PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (October 22, 2020) – Architecture students at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) delivered smart design concepts for a community garden in Independence Heights to keep it flourishing for years to come. As part of Jessica Ward’s studio class, “Living Lab for Climate Justice,” the students met with community members to understand future needs for the garden. They used their skills to develop smart design concepts to increase sustainability and engagement.
“My students have been working in Independence Heights and Houston, and with various residents, small business owners, community leaders, and industry professionals as part of a service-learning curriculum, which provides real-world experience for the students and practical design services and solutions for the community,” said Ward, an assistant professor of architecture. “In 1910, Independence Heights was the first African American city in Texas. It is currently experiencing gentrification, which has been exacerbated throughout the years by climate and environmental justice issues.”
Ward’s students worked with Yvette Leno, a resident who runs Beauty’s Community Garden, a community garden named after her grandmother. After Leno’s original home built in 1926 burned down, she turned the property into a community garden to provide healthy options for residents and seniors, teach school children about gardening, and create activities and programming for the community.
“The property laid dormant for several years while I sought for guidance on its best use,” Leno said. “I saw the block that I was raised in drastically deteriorate and become a food desert. Through community gardening, I found myself with the dual opportunity of bringing a meaningful legacy to our family homestead, while using our land to uplift the community we love so dearly.”
PVAMU architecture students met in the garden and conducted a design vision meeting with the community garden board, garden volunteers, and garden members of all ages.
“Beauty’s Community Garden considers our offering of fresh garden produce to our neighbors a delightful privilege,” Leno said. “We are glad to be a part of the answer for providing a source to obtain healthy food choices for families and increase the consumption of whole foods that help strengthen the body against disease.”
Since the garden operates on donations and volunteers, the design services the students provided were greatly impactful. After listening to feedback and the needs for the garden, students presented several sustainability-focused designs before one was chosen by the board of directors.
“The students were refreshing and took on the redesign project with vigor and enthusiasm,” Leno said. “They listened and provided valuable information regarding a breakdown of how much energy we would use to run certain small kitchen appliances using solar energy. The students also provided several garden layout renderings considering plant needs for sunlight. They were very conscientious and shared genuine interest in getting the job done right.”
The design supports the daily activities and programming at the garden by providing additional garden seating, shaded areas for children and volunteers, a walking path for accessibility, an optimum garden bed layout, a welcome area, a washing station, and solar panels for lighting and a speaker system. The garden has received several generous monetary and in-kind donations to build the design in phases.
“Currently in Phase I, we have moved our compost bins to the suggested area and have started to prep the area where we will install the historical brick walkway where visitors will sit to learn gardening techniques in a class setting,” Leno said. “We are hopeful that as we continue building the design that it will allow us to have more successful engagement for our gardening classes, cooking demos, and community events at the garden.”
Ward says the students are excited to contribute to a community project.
“The students were activated by working in the community and proud to connect the university back to a neighborhood that has many original PVAMU graduates,” she said.
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By Kendall Hebert