Sometimes more of the same is a good thing! Since the fifties, Friends Housing Coop has provided an affordable housing alternative in a quiet, tree-canopied, and diverse “mini-neighborhood” at North 8th and Fairmount Street.

The Collaborative has just completed a conceptual master plan to help the Coop spruce up 84 units of affordable housing located within a block's worth of historic rowhouses.

The master plan outlines a series of cost-effective renovations that will preserve the character of Philadelphia’s first coop community and reflect the Coop’s commitment to sustainable design and building practices.

Recommended renovations include new kitchens and bathrooms, insulation to decrease energy usage and reduce sound transmission between stacked units, and accessibility improvements. The team also offered ideas for improving communal open spaces and remaking a neglected city-owned parking lot next door to provide more efficient, friendlier surface parking complemented by a small dog park.

Congratulations to the nonprofit leaders and design professionals who collaborated on the conceptual master plan.

Nonprofit Client Friends Housing Cooperative Eileen McGovern, Board President

Project Team Wallace Roberts & Todd Stephen Gibson, AIA Marguerite Anglin, AIA Megan McGinley, AIA

Thornton Tomasetti Mark Coggin, PE

R.G. Venderweil Engineers, LLP Wayne Clark, PE

Harkin Builders Bob Fritz

Andrew Allwine Anthony Assetto Ryan Bailey Leila Hamroun, AIA

Do you know a nonprofit organization in search of preliminary design services? The Community Design Collaborative will be coordinating pro bono design services for up to 30 nonprofits in 2013. Meet our latest service grant recipients and find out how the Collaborative is helping them through our Service Grant program. For more information on the application and selection process, visit our website.