Southwood Mobile Home Park, located five miles south of Charlottesville, is a community of 341 mobile homes and 1,500 residents on 120 acres. Primarily Spanish-speaking residents, the community has the largest concentration of poverty in Albemarle County.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville took over ownership of the property and implemented a national model, community-based redevelopment process at Southwood. Through the process of physical redevelopment, Southwood will be transformed into a sustainable, mixed-income, mixed-use village without resident displacement.  Central to the process at Southwood was authentic and intensive engagement with residents to provide them with the necessary information to make intelligent decisions about the future of their community. This resident-driven design process on a village-by-village level, engaged each new cohort of resident leaders to support them in the design of their own neighborhood. The housing types were market-rate single-family homes and duplexes, and a range of affordable housing types across the economic spectrum that included condos, duplexes, townhomes, and apartments.

Waterstreet Studio actively participated in all the community engagement work sessions, donated time in clearing trails and site education, participated in field trips to help residents understand the different design opportunities, and continues to work with the residents to help them design their own community.

CLIENT/PROJECT TEAM:
Habitat for Humanity
BRW Architects - Architecture
Timmons Group - Civil Engineer

LOCATION:
Charlottesville, VA

RENDERINGS:
BRW Architects
Waterstreet Studio