Reverend Leon H. Sullivan Community Impact Center

Adaptive Reuse of Zion Baptist Church’s Annex on North Broad Street in Philadelphia.

Studio 6mm has been working with Zion Baptist Church, Called to Serve CDC, and Mosaic Development Partners to imagine a new future for a currently vacant building on the north east corner of Broad and Venango Streets in North Philadelphia. The project intends to bring a variety of partner organizations together offering services to support healthy minds, bodies, souls, and communities within the neighborhood.

The project seeks to reimagine a building that began its life in the 1920’s as a church, became a community hub/center in the 1960s, was used again as a church in the 1970’s, and has most recently sat vacant since the early 2000’s. With a variety of programs that include an E-Sports entertainment venue, a conference center, a cafe with commercial kitchen, art education/art therapy spaces, and office spaces for Temple University, the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Community Impact Center will celebrate the legacy of Sullivan’s work in this community and will breathe new life back into this former sacred space that was once a cornerstone of the community.

The project is currently in the design phase and is scheduled for construction in 2023. This project has been recently featured on WHYY’s Plan Philly, Hidden City, in the Philly Tribune, and by AIA Philadelphia.

AWARDS:

2022 Silver Medal, Unbuilt. AIA Philadelphia.

2020 Paul Sehnert Community Design Award, AIA Philadelphia. Infill Philadelphia: Sacred Spaces Civic Places, with the Community Design Collaborative and Partners for Sacred Places.

2019 Grand Jury Award Winner, The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. Infill Philadelphia: Sacred Spaces Civic Places, with the Community Design Collaborative and Partners for Sacred Places.