Public Interest Design - Brownsville Workshop

Mata+Garcia Architects own Hector Rene Garcia attended this workshop on architectural firms taking part in community engagement, development and design. A growing sector in the field of architecture known as Public Interest Design is documented in exhibits such as MoMA’s Small Scale, Big Change and publications like Design Like You Give Damn. Unlike traditional practice, the projects in this field are an area of great potential for the future of our profession. The Public Interest Design Institute®  provided training to architecture and other design professionals in public interest design with in-depth study over two days, at Market Square in Brownsville, Texas, on methods of how design can address the critical issues faced by communities. Learning skills to become pro-actively engaged in community-based design through fee-based projects were discussed as a way to enhance existing design practices.

The workshop's curriculum was based on the Social Economic Environmental Design® (SEED) metric, a set of standards that outline the process and principles of this approach to design. (Mata+Garcia Architects is a member of SEED.) SEED goes beyond green design with a “triple bottom line” approach that includes the social and economic as well as the environmental. The SEED process takes a holistic and creative approach to design driven by community needs. (A core concept of Mata+Garcia's principles.) This process provides a step-by-step aid for those who want to undertake public interest design. Learning objectives addressed: 1. Finding new clients and public interest design projects 2. Learning about new fee sources and structures. 3. Using a step-by-step process of working with a community as a design partner. 4. Leveraging other partners and assets to address project challenged. 5. Maximizing a project’s positive impact on a community. 6. Moving beyond LEED to measure the social, economic, and environmental impact on communities. 7. Understanding public interest design and how is it re-shaping the design professions.

The sessions were led by Bryan Bell, Founder of Design Corps, Founder of the Public Interest Design Institute, and a Co-founder of SEED along with the staff of BC Workshop, Brownsville. Keynote speaker Maurice Cox, of Tulane University spoke about how Tulane had to reinvent itself after Hurricane Katrina, and how the university incorporated active citizen participation into the design process while achieving the highest quality of design excellence.  Architecture students from Texas Southmost College and Monterrey Tech kept the discussions lively.  

Texas Southmost College - Architecture Department - Student Design Work on Affordable Housing

Our own Chris Collins, AIA and Hector Rene Garcia, Architect/Partner took part in a design review session for the students of Murad Abusalim, Ph.D., at Texas Southmost College in Brownsville. Their project was single family affordable housing. Other jurors included:  Jesse Miller of BCWorkshop; Oscar Atkinson of the Brownsville Housing Authority; John Pearcy of Megamorphosis Architects; Mick Mitchell Bennet of the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville (CDCB); Ramiro Gonzalez of the City of Brownsville Planning Department and Erick Darbo Diaz of Orange Made Architects.

Juan Ramon Cantu (left), Wilbert Lopez (second from right) and Jesus Hernandez (right) present their class research on affordable housing and the sites selected for their projects. 

Jesus Hernandez present his design, a compact plan with a wrap-around porch, highlighted by the use of clearstory windows and exposed structural elements.

Juan Ramon Cantu's concept had a functional floor plan with his main emphasis on the manipulation of the angles and various orientations of the roof 

 Oscar Olvera divided the public and private areas of his house into pods that opened up to patio areas, a modular plan that can be adapted into various layouts.

Pedro Rodriguez based his concept on an H-Plan that separated public and private areas.

Armando Sosa's concept was based on a C-Plan; all rooms having access to a central courtyard.  Clerestory windows and sliding glass doors deliver light to the interior.

Jose Gonzalez designed a compact plan that featured two deck areas, one public, one private.  The main feature was a clerestory window that would bring natural lighting into the interior of the house.

Diana Melissa Andrade presented a design that will dictate a different lifestyle for the inhabitants of the house.  The public areas (living, dining, kitchen) have their own unit while the private spaces (bedrooms and bathrooms) are in a separate unit.  The two units are joined by porches.  Clerestory windows bring daylight deep into the interior spaces.

Wilbert Lopez provided conceptual sketches and models of his design.

An excellent presentation by the students of Texas Southmost College - Architecture Program.  These second year students (first year design studio) are on track to transfer at the end of their second year to Texas Tech University in Lubbock.  Continued success to all!

Manuel Benavidez Jr. Housing Complex

12.27.12  article in The Monitor regarding Mata-Garcia Architects recent project for the Housing Authority of Starr County.           
Starr County Housing Authority Dedicates New Federally Funded Complex             

RIO GRANDE CITY — Photographs of 4-foot-high waters flooding a neighborhood line the hallway of the new headquarters for the Housing Authority of Starr County in Rio Grande City. The pictures of a July 2007 downpour and the subsequent flash flood that ruined much of the Housing Authority's complex of apartments on Circle Drive are reminders of a trying time that ultimately led to a happy ending. “It dumped about 22 inches of rain within a four-hour period,” said Elmo Moreno, the executive director of the Housing Authority. “The people lost everything. We lost everything.”

