Community Bookstore
A Place for Gathering and Reflection
The Plaza Midwood neighborhood in Charlotte, NC is a lively mixed use area. A community bookstore is proposed as both a gathering space as well as a place for reflection. The first floor consists of areas that display the books, a reading zone, and a partially enclosed children's reading room. An art gallery is located on the second floor that is cantilevered over the front entrance. Light wells that puncture the ceiling and onto exterior open space below utilize natural light to create an engaging display of lights and shadows.
Middleton Cultural Center
In Defiance of History
Set in the midst of an antebellum plantation, a new multicultural center is created to not ignore the history of the site but to instead celebrate all of those who have lived here. The history of the people who were enslaved are therefore brought to the forefront and placed on the axis of the previous plantation main house: confronting the past with a bright future.
