In 2014, the Housing Authority of Kansas City obtained a federal grant to replace the 134 unit Chouteau Court Public Housing Project — a dilapidated series of structures existing at the heart a high-crime and low-hope neighborhood. As part of the Paseo Gateway Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan, Pendleton ArtsBlock was envisioned as one of 5 new decentralized construction projects to replace the units that were demolished. The 41,000 sf, 38 unit project reconsiders the concept of replacement housing and neighborhood catalyzation by proactively including artists in the tenant mix.
Responding to the scale and massing of the surrounding neighborhood, the Design Team raised a three story masonry structure over a more transparent ground level of community and artist-occupied spaces designed to promote pedestrian interaction.
By sparking new life with multiple destinations on an important but under-performing street, ArtsBlock rethinks how a mixed use typology with artists as catalysts can break a decades-old cycle of poverty.
AIA Kansas City, Honor Award
