Capstone: Sallishah Ali

ToolShare: An Exploration of a Mobile Building Stewardship Program for the Neighborhood of Strawberry Mansion

The question posed for this Capstone Studio was how a preservation strategy can be used as a catalyst for community self-determination for the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood in Philadelphia. During our community conversations, our studio learned about the aging population running into obstacles when making home repairs. We learned that due to developers eyeing Strawberry Mansion, managing deferred maintenance is one of the most impactful things that can be done for residents to keep their homes and thrive in their community. My interest in historic building technology and pathways that help uphold building craftsmanship led me to ask: What would stewardship, “on wheels,” look like?

The program I developed, ToolShare, is a proposed mobile stewardship program that can help alleviate the burden of residents having to make “band-aid” repairs continuously. The ToolShare team comprises local handypersons and building trade students, who pack up the necessary construction equipment into the ToolTruck. The team then makes its way to the doorsteps of residents in need, offering guidance during the assessment and planning phases, in addition to completing the work items. The goal of ToolShare is to make both the physical and awareness tools for building maintenance accessible to the residents of Strawberry Mansion, while encouraging us all to take part in the stewardship of our shared built environment.

For this capstone project, I created a storyboard for a public-facing commercial that outlines the following:

• The local vocational training institutions ToolShare would enter a partnership with.
•  Examples of the types of services provided by ToolShare.
• And lastly, a segment outlining the steps that ToolShare would take once you’ve reached out regarding a problem.

Please enjoy the following selected panels from the storyboard of the commercial.