Construction of a north St. Louis farmers market and pavilion is moving forward, thanks in part to a new Washington University program where students design structures for local organizations.
Be Well Cafe and Market will open in the Hyde Park neighborhood later this summer after holding weekly pop-up events. The farmers market pavilion will be surrounded by several metal screens.
The creation of the screens is part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Summer Public Design Workshop. A cohort of 10 students designed the concept after working with Fatimah Muhammad, executive director of Be Well Cafe and Market.
“The market will now be for artisans, the artists, the jewelry makers,” Muhammad said. “It's still about being well and expanding that and adding to the grocery market and the café.”
The pavilion is the latest update for the market. Muhammad purchased the land from the Land Reutilization Authority, the city’s land bank, years ago. Last year, the St. Louis Development Corporation provided the cafe and market with about $354,500 in grant funding via its Economic Justice Accelerator program.
Workshop leaders chose the farmers market from six projects. The school plans to continue the initiative over the next three years, said Matt Bernstine, Sam Fox School's Office for Socially Engaged Practice director.
The program allows students to collaborate with one another while prioritizing a community need, Sam Fox associate professor Chandler Ahrens said.
“They listen more closely and really try and understand what it is [Muhammad] is saying, and then try to figure out how to translate that into design,” Ahrens said. “It's one thing to propose something, build it in a model or on the computer. It's another to try and build it at full scale, to understand all the complexities of fabrication.”
Several students will complete the construction drawings for the panels of the pavilion, project manager Gregory Cuddihee said.
“At that point, we will turn over the construction drawings for all of the panels to the subcontractor or the metal fabricator,” Cuddihee said. “They will simply fabricate the rest of the panels from the drawings that the students have done.”
Sam Fox students will present the final prototype Friday that the cohort spent the past three weeks designing. Muhammad is working with architect Max Bemberg and will work with a contractor who will use the prototype to construct the other panels.
Muhammad said the input from students has helped her imagine a market that attracts younger people.
“I wanted the space to attract the younger folks that could be anywhere from 25 to 55,” Muhammad said. “They're bringing that kind of energy, they're bringing those kinds of ideas.”
