Virginia Commonwealth University
IN-3: Innovation 3

Middle of Broad (MoB) + Storefront operates on the belief that good design makes a healthier city where citizens participate more fully in their environment, their government and their culture. The Storefront for Community Design is Richmond’s non-profit design assistance center, improving the quality of design in the city by facilitating access to design and planning resources. MoB is a partnership of three design departments of VCUarts, Graphic Design, Fashion Design and Interior Design. These departments operate an innovative design lab that realizes the potential of design to shape the City. MoB+Storefront is a collaboration of MoB and Storefront that combines the energy, enthusiasm and expertise of VCU students, fellows and faculty with Storefront’s community involvement. Together they design the city from the bike rack to the bungalow to the corner store, from neighborhoods to the river. In partnership with the VCU Office of Sustainability, students from mOb created a design for the new High Output Learning Garden to be built on our Monroe Park Campus in Fall of 2015. The design was created with the intention of meeting the needs of all partners on the project: The Office of Sustainability, The Office of Service Learning, the Center for High Blood Pressure, the VCU Food Pantry (the RamPantry), two student organizations (Verde and Green Unity), and the VCU School of Pharmacy. They created innovative ways to grow vertically, maximize the space for high output, and create a beautiful design for fostering learning and community. These aspects met both the educational and high output missions of the partners. The students also ensured that the facilities were ADA accessible, including pathway width requirements and bed access. Overall the process left all the partners excited for the building of the garden and the execution of the programs.

The most significant outcome of this innovative partnership was the design and work done by the MoB students. This includes site plans and facilities designs for a learning area, bed materials, vertical planters, and ADA pathways. The students also executed a topographical survey and sunlight path survey. When the garden is built, the use of the garden will be measured through volunteer intake forms and tracking volunteer hours as well as tracking donation numbers and number of learning opportunities and attendees. This will give the project managers an excellent image of the success of the ideas and design that MoB created.