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The McGregor Foundation Sponsoring a Public Design Competition to Create Affordable Senior Housing in Cleveland

Posted on: Thursday, 16 April 2009, 09:39 CDT

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The McGregor Foundation, this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday -- April 17, 18, and 19 -- will stage a unique public competition at its East Cleveland campus for architects to design affordable, multi-family senior housing on four sites in three Cleveland neighborhoods around University Circle.

"This Greater Circle Seniors Design Charrette should create excitement about the design possibilities in housing for low-income seniors," says R. Robertson Hilton, president and chief executive officer of The McGregor Foundation, which funds programs for vulnerable seniors. "It will also, hopefully, launch buildable projects."

The Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (MSASS) of Case Western Reserve University and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Cleveland Chapter, are co-sponsors of this unique event, which is attracting nine architectural teams from Cleveland and one from Pittsburgh.

McGregor chose the vacant sites to complement efforts of the Cleveland Foundation to improve housing in neighborhoods surrounding University Circle. The identity of the sites will remain confidential, except to the residents, until just before the competition begins.

On Thursday, teams will visit their randomly-assigned site and meet with residents, who are encouraged to participate in the process.

Throughout Friday and Saturday, the teams will develop their designs in McGregor's spacious Community Room. The public is invited to circulate among the architects to observe their work in progress.

On Saturday evening, each team will present its final design to the judges. The judges will then select the winners for an awards presentation at a closing brunch on Sunday for participants. Awards for "best for each site" and "best in show" will recognize innovation in sustainability, feasibility, engagement with the neighborhood, and enabling aging in place.

Hilton cites a recent survey revealing that, within a seven-mile radius of McGregor's East Cleveland campus, there are 21,000 senior households (residents 55 and older) earning $18,000 or less annually. Yet, there are only 8,200 affordable housing units for seniors in this area.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the architectural profession to give back to the community," says Mary Helen Hammer, executive director of the Cleveland Chapter of the AIA. "Moreover, it will help create awareness that great design is critical at all levels."

The judges are Lillian A. Kuri, Program Director for Architecture, Urban Design and Sustainable Development, The Cleveland Foundation; Robert Jenkins, Director of the Green House Project for National Coop Bank Capital Impact in Washington, D.C.; Margaret P. Calkins, Ph.D., Chair of the Board, IDEAS Institute; Bruce D. Murphy, Executive Vice President of KeyBank N.A. and President of Community Development Banking; and Sharon Milligan, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Director, Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, at MSASS.

The McGregor Foundation is part of the McGregor Group, which also operates The A.M. McGregor Home -- 52 affordable independent and assisted living units -- on 32 acres in East Cleveland. In addition, the McGregor Group operates the adjacent Gardens, a private-room nursing home, whose 148 residents come primarily from Cleveland's inner-city and inner-ring suburbs.

The McGregor Group traces its roots to 1877 with early support from Standard Oil Company founders. Since its founding in 2002, the McGregor Foundation has distributed in excess of $6.5 million to more than 200 programs supporting seniors in need, primarily in Greater Cleveland.

SOURCE The McGregor Foundation

Source: PR Newswire

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