A shining example of community architecture at its finest, Mel Price and Thom White’s Work Program Architects (WPA) in Norfolk, Va., is enmeshed in all sorts of local planning and design endeavors.
From OpenNorfolk to the Perry Glass studio at the Chrysler Museum of Art to Elizabeth River Project's Ryan Resilience Lab, this community-focused firm is proactively investing in building up this seaport city.
“We view the community as a major stakeholder in the work we do. They might not be the ones calling for a proposal, but they will be impacted by the environments we help build,” explains Price. “For a project to be successful, those impacts need to be taken into account, which means that those people need to be listened to.”
Holding a long-term urban design contract with the city, WPA has had the opportunity to work on many civic projects, build relationships and gain lots of experience delivering successful community projects.
For example, during the pandemic, the architects were entrusted to distribute $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for OpenNorfolk to develop road diets, outdoor dining and public parks to help keep the city’s culture and economy going.
“I personally talked with over 300 small business owners in the city to determine how we could use the funds we had to help them. It connected us to the communities here like nothing else could,” she recalls.
For the Ryan Resilience Lab, WPA recently designed a facility for the Elizabeth River Project to support its efforts in cleaning up one of the nation's most contaminated urban waterways, creating coastal resilience, and promoting education and sustainable design.
Significantly vulnerable to rising sea levels, the lab was built in a floodplain, designed and engineered to withstand flooding.
WPA is “about deepening the soul of the community,” said Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, executive director of the Elizabeth River Project, in an interview with the Virginian-Pilot. “They try to think about the good of Norfolk, the region and the planet, and where they can lend their ability to sketch a better future and help people realize their sketch.”
Price was recently the recipient of a Distinguished Achievement award from AIA Virginia, honored for her role in building up a practice to help secure Norfolk’s future.
Another noteworthy project is Assembly, the adaptive reuse of a century-old department store into an office hub where creatives and startups can share resources, common spaces and amenities. So committed to the vibe which was created in this new space, WPA moved its offices into the building.
Overall, WPA’s focuses on projects which incorporate aspects of social, economic and coastal resilience. In fact, the group won’t accept a project unless it checks at least two of these boxes.