Reclaiming the Neighborhood: Housing as More than Housing for the Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor of Baltimore, MD.

Abstract

The project, Reclaiming the Neighborhood is an exploration of how development strategies and architecture can contribute to making a socially, culturally and economically equitable community. The project originated as a criticism of recent housing developments along the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor of Baltimore, MD. The new houses developed by erasing the original building texture along Pennsylvania Avenue do not support the needs of the community. In this thesis, I argue that, while housing is a crucial component needed for the revitalization of this historic district of Baltimore, housing should be developed in a manner that promotes social, cultural and economic empowerment of the residents. Reclaiming the Neighborhood proposes a spatial, typological and an economic strategy to achieve this goal.