• A new kind of church, in a former warehouse

    Grace Midtown Church in Atlanta, Georgia, shows how underutilized industrial sites can be repurposed into community assets. Kronberg Urbanists + Architects won a merit award in the Block, Street, and Building category of CNU's 2021 Charter Awards.
    Grace Midtown Church is a growing, young, nontraditional church that has reimagined both its worship space and how the church relates physically to the city. An unremarkable former warehouse in an industrial area was converted into a 1,000-seat auditorium. A parking lot was transformed to a...Read more

  • A mosaic of active streets and public space

    A former cinema site becomes a haven for a diverse suburban population in Virginia.
    Mosaic District is a 31-acre, two million square-foot mixed-use development in Fairfax County, Virginia, on a former a multiplex cinema site. The project comprises nine city blocks, with urban streets and public spaces, recently profiled in the book Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia . The area...Read more

  • Suburban malls at the crossroads

    The reimagining of once-cherished malls has become a necessity for owners—not only to stay relevant and compete in the marketplace, but also to identify forward-thinking redevelopment strategies that bring additional viable uses and density.
    Over the last several years the retail landscape has changed dramatically—and potentially forever. With numerous store closings, bankruptcies, and changes in shopping habits, the malls we once flocked to in order to satisfy our shopping needs have, in many instances, become vacant relics...Read more

  • The state of the art of suburban retrofit

    Two retrofit experts have a new book that is an essential reference for transforming suburban landscapes.
    Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges , the latest book in a series by June Williamson and Ellen Dunham-Jones, is about creating real value from underutilized places. The volume focuses on automobile-oriented, conventional suburbs, which comprise about...Read more