THESIS FOCUS
Reclaiming Joy: Adaptive Reuse for Memory, Safety, and Community in Quincy, FL
My thesis investigates how adaptive reuse can restore emotional, cultural, and environmental vitality to underutilized commercial structures in Quincy, Florida. By reimagining these forgotten buildings as modular community anchors, the project explores how architecture can serve not only as a tool for sustainability, but as a vessel for healing, memory, and collective joy.
PROJECT SCOPE
This work stems from a personal connection to Quincy — where I grew up surrounded by parks, porches, summer camps, and intergenerational warmth. In recent years, that sense of security and communal pride has been fractured by disinvestment and violence. Through this thesis, I aim to give that feeling back — to design spaces that reawaken connection and create new possibilities for the people who call Quincy home.
This thesis proposes the modular revitalization of 2–3 abandoned commercial structures, primarily located along Highway 90, a once-active corridor now lined with vacant buildings. These reimagined sites will house a variety of functions — including educational spaces, health and wellness support, flexible gathering zones, and micro-enterprise hubs — all deeply embedded within the fabric of the community.
Rather than proposing large-scale erasure, this project uses incremental, context-sensitive design to layer new meaning onto old forms. The goal is not just to reuse space, but to reclaim emotion.
CORE DESIGN OBJECTIVES
Restore Emotional Memory
Prioritize designs that evoke safety, familiarity, and joy — rooted in cultural memory and daily rituals.
Advance Modular & Low-Tech Sustainability
Employ modular construction, passive strategies, and reclaimed materials to ensure feasibility and long-term adaptability.
Celebrate Black Cultural Narratives
Design with intention to uplift Black identity, community tradition, and intergenerational connection in the rural South.
Create Human-Scaled Systems of Belonging
Use architectural interventions to reconnect people to each other, to place, and to possibility.
