If you’ve wondered how some of the Community Design Collaborative’s proposals, which are always only concepts and guiding points, become a reality, the 2nd Green School Makeover Competition, a nationwide contest to transform a school with an innovative green project, is one example.

The Henry. C Lea Elementary School at 47th & Locust in West Philly was selected as one of ten finalists to receive a $75K grant and $5K Office Depot award from Global Green USA. This winter we wrote about a design charrette hosted by the Collaborative aimed at generating ideas from design professionals and neighbors about how to transform the Lea School blacktop into a viable greenspace and stormwater management site.

Lea school

Schoolyard

Ideas included creating a Secret Garden feel in the schoolyard, linking nearby neighborhood gardens with classroom curriculum, a new basketball court, more shading and gardening, as well as raised planters. A report, created by the team of professionals who volunteered their time, concluded that stormwater management, outdoor classrooms, and an outdoor play space were key dynamics to the process. The master plan from that charrette is available here.

Site place with zones for improvement

A greened Lea schoolyard in the future

We’re glad to see that this innovative effort from the Collaborative could realistically come to fruition. Other examples of the Design Collaborative’s work include an InFill Philadelphia challenge which explored the intersection of 31st & Girard a few years before a Bottom Dollar supermarket opened last fall. While the Bottom Dollar wasn’t in the plan, the Collaborative’s work provided early ideas about the site. So, we wonder if there are any grants out there that might make this Collaborative plan to transform an industrial wasteland at 8th & Dauphin into a model of green infrastructure, from this year’s Soak It Up! Challenge. If any of y’all have ideas about how to get these plans or others funded, speak up. Into the microphone, please.

–Lou Mancinelli