City of Richmond Healthy Homes program: Grants up to $15K

• City of Richmond Real Estate Tax Relief program for elderly and disabled residents

Notes from the Field: DesignRVA + Spring Pin-Ups!

Storefront for Community Design inspires equitable community-driven design through our innovative education programs including low-cost design and planning assistance and design workshops.

You’re invited to DesignRVA, our annual community day!

DesignRVA introduces youth ages 8-14 to the design of our region and shows how they can be a part of the planning, creation, and change of the places where we all live, learn, work, and play. Check out the write up in RIC Today!

When: Saturday June 8, 2024 10am–2pm
Where: Seven Hills School 1311 Overbrook Rd, Richmond, VA 23220
Who: Youth, families, community members

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Design Session | Design and Planning Assistance

We provide community members with affordable design and planning assistance at an approachable level through one-on-one advice, conceptual sketches, and plans of action from volunteer professionals. Learn more about Design Session.

fonticello gathering space

We recently wrapped up a design for an outdoor space at Fonticello Food Forest in Southside based on community feedback! This space will accommodate free programming around healing from gun violence hosted by @fonticellofoodforest. Thank you to our lead volunteer architects Miriam and John for facilitating and designing!

The space was designed to accommodate small workshops with storage benches that hold shade sails when not in use as well as bigger groups as a platform. The chosen site is accessible in several ways and takes advantage of existing trees as a potential for a public art opportunity. The poor drainage at the chosen site is addressed by stormwater mitigation strategies like a french drain and rain garden. Fonticello is working to build this vision! Want to help? Email fonticellofoodforest@gmail.com.

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MLK Jr. middle school Ubuntu Garden

For nearly a year, we've been working with two volunteer landscape architects, Lizzy and Robbie, in partnership with Kinfolk Community RVA to help illustrate the plan for an inclusive green space at MLK Jr. Middle School in the East End. After multiple site visits, community and team reviews, we've created a conceptual plan that includes an educational and restorative garden, amphitheater, outdoor kitchen, stormwater management and edible orchard!

A student team at mOb studio, also worked in tandem with Kinfolk Community to envision a site plan for a community gathering and storytelling space, receving mentorship from Lizzy and Robbie along the way.

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Design Workshops | City Builders

We convene project-based learning opportunities focusing on real-world issues in the built environment and encourage youth and young adults to discover and design solutions that create effective change in their lives and communities. Learn more about City Builders Design Workshop.

City Builders spring Semester

This spring we partnered with Peter Paul Development Center, Martin Luther King Jr Middle school, Fit4Kids, and Kinfolk Community to offer design workshops to East End and Northside youth.

design workshops

We used the design process to explore how our environments affect our health and wellness through charrettes, discussions, and model making. Specifically, youth gravitated to third spaces outside of school and home like parks and community centers and how they can be more sustainable.

Our high school design intern, Nate, helped facilitate class by holding a presentation and activity about designing spaces through a lens of climate resiliency and factors like temperature regulation, decreased pollutants, and selective plantings. The students completed their bio-architecture models and created a tree house, a wedding venue, and a house with a rooftop garden.

Thank you to the Green Workforce Crew at GroundworkRVA for their implementation of the African-centered labyrinth at MLK. We began our final class with a walk through the labryinth and ended with sketches of plants in the raised beds to test out this outdoor space and it’s restorative purpose.

Design mentor

We are excited to welcome back former City Builder and previous Design Session volunteer, Danielle Freeman Jefferson as a Lead Design Mentor. In her role she leverages her expertise to teach urban agriculture and climate resilience using the design process.

Danielle is a landscape architecture graduate who is working with our current City Builders in Gilpin and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the focus areas of placekeeping, environmental and food justice and health and wellness. Danielle’s work intertwines stewardship and education, advocating for eco-conscious practices and cultivating spaces for communal gathering. 

This work is funded (in part) by a grant from Richmond Memorial Health Foundation(RMHF). RMHF is committed to its mission of fostering an equitable and healthy Richmond region. This support allows Storefront to continue to foster the next generation of designers.

Special thanks to the Action Alliance staff Raelyn, Youth Resilience Manager and Dawn, Youth Justice Coordinator for leading discussions around violence, health equity and social determinants of health this spring for our youth.

Meet the staff!

We’re a small but mighty team of two and have immense gratitude to all our stellar volunteers, partners, Advisory Council and Board that help support this work!

Kai directs the City Builders program, using a multifaceted approach to develop Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills in Richmond's youth through the design process. As a Richmond native, she is deeply involved in the community and passionate about educating and empowering youth and their families on how our environment impacts well-being.

Anya manages our Design Session program using participatory processes to steer initiatives that improve the places we live in. She’s called Richmond home for the majority of her life and believes in making the design process accessible to all in addressing complex societal issues.

P.S. Thanks @rvacommunityfridges for capturing our Richmond Curious talk a while back!

