This studio focused on the industrial heritage and economic revitalization of the town of Catasauqua in the Lehigh Valley, located 65 miles northwest of Philadelphia. An important landscape in the Industrial Revolution, the Lehigh Valley is now growing again with new manufacturing and warehousing industries related e-commerce. Within this context, the studio sought to leverage the region’s built heritage to support a more sustainable, equitable future. Flooding and environmental risks associated with past and present industrialization are also key concerns for the area.
Students worked to understand the web of interlocking values, to inform a preservation philosophy, celebrating diverse histories and reactivating historic industrial spaces as community centers, tourist destinations, and new opportunities for economic growth.
Students' individual projects focused on site development, landscape art and interpretation, and policy and community engagement:
- Monique Robinson | Sensitive Design for Sustainable Futures: Crane Iron Works
- Mojtaba Saffarian | Adaptive Reuse: Plan for the Crane Iron Works as a Visitor Center
- Jingyi Luo | Recycle Industrial Waste to Lead Historic Walking Tours
- Shae Spahle | Art and History on the Delaware and Lehigh Trail
- Olivia Brogan | Art that Comments on Climate Issues: Art Installation that Interprets Heritage and Environmental Impact
- Meagan Kearney | Catasauqua General Store: A Phased Adaptive Reuse Project
- Anusha Khansaheb | Re-Energizing Front Street: Creating Design Framework for Catasauqua’s Main Hub