Appalacian Futures Lab Collaboration with VCU on Community-Engagement Design Project in Sewanee, TN

Last fall, students in the Appalachian Futures Lab collaborated with students and faculty from Virginia Commonwealth University on a community-engaged design project in Sewanee, TN.  In partnership with the people of Sewanee's historic African American neighborhoods and supported by the University of the South’s Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation, the team developed conceptual designs for a new commemorative structure — a gathering place — to be located on the site of the former segregated Kennerly School in the St. Mark’s Community, which was built in 1949 and demolished in 2010.

The structure, known as St. Mark’s Grove, features places of memorialization, education, and gathering and is slated to begin construction in the next 18 months. Once complete, the memorial and surrounding landscape will resist the erasure of the historically Black community of Sewanee while serving as a tangible marker of their lives and contributions, both in the past and in the future.

The work – both the process and the outcomes – was designed to be immersive, collaborative, and innovative with an emphasis on being multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, and multi-demographic.  The project featured many components that expanded the traditional boundaries of architecture and design, including aspects of building design, landscape, commemoration, master planning, graphics + communications, and activity-based programming.  And though the work culminated last fall, SEWANEE PRAISES has played out over more than a year and a half, with nearly 50 students from VT and VCU across (5) different cohorts engaging directly with the community and contributing to the project in ways small and large.

Faculty Leaders: Kevin Jones (VT), Laura Battaglia (VCU), Dr. Woody Register (Sewanee)Last fall, students in the Appalachian Futures Lab collaborated with students and faculty from Virginia Commonwealth University on a community-engaged design project in Sewanee, TN.  In partnership with the people of Sewanee's historic African American neighborhoods and supported by the University of the South’s Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation, the team developed conceptual designs for a new commemorative structure — a gathering place — to be located on the site of the former segregated Kennerly School in the St. Mark’s Community, which was built in 1949 and demolished in 2010.

The structure, known as St. Mark’s Grove, features places of memorialization, education, and gathering and is slated to begin construction in the next 18 months. Once complete, the memorial and surrounding landscape will resist the erasure of the historically Black community of Sewanee while serving as a tangible marker of their lives and contributions, both in the past and in the future.

The work – both the process and the outcomes – was designed to be immersive, collaborative, and innovative with an emphasis on being multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, and multi-demographic.  The project featured many components that expanded the traditional boundaries of architecture and design, including aspects of building design, landscape, commemoration, master planning, graphics + communications, and activity-based programming.  And though the work culminated last fall, SEWANEE PRAISES has played out over more than a year and a half, with nearly 50 students from VT and VCU across (5) different cohorts engaging directly with the community and contributing to the project in ways small and large.

Faculty Leaders: Kevin Jones (VT), Laura Battaglia (VCU), Dr. Woody Register (Sewanee)