Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Phase II Review Feedback

Reviewer Feedback:

Lee Mortensen: Interim Director of Downtown Greensboro

• Do the residential tenants have any storage anywhere else inside the building other than in their apartment?
• Enjoyed the reincorporation of the historical/original elements of the building.
• Felt the 3Form dividers and the lowered ceiling at the pharmacy counter was a good idea to help with privacy. 
• Enjoyed the copper tiled wall and the cork flooring in the ice cream parlor and how they give the space a bit of a historical vibe but do it with more recent elements.
• Believes roof access/terrace apartment will be the space with the most draw.
• Agreed that using the basement for storage was a good idea due to the lack of natural lighting. 

Lauren Postlmayr: Grad Student in Interior Architecture 

• Consider connecting ice cream parlor to both retail spaces.
• Create an opening that connects the ice cream parlor more to the street.
• Make entrance to the elevator glass doors or open to the space for safety. 
• Laundry room with a lounge space or game room.

Hugh Sutphin: local architect familiar with the building

• Focus more of pedestrian interaction with the building.
• Lack of parking and lifestyle will determine who will want to live in this space. 
• Connect it more with the community and the context on both first and second floor.
• Make it a  building downtown.

Sydney Gray and Wife: building owners

• Felt central laundry facility was a good idea.

Jerry Leimenstoll: local architect familiar with the building

• How does your Pecha Kucha presentation relate to your project? 
• How will your Haiku dictate where things should go within your space?

Jo Leimenstoll: Professor

• Consider shrinking stair width.
• Have separate laundry for each apartment rather than a central facility.
• Really liked the branding/panorama image for the project.
• Apartment spaces are too big so consider adding more apartments.

Kelsey Walker: Classmate/Peer

• Consider planning out the storage in the basement more so that if it is all storage it is divided out rather than just open storage. 

Kristy: Classmate/Peer

• Would it work better to swap the bike storage and the break room?
• Enjoyed the rendered sketches of the exterior.

Sarah Mabry: Classmate/Peer

• Enjoyed the roof terrace concept.
• Felt the copper tile wall was an interesting idea. 

Personal Reflection:

I think it would be beneficial for the residential tenants to have some type of storage outside of there apartment space where they can store things that they do not use very often. A good place for the storage would be to section off some space in the basement storage for the second floor tenants. I think the ice cream parlor would make a good place to connect the two separate businesses and then also have an extra window or counter that opens the ice cream shop to the street. I had originally been thinking of working out a way to have a window on the Washington Street side of the building but I think central Elm Street would make a more logical place for an extra counter. I think all of the doors except for the fire doors on the main floor should be class to help with safety and egress to not only give the people in the space a way to differentiate what is and is not an exit but also to allow more connection and flow through the less public areas. The addition of more apartments on the second floor will help to cut down on large apartment sizes. Taking away the public laundry room space will give more space back to apartment usage. I think the next step after revising some of the layout is to focus on connecting the building to downtown through the  exterior of the building.