WashU partners with Be Well Cafe & Market in Hyde Park for inaugural Summer Public Design Workshop
2025-03-12 • Caitlin Custer
The Sam Fox School’s Office for Socially Engaged Practice will partner with the nonprofit Be Well Café & Market in St. Louis’ Hyde Park neighborhood for the school’s inaugural Summer Public Design Workshop this May. The three-week long charrette challenges student participants to design a project in collaboration with and proposed by a community partner. Be Well was selected by a review committee from a competitive set of proposals submitted last fall.
Be Well was founded by Fatimah Muhammad, a 25-year resident of Hyde Park and founder and chair of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. Muhammad established a seasonal farmer’s market across from the café in 2020 and has been involved with raising funds to construct a permanent pavilion to house the market.
Nine students will participate in the hands-on design and prototyping of decorative metal screens that will surround the farmers market pavilion. Associate Professor Chandler Ahrens will act as the faculty lead on the project, joined by Gregory Cuddihee, the school’s project manager for public design projects. Max Bemberg, MArch ’11, of Bemberg Architecture is serving as the architect of record for the pavilion.
Muhammad previously collaborated with the school in 2021, when Jonathan Stitelman, senior lecturer, and Matthew Bernstine, director of the Office for Socially Engaged Practice, taught a studio related to the market. “Fatimah understands the value of showing up for her community and the pavilion is a statement of durable presence,” Stitelman said. “The project will provide a great opportunity for student learning in fabrication, design refinement, and community engagement.”
“I’m thrilled to collaborate with the Sam Fox School on this project and eager to see the creativity and vision the students bring to life,” Muhammad said. “By working hand in hand with the community, I have no doubt that their contributions will leave a meaningful and lasting impact on our neighborhood.”
The workshop and screen project are offered at no cost to Be Well through the Office for Socially Engaged Practice. Additional funding for the pavilion is provided by the Community Development Agency of St. Louis. The Metropolitan Sewer District’s Project Clear initiative has contributed to the project by creating a rain garden surrounding the pavilion.
Construction of the pavilion is expected to begin in late spring or early summer 2025.