Cleveland’s Front Porch: A Threshold for Connection (Master of Architecture Thesis)

Project Narrative

This project explores how human-scaled, dense, and community-centered spaces can exist outside traditional city centers, especially in overlooked “in-between” zones. These areas often feel disconnected and purposeless, yet they hold real potential to become places of belonging and connection. On the edges of our cities, public spaces that invite community are rare. Could brownfield sites be transformed into a new kind of urban zone?
Focusing on a 315-acre former Ford Plant in Brook Park, Ohio, right next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, this site was once a powerful industrial hub that shaped the surrounding community. Now it sits largely vacant, cut off from the people it once supported. The site doesn’t have to be a relic of Cleveland’s manufacturing past, it can become the foundation for a new kind of neighborhood, one that shows people what Cleveland is from the moment they land.
The site sits between two isolating systems: an airport, designed for efficiency rather than human experience, and a suburb shaped by single-use zoning, often lacking true gathering spaces. In many ways, suburbs function like orchards, spread out, disconnected, and missing the communal spaces that bring neighbors together. This project asks: what if this space between these zones could have its own “front porch”?
By that, it is a space that feels both like a threshold and a welcome mat, extending the idea of home and neighborhood outward, where people can meet, rest, and share life. For residents, it becomes a hub of connection and daily rhythms. For travelers, it offers a first impression of Cleveland that feels warm, human, and rooted in community the moment they step off the plane.
The master plan builds on this idea, transforming the site into a walkable, medium-density urban village. Townhomes, apartments, and adaptive reuse of the Ford factory are layered with landscape and pedestrian-first infrastructure. Landscape doesn’t just fill space, it becomes structure, buffer, and connective tissue, linking places to live, work, gather, and visit.
At the heart of it is the Ford factory itself. Rather than letting it sit empty, the building becomes a hub of everyday life, housing a food hall, grocery store, event spaces, and indoor gardens. Surrounding it, clusters of housing and mixed-use spaces serve three groups: travelers seeking comfort during layovers, airline staff looking for alternatives to crowded crash pads, and local residents who want community-centered, urban-style living outside the single-family home.
Connecting the airport and community are a people mover and elevated green paths linking the site’s districts. Together, they transform what was once a barrier into a welcoming experience, reintroducing Cleveland’s landscape and hospitality to all who arrive.

                                           

Project Details -

Submission Category

Landscape Architecture & Community Planning – Implementation

Date of Completion

January, 2025

Project Team

Student Team Members

Gabriella Dashiell