Warehouse Conversion

Team

Chester's Community Charitable Corporation
KSS Architects LLP

Context

Chester's Community Grocery Co-op serves the city of Chester, located just outside of Philadelphia in Delaware County, with a predominantly low-income population. Chester has lacked a supermarket or other fresh produce source for more than seventeen years. Responding to an obvious need, the co-op hopes to double its current member base, and improve the quality of nutrition in Chester.

Site

A former furniture store and warehouse—with 32,000 square feet of interior space—located at a key intersection in Chester's frayed but redeveloping central business district, flanked by two vacant lots.

Challenge

To create an identifiable new home for a community co-op that is integrated into the Chester City retail fabric and provides an engaging, sustainable grocery shopping experience.

Design

The team developed a design that allows for phased growth, giving the co-op adequate time to develop. The first phase utilizes only a portion of the first floor, with plans to expand to the full use of the first floor and then to ultimately incorporate the second floor.

In the proposed design, the co-op's retail floor promotes community interaction with low shelving that allows views across the retail floor, movable produce bins, and a cafe.

Ultimately, the center of the second floor is removed to create a mezzanine level with meeting and classroom space for health and nutrition programs and a view of the co-op space below. Large windows in the warehouse's south facade transform the co-op into a light-filled atrium space that opens onto a community garden and plaza