This work emerged from a Historic Preservation Capstone Studio which ran in the Spring of 2025.
The North Philadelphia neighborhood of Strawberry Mansion—rich in history, social networks, and built and natural amenities—has long been jeopardized by disinvestment, resulting in deteriorating historic building stock, elevated levels of poverty, and disconnection from development happening in the city’s central core. Today, the neighborhood is facing a new threat to its historical and cultural identities, inequitable development, and displacement caused by gentrification.
During the 2025 Spring Term, the Capstone Studio was convened to consider the broader needs of the Strawberry Mansion community with a focus on a single neighborhood block—2900 Diamond Street. The block is bisected by a commercial corridor—Ridge Avenue—and includes historic buildings, vacant lots, and an important heritage site—the Henry Ossawa Tanner House. Students were encouraged to study the daily life of the site, learning from the lived experience of community members (past and present) to develop recommendations for incorporating aspects of historic and contemporary cultural significance into site adaptation, management, and care. The studio enabled students to work on pressing design issues of their choosing by applying theory and methodologies gained through coursework to real design problems in the field. Emergent themes included, but were not limited to, commercial corridor redevelopment, recreation opportunities, public health, job training resources, new models of urban infill, aging in place, and innovative affordable housing models.
The refinement of these themes was aided by the studio’s central design requirement: an architectural model of the study area featured in this exhibition. This 3/32" scale physical model was designed and built collaboratively by students from architecture, city planning, and historic preservation. Preservation students used rectified photographs to add texture and visual context, avoiding a sterile “architectural object” and instead creating a living, layered representation of the neighborhood. Measuring approximately 4x4 feet and split into two portable sections, the model was designed for mobility and interaction. An acrylic surface allowed community members to write directly onto it, sharing their visions and priorities for the future of Strawberry Mansion. Lightly glued building forms enabled students to test different interventions, fostering an iterative and participatory design process. This model reflects the studio’s commitment to engaging with residents, understanding the neighborhood’s complex history, and envisioning futures that honor cultural identity while addressing urgent needs. Beyond a design artifact, it functioned as a platform for dialogue—inviting new forms of care, stewardship, and collaboration in imagining the next chapter for Strawberry Mansion.
Amy Alexis Gonzalez (MSD-HP'25) won the Anthony Nicholas Brady Garvan Award for an Outstanding Thesis/Capstone for her studio project, "The People's Mansion, Volume 3."
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