Location:
Fairgrounds Neighborhood - Dayton OH

Project:
Work force housing

Scope:
Architectural design services for new construction and rehabilitation work

Size:
townhouse: 1,375 sq. ft.
gable house: 1,100 sq. ft.
bay house: 1,400 sq. ft.
cottage house: 900 sq. ft.

projects» genesis project



Before: Rooming houses, flop-houses, drug houses.

After: Thriving market rate housing preferred by medial professionals, University workers and new urbanists.

Every city has an area where people just tend to speed up and look the other way. Even if those people are leaving the region's leading medical center that is one of the largest employers in the city. Nestled in the shadow of Miami Valley Hospital, just across Main Street from the County Fairgrounds was a neighborhood that was more hood than neighborly. A public/private partnership was formed to bring a rebirth to the "Fairgrounds" neighborhood in Dayton. The scale was to be of biblical proportions, leading the partnership to name it the Genesis Project. Rogero Buckman Architects were tasked to evaluate a majority of the structures in this 18 block neighborhood and come up with a program for what to renovate, remove and what should replace the removals. The stats: 40 removals, 30 renovations and 25 new homes. The results: a total change in the vitality of the community; from there not being one, to becoming a new center for development and commerce. The design of the homes is where RBA brought its modern world vision to the clients. It would have been easy to build what has become a standard suburban home or try to copy the style of the turn of the century homes. Instead, three prototype homes were designed that matched the shape of the vernacular, but used modern materials to make a contemporary statement that was understood as being new and different, while still playing nice with the streetscapes. Houses are selling again in Fairgrounds, as fast as they are completed. And, the retail strip nearby is experiencing a renaissance, with national and regional chains setting up shop in what used to be bingo halls and bowling alleys that hadn't seen investment in 30 years. The big picture view makes several small projects become Herculean in proportion to the investment. It's this kind of civic capital that we strive for when we are involved in changing communities.