The flash flood is what did the complex in. The flood waters were strong enough to move refrigerators and stoves from one side of an apartment to the other. The city condemned the 34-unit housing complex and the residents were left to find somewhere else to live. The silver lining came about a year later. After much prodding from the Housing Authority of Starr County, the federal government promised $5.2 million to build a new complex. Before the flood, the Housing Authority had been trying for years to get money to build better housing because the units flooded every year. “It was an uphill battle; we got the same thing every time: ‘no money, no money, no money,’” Moreno said.

Earlier this month, the Housing Authority had the official dedication ceremony for the 34-unit, gated, 10-acre complex, naming it after someone who had fought the “uphill battle” until funding was secured. Manuel Benavidez Jr., the former president of the board of the Housing Authority, “wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Moreno said. Even when he was going through chemotherapy treatments, Benavidez would travel to San Antonio to meet with representatives from U.S. Housing and Urban Development. “He was never letting up, and in the end, it paid off,” Moreno said.

Benavidez lost his battle with cancer in 2009, but his legacy will live on in the Manuel Benavidez Jr. Housing Complex on Charco Blanco Road. “I think our family is always amazed at the kind of gratitude the community has shown for his efforts, but more importantly we're just really happy (that) things he saw as ways to help the community have become a reality,” said Benavidez’s daughter, Rose Benavidez, who is now on the Housing Authority board and runs the Starr County Industrial Foundation.

Residents in the complex have to meet financial requirements to live there and pay rent on a sliding scale based on income, Moreno said. The apartments include hook-ups for driers and washers and are more spacious than the ones at the previous complex. More than 200 people applied to live in the 34 units. Residents moved into the new apartments in April.

Annais Gonzalez, a technician at a dialysis clinic, said the apartment allowed her to move out of her mother’s house after a divorce. She lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her 5-year-old daughter. “It’s awesome,” she said of the complex. “It’s perfect, very private. Everyone is super friendly around.” The complex is gated and security also roams the property, Moreno said. “We feel very safe, which is great,” Gonzalez said. Moreno said residents express pride in the community, many by decorating the inside and outside of the building and also participating in neighborhood events. Jesus Mireles has covered the walls of his one-bedroom apartment with photos of his children and grandchildren. Mireles, who is on disability and cannot work, said his family enjoys visiting on the weekends. “It’s a very nice place,” he said.

Gail Burkhardt covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at gburkhardt@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4462.

Starr County Housing Authority Dedication

A moving ceremony today at the dedication of the Starr County Housing Authority's - Manuel Benavidez, Jr. Housing Complex in Rio Grande City. Tributes to the visionary Benavidez were given by local, state and national dignitaries. Mata-Garcia Architects was honored to have been a part of this important and exciting project.

A former migrant farm worker, Manuel Benavidez, Jr. (1952 - 2009) was driven by his personal trials and experiences to improve the quality of life for his community by providing access to higher education and enhancing local services. Benavidez graduated from Rio Grande City High School and then went on to get a bachelor's degree in bilingual education from Pan American University in 1986. After beginning his career as and educator Benavidez was named Transportation Director for RGCCISD in 1994 and maintained that position for the rest of his professional life.

Benavidez began his advocacy of education by facilitating presentations and taking an active leadership role in local, state and national Migrant Council Conferences. In 1993 Texas Governor Ann Richards appointed him as a founding member of South Texas Community College (now South Texas College) Board of Trustees to represent Starr County. He was elected in May 2000 and re-elected to this position in May of 2006.

Two of Benavidez' visions have become a reality, bringing a state-of-the-art rural technology center for the residents of Starr County and the construction of a new public housing complex - both structures that now bear his name.

Benavidez had a long tenure as an active participant in local and state public education and community service. He served on the board of Workforce Solutions, as President of the Association of Texas Professional Educators in Rio Grande City, as Area V Director for the Texas Association of Pupil Transportation, as President for the South Texas Association for Pupil Transportation and as Board Chair of the Starr County Housing Authority. He also served as the past Chair of the Starr County Democratic Party.  Most importantly, Benavidez was a loving husband, caring father and indulging grandfather.

Speaking at the ceremony were: Rose Benavidez, M.P.A. (daughter), President of the Starr County Industrial Foundation; Hon. Eloy Vera, Starr County Judge; Rodolfo C. Salinas, Deacon - Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Escobares, Texas; Juan Garcia, Board Chair of the Housing Authority of Starr County; Hon. Ruben Villarreal, Mayor of Rio Grande City; David G. Pohler, Public Housing Division Director for Housing and Urban Development, San Antonio, Texas; and a representative of Hon. Henry Cuellar, U.S. Congressman.

Brownsville Quad-Plex

Mata Garcia Architects has completed perliminary design work for a quad-plex apartment development in Brownsville, Texas. The $500,000 project is scheduled for construction beginning in August of 2012.