Brent Brown and Benji Feehan of BC Workshop presented to us on July 2, 2011.
Building Community Workshop is a 501c3 non-profit established in 2005 in Dallas, TX. They currently have about 18 people on staff, 6 employees and 10-12 volunteers. They have a direct design side like a conventional architecture studio except they typically work only for non-profit organizations. They also self-generate projects (initiatives)
They have a bent toward social responsibility.
They create what may be considered: Unity Design, Do-gooder Design or Public Interest Design. They refer to it as SEED, Social Equinomic Environmental Design.
They feel the basis of sustainability is ethics.
BC Workshop is about people. We took ourselves our of nature and we now live in spaces that don't have to have sunlight or wind.
BC Workshop strives to help stakeholders have a voice in the built environment.
They see a fundamental flaw with the system and strive for Design Justice. They have recognized that doing LEED buildings does not change our behavior.
Brent and Benji provided a presentation on their Congo Street Project. Congo St. was a part of S. Carrol Dr. in Dallas that was renamed when the World's Fair came to Dallas to warn visitors to stay away from that part of Dallas. The street had been virtuall forgotten. It was a 19' wide street with homes that averaged ab out 650 s.f. each. The streets at both ends of Congo Street had been repaved and Congo had been ignored. They redesigned the neighborhood and recreated the existing homes into LEED rated homes for the families still living on the street. The areas along the street have been landscaped with native plants that require less frequent water and attention.
BC Workshop offers lunch and learn events every other Friday in their facility at 2814 Main St. in Deep Elum.
"Design justice through community engagement"
For more information on Building Community Workshop visit: www.bcworkshop.org
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