Student's Present "Community Educational Hub" Projects to Albemarle Cooperative Extension Service

On Monday, May 5th, students in Assistant Professor Gonzalo Munoz-Vera’s lab presented their ‘Community Educational Hub’ projects for the Virginia Tech/ Virginia Cooperative Extension - Albemarle Cooperative Extension Service. The latter contacted us through the CDAC requesting design proposals for their long-awaited and necessary complex.

The selected project site was the Darden Towe Park in Charlottesville, VA, which the lab visited in February, after meeting with members of the VT-VCE. Students had to consider a building (or a series of) responding to a program that included educational spaces for 4-H Youth Development, Master Gardeners, Agriculture, Master Naturalists, SNAP-Ed, Family and Consumer Science, along with their respective administrative and gathering spaces. The Darden Towe Park allowed students to incorporate other facilities such as a greenhouse, a teaching barn, and a commercial kitchen.

On the day of the final pinup, two members of the VT-VCE (Sara Brown and Carrie Swanson), sat in on the presentation along with the participation of Profs Kathryn Clarke Albright, Marisa Ferrara, and Christopher Pritchett as guest critics. Students’ proposals will significantly help this Cooperative move forward and eventually make this project a reality.