[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]
image: Stakeholder and community engagement (credit: Citizen HKS)
A community driven design process aims to create a NetZero hub for the Highland Park Community through Re-Imagining Benefield.
The WHY
In early 2018, Ryan Rinn, then Executive Director of Storefront for Community Design and Nick Cooper, then Director of Citizen HKS, sat down to talk about how two organizations could come together and support a Richmond community in need. Ryan quickly guided the conversation to an under-served community on Richmond’s North Side that Storefront had been invested in for years but needed a substantial project and process to continue to empower the youth and serve as a catalyst for change and hope. Re-Imagining Benefield was born.
image: Stakeholder and community engagement (credit: Citizen HKS)
The WHAT
Through a robust community engagement process and a unique co-live/co-work programmatic model that will incubate local businesses on the first floor and provide mixed income; co-living housing above, the project will be the new community center for Highland Park and be a model for similar process transformations across the country.
“Through deep listening, Citizen HKS and Storefront for Community Design have perfectly captured the desires, goals and dreams of the community in Re-Imagining Benefield. Upon completion of the project, it will be a place community members can truly call their own”
image: Stakeholder and community engagement (credit: Citizen HKS)
The HOW
Re-Imagining Benefield is a project designed by the community of Highland Park FOR the community of Highland Park.
“Family, affordable, innovative, community and equitable” were key words that drove the design of the project because they were emphasized by community members of the Highland Park neighborhood through community workshops, town hall meets, interviews, surveys and an overall robust community engagement process that spanned 18 months and continues through the special use permit process today. Storefront for Community Design served as a catalyst for connections and making sure every community stakeholder was heard throughout the process, embodying a true inclusive design process.
Building program catered specifically to the community’s needs and a defining building set back request [preserving the intimate scale of Meadowbridge Road] were key design outcomes established by the community during the engagement process.
image: Existing conditions at Six Points (top image); community vision for Six Points (bottom image - credit: Citizen HKS)
The IMPACT
The Fundamental driver for the planning of the first floor was built on adaptation and growth for the future. Both in terms of youth attaining business acumen but also in terms of spatial flexibility between what exists today and what we can only predict will happen tomorrow as what we define as successful retail will always evolve. The two floors of mixed-income housing above, along with the collaborative working environment housed on the first-floor are significant contributors promoting social equity within the project and for the community as a whole.
Using an existing collection of buildings as the bones of the first floor and the existing character of highland park to influence the addition, the ecosystem of the place has informed the design. Adaptive Re-use in nature is the most resourceful approach to architecture you can take so the project seeks to preserve the historic Spanish Art Deco structure while integrating a maker space, local businesses, and a collaborative workshop space on the first floor. This workshop is planned to serve as a hub for education by being open to the community.
It was important from the outset that we needed to be as environmentally responsible as we were being socially responsible, so a path to NetZero was established as a guiding principle for the work. This is planned to be one of the first NetZero projects in Richmond and will be a place for education around the steps it takes to create a more resilient and sustainable future for all.
image: Key impact numbers
“Re-Imagining Benefield was a project that stood out for engaging the neighborhood in positive discourse on its future, helping to give voice to community concerns, and translating problems into concrete and lasting solutions. Clearly the design team brought a high level of passion and commitment to making a difference”
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
We can only continue because of your generous support that makes it possible for Storefront to continue assisting with community driven design processes like Reimagining Benefield. In honor of our 10th anniversary and to ensure future funding, we are laying the foundation for the next 10 years of community impact. Money raised will be invested in a variety of ways that, taken together, are designed to increase Storefront's mission and programming that will bring positive change to Richmond communities over the next 10 years.
10 YEARS, 10 STORIES OF IMPACT
Follow Storefront for Community Design’s 10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series to learn more about our impact over the last ten years and check out a timeline of milestones for an overview of our work.
01 | Storefront is Born
02 | Ms. Thompson’s Kitchen
03 | mOb + Storefront = ❤️
04 | Recovery by Design
05 | A Celebration of Community Design
06 | Designing an Innovation Center
07 | Building a Brave Space
08 | General Demotion / General Devotion
09 | Community Driven Design Process
10 | A Vision for the Future