CIRD's multi-day workshops bring together a diversity of participants from the local community and introduce a wide array of strategies to improve a way a community looks, its quality of place, and economic viability. The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) is proud to announce the schedule for the selected 2019-2020 local design workshops:
CIRD is working with local stakeholders in the remote town of Millinocket, Maine, to create a visual rendering - or “LookBook” - of Millinocket’s downtown corridor that store owners, private individuals, non-profits, and the town government can use. The workshop will support the creation of conceptual design renderings of the downtown corridor based on community ideas, wayfinding research, walkability, and historical precedent. Visioning for the overall downtown area will produce a cohesive design concept that future investment in the area may embody.
The Pueblo of Laguna is beginning to plan the Laguna Main Street project along NM Highway 124/ Historic Rt. 66. The physical improvements will support economic revitalization, offering so that vendors an appealing, designated place to attract business, providing more stability and increased economic prosperity. The design charrette will focus on the arts and crafts/farmer’s market facility. The Pueblo is collaborating with CIRD and the NM Frontier and Native American Community Initiative on the project. The project team will create a conceptual design for the Main Street corridor, incorporating Native cultural symbolism and art with community engagement and input.
CIRD is hosting a design charrette in Athens, Ohio, for the preservation, rehabilitation and adaptation of Mt. Zion Baptist Church into a multi-use space devoted to the contributions of the local African-American community. The workshop team will generate conceptual drawings that will showcase the diverse uses of the space based on community ideas, with emphasis on reimagining the space as a hub for social, cultural and economic opportunities for minority residents. The century-old church was built by free-born and formerly enslaved black artisans, and local residents see it as an anchor for the African-American community in Appalachia.
Stay tuned for more updates on the local design workshops!