Resources and Opportunities

• Sign Up and Volunteer at Project Pipeline’s Youth summer camp

• Enjoy our bike lanes with Sportsbacker’s bike month calendar

• Apply for a Youth Environmental Education Grant due June 27th

• Addressing the Gap in Affordable Housing conversation

• Diamond District design guidelines

When talking about equity in the built environment, it’s important to address the cycles of oppression that create inequity locally and globally, as we’re seeing in the ongoing crisis in Gaza and countless others. We’ve compiled some resources through this lens and believe all people deserve equitable, safe and enjoyable places to live:

• “On Domicide” by Architectural League of NY (virtual event May 23rd 2pm EST)

• Riwaq: Center for Architectural Conservation (archive of rural villages)

• Golda Slept Here by Suad Amiry, historical accounts of everyday architecture in Palestine (book)

• Our neighbor, Virginia Community Voice also shared a great list of educational resources in a recent newsletter along with these words:

“But it IS possible that watching what is happening in Palestine is waking more people up to the reality that the old way of being (based in extraction, violence, domination and greed) must end. That we can learn to live differently, in right relationship with each other and with the earth. That none of us are free until all of us are free.”

Notes from the Field: Fall 2023

Storefront for Community Design inspires equitable community-driven design through our innovative design education programs including low-cost design and planning assistance and design workshops.

Burt Pinnock Awarded Enduring Spirit of Philanthropy Award

The fall season kicked off with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Central Virginia Chapter, National Philanthropy Day hosted by Virginia State University.

This year, Burt Pinnock, FAIA, NOMA, received the Enduring Spirit of Philanthropy Award, and it is easy to understand why. Burt Pinnock does not miss an opportunity to do something good for others. In 2011, recognizing the need to create equity and harness the power of design within Richmond's many communities, Burt began serving as the founding board chair of Storefront for Community Design.

Since the inception of Storefront, Burt has been actively involved, supporting through personal dollars, many personal hours, and an incalculable amount of talent. Burt's vast and deep civic engagement is the bedrock of his enduring philanthropy spirit.

Design Session | Low-cost Design and Planning Assistance

We provide community members with design and planning assistance at an intimate, approachable level, including one-on-one advice, conceptual sketches, and plans of action from volunteer design and planning professionals. Learn more about Design Session.

Mobile Market

This fall, Storefront connected Soul Replenishing to convert a shuttle bus into a mobile market for an organization that seeks to feed low-income communities, provide essential products, and enrich lives through health and community. Having personally converted a van, volunteer designer Kylie at Fultz & Singh Architects answered the call to envision an interior design for the mobile market!

MLK Jr. Middle School Restorative Garden

Community Partners shared a working conceptual design for the garden at an engagement meeting earlier this fall. Storefront coordinated design volunteers to support the design process, and we are excited to continue supporting the garden project through a partnership with mOb studio in the spring. This partnership will assist with designing specific elements within the garden space.

playspace

Bryan Innovation Lab at the Steward School needed a new playspace in their learning garden, so mOb created an adaptive design for various user groups of all ages, including storage, canopy, and mobile a-frame structures. Megan Young, Bryan Innovation Lab Program Specialist, shared,

“We were blown away by the wild and novel ideas and appreciated the time spent to make them practical for a school setting – you all balanced this super well! And we loved that you all were able to get our students and community members involved in the process.”

Design Workshops | City Builders

We convene project-based learning opportunities focusing on real-world issues in the built environment and encourage youth and young adults to discover and design solutions that create effective change in their lives and communities. Learn more about City Builders Design Workshop.

City Builders Fall Semester

This semester, City Builders had an opportunity to share their creative vision for everyday spaces in their community. City Builders explored their own identities and how they are reflected in the built environment. 

Participants created surface designs for the Richmond Metro Transportation Authority’s (RMTA) Downtown Expressway toll plaza with instruction from VCU Arts professor Emily Smith and mOb studio students. The mObians created a transit tool kit for participants to think of their designs as more than a mural, but a message- an expression of the identity of Richmond.

City Builders visited the Elegba Folklore Society for an illustration of architecture, people, artifacts, and symbols that tell stories about Richmond’s history. During the visit, Omalide encouraged participants to envision a connected identity for the future.

VCU Interior design faculty Sara Reed and VCU student Bryce Carlson led a specially-curated session called What is Good Design? City Builders were prompted to create a collage that used texture, color, and material to express the character of the Storefront block. 

At the end of the semester, when asked what an ideal community looked like framed by their identity, the City Builders blew us away with their designs for a healthy and happy community, including a shelter for the houseless, a hotel with state-of-the-art technology, a calm spa, energy cafe, and zen garden.

GOLDEN HAMMER AWARDS (Nov 2)

Historic Richmond and Storefront for Community Design partnered for a seventh year to host the awards program to recognize professionals and community members improving our neighborhoods through restoration, adaptive reuse, new construction, placemaking, and historic preservation.

The 2023 Storefront Teen Choice Award went to Old City Hall. City Builders shared that Old City Hall was their clear favorite, and the revitalized interior and finishings are fitting for "the castle."

Participants and design mentors had 45 minutes to design an award that represents the best parts of Richmond. To make it slightly more challenging, they could only use paper products with tape, string, or glue.

A huge thank you to our sponsors! A complete list of nominees and winners can be found here.