Professor Julia Lindgren - Design Build Studio

Spring 2023

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Joppa neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, is a neglected freedman’s town that is full of shotgun houses, which became a historical icon of the community. However, the spread of Habitat for Humanity houses took away an important historical feature of the neighborhood, the front porch. It took away the welcoming entry to the house and the connection between the house and the street.

Joppy Momma’s Farm in this community was in need of a community gathering space and a classroom space for kids to learn about gardening and farming. This community also promotes sustainability and requires this objective to be reflected on the pavilion design. In the memory of the shotgun houses with beautiful and welcoming front porches, its form is inspired by the shotgun houses. After making 60+ iterations of the shotgun house form, different roof types, sun and wind studies, research on how to integrate sustainability in the design, we came up with an purposefully asymmetrical gable form with the roof panels peeling off of the structure towards the garden. The Joppy Momma’s Pavilion provides shade and rain protection, has a gutter system to harvest rainwater, its roof top is designed for solar panels and the structure itself forms an uninterrupted space for those who’ll use it as a classroom area, a pathway to just cross the farm, or a community gathering space. The welcoming Pavilion also provides connection to the street for the food distribution days.