ELP Class Project | Playground at CityWalk @ Akard

 

Our Emerging Leaders Class project involves designing and producing the construction documents for a future playground at CityWalk @ Akard.  We are also fundraising for the playground and will be coordinating its construction.

CityWalk @ Akard (CityWalk), which opened in 2010, is a mixed-use building at 511 North Akard in downtown Dallas that includes 206 residential units.  200 units are affordable housing units, and 50 of those units are dedicated as housing for the formerly homeless.  CitySquare (previously known as Central Dallas Ministries) was the organization that formed City Walk’s nonprofit developer, the CDCDC (Central Dallas Community Development Corporation).  CitySquare offices inside the building and provides resources onsite to the residents of the building.  The 50 units which are set aside for the formerly homeless provide homes with privacy and dignity for those who previously did not have any place to call home (except perhaps a shelter), and the onsite services provided by CitySquare help to give them a second chance to reintegrate back into society. 

Particularly since 142 of the 206 units in the building are small efficiency units, the CDCDC did not anticipate having many children as residents.  However there are now 38 children, many of them quite young, living in the building with no public playground nearby.  There is no open space onsite to locate a playground, but the CDCDC and CityWalk management would like for a play area to be located at the building’s old loading dock area, which currently does not have a programming function.  The space is a long and narrow area, enclosed on three sides, which will need to be built up in platforms (with ADA access incorporated) due to the 4’ drop down from the door that leads out to the space.  The awkward nature of the space has so far prohibited CityWalk from being able to receive donations from nonprofit organizations that provide more standardized playgrounds.  The CDCDC and CityWalk Community Life Team, which is made up of staff and volunteers at CityWalk, is excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the AIA Dallas Emerging Leaders Program Class of 2012 for the design, fundraising, and construction of the new play area.  They want the play area to be a unique space which will give the Community Life Team the chance to expand their support programs for the children residing at CityWalk.     

As an adaptive reuse in downtown Dallas with affordable housing, CityWalk @ Akard is a sustainable project both in an environmental context and a social context.  In addition to designing, fundraising for, and coordinating the construction of the children’s play area, we have the opportunity to advocate for those who are homeless and those who are transitioning out of homelessness.  We are optimistic about the potential of our public relations efforts to raise public awareness of CityWalk and as well as awareness to solutions for ending homelessness.