Architecture Apprentices Propose Plans for Homestead Lot

“The Apprenticeship Program is very rich in knowledge, learning, and experience. It really gives you a good look into the field and how it integrates in society.”
––High School Participant, Fall 2014

Eighteen high school students completed PHLF’s Architectural Apprenticeship on December 11, 2014, and presented their plans for the vacant lot at 307-09 East Eighth Avenue, Homestead. The five-session course, sponsored by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, is designed to help high school students decide if they want to study architecture in college/university.

Below is a gallery of photographs of some of the student designs for the vacant lot. They envisioned restaurants, art galleries, a video-game house, coffee shop and yoga studio with a rooftop garden, music hall, apartments, multi-purpose workspace, counseling center and therapy office, frozen yogurt shop and Kabob House, Juice Bar and outdoor garden, pottery studio and cafe, and a music and comic book store, among other concepts.

“After spending hours developing their design ideas based on feedback from CMU architecture students and professional architects, the high school students spoke convincingly about their design ideas. They came up with sustainable, mixed-use concepts that would benefit the community,” said Executive Director Louise Sturgess. “We were all impressed with their ability to convey their design ideas through plans, sections, elevations, and perspective drawings.”

Patrick Shattuck of the Mon Valley Initiative and Preservationist Kelley Stroup critiqued the final designs, along with James Washabaugh of Michael Baker, Inc., who co-taught the class with Louise.