T H R i V E 9 5
narrating history is part of part of making history
Proximity to the expressway as an
opportunity:
Using vertical static louvers with printed images on the facades
takes advantage of drivers' continuous motion
(lenticular effect)
on contiguous
i95 expressway to
project historic site identity.
Overtown, FL
year: 2019
conceptualization, design, rendering, rendering post-production, modeling, drafting, historic research, zoning research, board approval set
year: 2019
conceptualization, design, rendering, rendering post-production, modeling, drafting, historic research, zoning research, board approval set
For one brief golden moment rare like wine,
The gracious city swept across the line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien guest,
She bent to me, my hostile heart to win,
Caught me in passion to her pillowy breast;
The great, proud city, seized with a strange love,
Bowed down for one flame hour my pride to prove.
The City's Love
-Claude McKay
The project aims to reach into the abandoned urban territories of the expressway underpass. The building’s integration is a catalyst for improvement by bringing light and use to these blighted but inevitable areas, as once envisioned by Overtown's own Athalie Range, the first African American in Miami's history to run for the city commission.
The extended intervention is one of tribute, reintegration, ownership and identity for the people of the historic area of Overtown. Reestablishing pride in the Overtown neighborhood requires improving its built environment, with an understanding of a history scarred by segregation. Overtown's cultural, societal and commercial pulse was once vibrant, jazz saw a stage to flourish and African American leaders and artists made history.
The workforce housing nature of the project is respectful and engaging to the people of a city once thriving, then divided. The objective is not to displace residents, but to offer to them the opportunity to take part in an organic revival of Overtown.
The gracious city swept across the line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien guest,
She bent to me, my hostile heart to win,
Caught me in passion to her pillowy breast;
The great, proud city, seized with a strange love,
Bowed down for one flame hour my pride to prove.
The City's Love
-Claude McKay
The project aims to reach into the abandoned urban territories of the expressway underpass. The building’s integration is a catalyst for improvement by bringing light and use to these blighted but inevitable areas, as once envisioned by Overtown's own Athalie Range, the first African American in Miami's history to run for the city commission.
The extended intervention is one of tribute, reintegration, ownership and identity for the people of the historic area of Overtown. Reestablishing pride in the Overtown neighborhood requires improving its built environment, with an understanding of a history scarred by segregation. Overtown's cultural, societal and commercial pulse was once vibrant, jazz saw a stage to flourish and African American leaders and artists made history.
The workforce housing nature of the project is respectful and engaging to the people of a city once thriving, then divided. The objective is not to displace residents, but to offer to them the opportunity to take part in an organic revival of Overtown.