Location:
Historic South Park - Dayton OH

Project:
Rehabilitation of historic single-family residential structures

Scope:
Overall design consultation, interior design, owner's representative during renovation

Size:
Various size residential units

projects» rehabarama


South Park and Dayton View

Before: Neighborhoods with some "broken window" problem properties.

After: Neighborhoods with a kick-start, stimulating interest, investment and renovation.

One house does not a neighborhood make, except when it's beyond reclamation by normal means. The city of Dayton pioneered the concept of doing home showcase events similar to home-builders "Homearama" using rehabbed homes instead. Started as a public/private partnership, the event has grown with each new neighborhood. Rogero Buckman Architects were chosen to lead these two community-morphing projects. By systematically evaluating, acquiring, and rehabbing multiple homes within a short distance from each other, dramatic results showcased the hidden value in these neighborhoods. While it's easy to wow people with half-million dollar homes, these were all market rate projects that were offered to the public when the show opened. Innovative twists like joining a house with a neighboring shack via a glass breezeway, or 2 story living rooms in a workers cottage, made visitors to the show realize that these homes offered opportunities for unlimited imagination to take shape. Bringing tens of thousands of people into an urban neighborhood to see what can be, beats building McMansions in a former cornfield any day. Projects like this excite RBA. They create synergies in neighborhoods that make investments by municipalities multiply many times over through higher property values, lower crime and pride instilled in the community. If you are a developer or a city planner who is interested in creating this kind of excitement in your community please contact us to discuss all the aspects of this type of program.