Orchard Street Brownfield Site Reimagined by RIT Architecture Students

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published March 26, 2015 and can be found here.

     By       Mike Governale

Last week we paid     a final visit    to the abandoned Sykes Datatronics building on     Orchard Street

. This week we take a look at recent work submitted by RIT Architecture students that reimagines this former industrial site as a new and robust community center...

   As explained by Mary Scipioni, the     brownfield site

on which the Sykes Datatronic building is located is a fascinating one.

"The COR has been conducting the remediation and has joined previously separate lots into a 3.9 acre site. It is located within a mile of High Falls and MCC's future Kodak campus, and much closer to Sahlen's Stadium and Frontier Field. An abandoned, elevated railway runs along the south edge of the site and crosses the old canal bed north of the soccer stadium.

   A topographic map of the bedrock was created by Lu Engineers, and shows beautiful glacial forms underneath what appears as a flat site on the surface. The PA points show the contamination "hot spot" and the MW are groundwater monitoring wells.

     Rendering by Lis Cavalcante

RIT Architecture grad students tackled this site for a project whose goal was to create a vibrant urban park and community center that would contribute to the health, safety, and welfare of the surrounding neighborhood. It would provide opportunities for active recreation and other types of enrichment that residents are not likely to have at home.

     Rendering by Candace Jiang

Evening entertainment including walk-in movies, illuminated courts, ice skating, etc. would be provided. Members of the community would feel valued.

     Rendering by Cibele Eller Rodrigues

The functional, restorative, and ornamental use of planting included a rooftop salad garden to be cultivated by the children during their summer vacation. Parents could hang out in the community center's cafe, located in the lobby along with a storytime corner.

     Rendering by Jim Fugate

A minimal amount of accessible and short-term parking is provided, as well as space dedicated to food trucks.

Brownfields greatly impact the quality and value of the surrounding properties. If their revitalization converts them into an amenity, brownfields can increase the value of surrounding real estate and become major catalysts for community development. I would then call them "yellowfields."

* * *

In a related story this week, state incentives for brownfield redevelopment are     set to expire

unless lawmakers can reach an agreement for the new state budget.    * * *