The online exhibition of the 2019 Design Pittsburgh Awards has an interesting building in its "unbuilt" section: a new five-story cooperative-living project on the current site of KBox at 214 S. Craig St. in Oakland. From AIA Pittsburgh:
We addressed the problem of displacement due to gentrification by designing an affordable Pittsburgh alternative to owning your own home: This project features a cooperative living arrangement in which potential residents purchase ownership shares in an organization that owns the entire property. Our renderings demonstrate that both the light filled residential units and the common areas have been carefully designed according to the WELL standard of “improving comfort, driving better choices, and generally enhancing, not compromising, health and wellness.” Our design makes an impact because we have designed just what Pittsburgh needs today: an affordable high density, multifunctional environment that is physically attractive.The client is Mike Wu of the Ramen Bar, Pink Box, and Rose Tea Cafe ownership, and the architect is Fisher ARCHitecture.
Years ago the plan for the site included a new, larger Pink Box in Oakland at 4527 Winthrop St., directly behind KBox, though eventually the Oakland address was removed from the logo.
