Week 1

After settling into our apartments in Over-the-Rhine, the place we will now call home for the next few months, putting on our dress clothes and trekking through the inches of snow falling after a mishap with the metro, our first week at CR architecture + design began.  Upon brushing the snowy ice out of our hair, we got a short tour of the office and picked out our desks.  That’s right—we all got our own desk in the office… and not a small one either! J  All around our workspace on the 23^rd floor at the corner of Vine and 6^th Streets downtown was a sea of white so thick you couldn’t make out the cityscape.  As the week proceeded on, the view of the city from our desks cleared and the sun even managed to peek through the windows by Friday morning. 

 On our first Friday of working we took a break from the office and went to look at CR’s very own church re-use project just across the river—Corpus Christi Apartments – Newport, KY.  This project was part of a larger Hope VI urban revitalization project for affordable housing in a historic district.  CR worked to keep the exterior and choir loft of this former church and school intact in its original forms while converting the rest of the interior into 20 units of one-bedroom townhouses for senior living.  The spaces created were very impressive, as well as the condition of the 1902 building itself.  Unfortunately, our historic church building is not in as good of shape…  The project was a source for good inspiration and initial excitement about our own project on this side of the river, nevertheless.  Now it’s time to get the creative juices flowing…

Pictures: Roof tiles from original church, original stairs, and View from the apartments