Action-oriented research collaborations include:
Arthouse: A Social Kitchen
The ArtHouse project transformed an underutilized 15,000 sf facility in downtown Gary, Indiana into a cultural hub, showcasing visual and culinary arts. Ripple Architecture Studio partnered with Barbara Brown Wilson to design the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge competition-winning façade renovation that resurfaces and illuminates the building while highlighting local manufacturing capabilities. Please find more information on fabrication, community engagement, and impact at ripplearchitecture.com.
Design Team: Jeana Ripple, design principal, Ripple Architecture Studio; Barbara Brown Wilson, community engagement principal; Eric Barr, designer; Ian Carr, designer; Asa Eslocker, videographer; Elizabeth Van Der Els, research assistant;
Sponsors: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Knight Cities Challenge;
Collaborators: Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, The City of Gary; Theaster Gates, Artistic Director; Katherine Darnstadt, fabrication + workshops contractor, Latent Design; Live Arts Studio, Youth Workshops;
Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications
Project Pipeline
The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) summer STEM program entitled Project Pipeline Architectural Summer Mentorship Program aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities, especially African-Americans, pursuing careers in architecture. During the summer of 2019, the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Architecture piloted its first version of Project Pipeline in partnership with our NOMA Student Chapter and the Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR). The program provided a two-week intensive design experience for seven youth designed to improve their pathways to pursue design education and engaged UVA students in learning from and mentoring young people in local K-12 school systems.
The Alley Flat Initiative
The Alley Flat Initiative is a collaboration between the University of Texas Center for Sustainable Development (UTCSD), the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC), and the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC) (now DBA as Community Powered Workshop).
The objective of the Alley Flat Initiative is to create an adaptive and self-perpetuating delivery system for sustainable and affordable housing in Austin. The “delivery system” includes not only efficient housing designs constructed with sustainable technologies, but also innovative methods of financing and home ownership that benefit all neighborhoods in Austin.
Piedmont Housing Alliance: Youth Leadership in Land Use Program
“The Youth Leadership Program equips resident youth leaders with valuable skills, experiences, and networks to both provide input for the redevelopment and to create educational and career opportunities. Piedmont Housing Alliance remains committed to helping the Youth Leadership Team of Friendship Court effectively provide input for the redevelopment of their community. This team of highly motivated and engaged youth is embracing the challenges in front of them.” -Friendship Court Apartments YLP site
Downtown Alley Activation
With more than 100 blocks of alleys still remaining in downtown—more than half a million square feet of public space—Austin’s alleys offer a tremendous opportunity to help fill Austin’s need for more vibrant public spaces downtown. In Fall 2012, the City of Austin Downtown Commission created a workgroup to examine opportunities for activating Austin’s downtown alleys in order to contribute to a more vibrant network of people-oriented public spaces in Downtown Austin. The workgroup, which grew over the course of the project, consisted of representatives from the Downtown Commission, the City of Austin, a range of downtown and citywide institutions, individual artists and community activists. The group collaborated on producing both an artistic installation to imagine how the alleys might be used differently, and a report with policy recommendations for the City of Austin.