Small Project Design Grant Recipients
The Small Project Design advisory group is pleased to announce the recipients of the Small Project Design Knowledge Community Grant. The purpose of this grant is to provide financial support for non-profit organizations working with architects on community-based projects. Along with supporting the work of non-profits, we want to demonstrate the value of hiring an architecture firm (and AIA member) for community projects, by helping cover some of the costs associated with hiring the design team.
2022 Recipients
The Garden Gateway
Organization: Center for Court Innovation Neighborhood Safety Initiatives
Architecture Firm: Interboro Partners
The Blue Bird Inn
Organization: Detroit Sound Conservancy
Architecture Firm: Quinn Evans Architects
Detroit Sound Conservancy, a nonprofit community-based music archive, will redesign The Blue Bird Inn, a former working-class, African American owned and operated jazz club at 5021 Tireman on Detroit's Old West Side, into a music venue, gathering space, and cultural education center. All uses will be welcoming, accessible, and intergenerational with an emphasis on preserving our heritage for an innovative collaborative future.
Sioux YMCA Tiny Home Community
Organization: Sioux YMCA
Architecture Firm: Siris Coombs Architecture
The Cheyenne River Reservation faces critical needs for both housing and employment. Designed through community engagement with Lakota elders and youth, the YMCA Tiny Home Community aims to meet both of these by offering transitional housing alongside support for equitable access to employment. The project will empower residents with the resources to live independently and support for spiritual and mental healing.
2021 Recipients
Cedar Lee Mini-Park
Organization: Future Heights
Architecture firm: Kordalski Architects, Inc.
FutureHeights, a nonprofit community development corporation, plans to transform an under-utilized public right-of-way, into a welcoming and inclusive park for the Cedar Lee Business District and surrounding residential neighborhoods of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The site, roughly 50’ wide x 150’ deep, currently serves as a pass-through for visitors, connecting a public parking lot and garage to Lee Road businesses. Working in partnership with an AIA architect, FutureHeights will enhance the site to create a public, ADA-compliant gathering space for the community.
Cedar Lee Mini-Park
SAF Office & Farmworker Housing Advocacy Center
Organization: Student Action with Farmworkers
Architecture firm: Katherine Hogan Architects, PC
The project is the design of new a new office to support the work of Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF). The SAF Board and Staff wish to create a unique space that not only reflects their values but also the values of the farmworker communities that they support.
SAF Office & Farmworker Housing Advocacy Center
Safe and Healing Studio Sanctuary
Organization: Firebird Community Arts
Architecture firm: Wrap Architecture
The feasibility study for the renovation of the Firebird Community Arts studio will assist with strategic planning for potential studio improvements that can be implemented over time as funding sources become available. Project goals include creating a visual connection to the outdoor classroom, increasing natural light, improving indoor air quality, toilet room and breakroom upgrades, accessibility, signage, energy efficiency measures, and potential sources of renewable energy.
Safe and Healing Studio Sanctuary
2020 Recipients
Watershed Conservation Resource Center
Organization: Watershed Conservation Resource Center
Architecture firm: University of Arkansas Community Design Center
This small facility for an emerging river institute combines a private office/workshop space for a design-build operation in river restoration with a public watershed education/event seating 100 guests. The challenge is to accommodate conflicting requirements between both programs on a spartan budget. The WCRC facility must balance the need for a private and quiet work environment with the objective to project hospitality among community stakeholders in building watershed stewardship.
Watershed Conservation Resource Center