The Winner Is...

Team Four!

Team leaders Laura Heeter and Jen Hicks describe their design as a flexible interactive, modular system that allows for vertical and horizontal expansion and can fit into any corner store. The display has playful elements to help educate children as well as adults on nutrition.

Members of the winning team with their final design.

Everyone who participated in the charrette today had a great time working with their teams to find a creative solution for Healthy Corner's product display. The winning display will be in Healthy Corner's participating stores later this year, be sure to check it out!

Design Session Three

Our third and final design session is complete. Each team has followed their ideas from concept to design development to final application, and just look at the results!

Danlei Li and Iryna Carlson show the panel the final model of their team's design. 

Becca Landwehr and Ayelet Oser describe the final vision of their team's display unit.

Chelsea Michelson and Courtney Fertitta share their team's final model with the panel. 

Jen Hicks explains her team's final design and branding. 

It's been a long day here at GWU's Mount Vernon campus but everyone is thrilled to have been able to put their design skills to the test for a good cause. Healthy Corners representatives are reviewing the designs and we will be announcing the winner shortly. Stay tuned!

Design Session Two

Another design session is under wraps, and our designers feel like time is flying by! For the second design session, designers focused on design development. Each team was able to expand on their conceptual ideas from first design session. By thinking about real world application, construction and the target audience, designers were able to develop their conceptual ideas from possibilities into actual designs.

Iryna Carlson and Jennie Carman describe the modular cube and shelf design developed by their team. 

Ayelet Oser and Molly Nostrand showed the panel how their choose my plate concept evolved into a pie-slice shaped display.

Lena Ghannam and Chelsea Michelson describe how their team's focus on the food as the graphic element developed into a transparent display unit.   

Jen Hicks and Christine Van Duyn talk about how their team is using bold colors as graphic elements in their display. 

Remember to check our progress between blog updates at #gwiadcharrette and @gwuiad

Design Session One

Our first design session of the day has just wrapped up. For this session designers focused on conceptual ideas. We're so impressed by the wide spectrum of ideas our designers developed for Healthy Corner's. Photos below show team leaders describing their team's ideas to the design panel. Many heads are better than one!

Iryna Carlson talks about her team's mix and match, grab and go concept based on a candy store. 

Ayelet Oser describes her team's concept based on the USDA's Choose My Plate campaign.

Lena Ghannam and Chelsea Michelson talk about how their display will focus
on the visual appeal of the produce. 

Laura Heeter and Jen Hicks describe their idea for a
modular unit pivot display.

Our Day Begins

Over 30 students and professionals are gathered at GWU's Mount Vernon campus to participate in today's design charrette. Everyone is eager to tackle Healthy Corner's product and interior design challenge. Huan Song, Janell Walker and Chelse Wayne from DC Central Kitchen briefed our designers on Healthy Corner's design needs, including creating an interactive, welcoming display for use in their partner corner stores across DC. Want to learn more about DC's "grocery gap" issue? Watch these videos from DC Central Kitchen to see for yourself what the impact of easy access to fresh fruits and veggies can have on the community:
http://vimeo.com/32103356

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YLy4j8EZIk

Huan Song from DC Central Kitchen briefs designers on the state of DC's "grocery gap"

Participants have been assigned into four teams based on their skill strengths, and now everyone is ready to break out the trace paper and start designing! Keep track of our designers' progress throughout the day by following #gwiadcharrette or @gwuiad on twitter and instagram, plus new blog posts will be coming after each design session.

DC's food deserts: what we found out

DC, being the nation's capital, is understandably a hub for a wide variety of people from all corners of the US and the world. From the politicos of Capitol Hill to the families who have been living in Anacostia for generations, the range of financial solvency, and quality of life is quite considerable. One such glaring disparity is the food desert issue faced by SouthEast DC, namely Wards 7 and 8. These low-income wards have faced a lack of access to healthy, fresh foods as they have watched the number of groceries proliferate like wild-flowers on the other side of the Anacostia River.

Extensive research shows that along with hunger, lack of access to healthy food contributes to obesity and numerous health concerns, among which metabolic syndrome disorders prevail: namely diabetes and heart disease. Wards 7 and 8, which have the District's highest poverty rates, also have the city's highest obesity rates, leading quickly to a cocktail of health and social conundrums which should be immediately addressed. 

DC Hunger Solutions, created in 2002 as an initiative of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), works towards the goal of creating a hunger-free community and improve the nutrition, health, economic security, and well-being of low-income District residents. Their research has provided some hard hitting facts. These statistics were gathered in 2010, however the issue of food deserts has yet to be addressed with any sort of impact, which is why DC Healthy Kitchens has taken up this mission to begin to eradicate this untenable situation through their Healthy Corners initiative:

• Of the city's 43 full-service grocery stores, only four are located in Ward 7, and three in Ward 8. By contrast, Ward 3 - the highest-income Ward - has eleven full-service stores.

• Few of the city's 40 farmers' markets are located east of the Anacostia River.

• The District of Columbia’s 43 full-service grocery stores are distributed very unevenly across the District.

• The ratio of full-service grocery stores to residents varies widely among the District's wards.

• The available grocery retail space varies significantly from ward to ward. Wards 7, and 8 have fewer square feet of grocery retail per person than the District average.

• On average, residents of Wards 4, 5, and 7 must travel longer distances than residents in other wards to reach the closest full-service grocery store.

• The District has a grocery gap. Some areas of the District—particularly in Wards 7 and 8—are underserved by full-service grocery retail, compared to other areas.

 

CHALLENGE OVERVIEW

Design is a means by which to create a real impact.  Good design is meant to be universal, shared by everyone.  The Interior Architecture + Design (IAD) program at The George Washington University (GWU) truly believes this.  To give back to the community, we are hosting a design charrette in partnership with DC Central Kitchen (DCCK), focusing on their Healthy Corners program.

Healthy Corners is a food distribution program where DCCK partners with interested corner stores in food deserts in the DC area.  A food desert, by Healthy Corners’ definition, is a “neighborhood lacking access to full-scale grocery stores.”  In DC specifically, deserts are found primarily in the Northeast and Southeast sectors of the city.  For example, Ward 8 has a ration of approximately 7000 people to 1 grocery store.  Comparatively, Ward 3 (Bethesda area), has a ratio of about 3000 people to 1 grocery store.  Affordability and walkability also factor into defining a region as a food desert.

In order to address this growing problem, Healthy Corners recruits local corner stores to stock healthier options.  Partner stores order fresh produce, healthy snacks, and soups in varying quantities from Healthy Corners, allowing them the freedom to order as much or as little as they believe they can sell.  In turn, new, healthy options are introduced and encouraged in areas frequently precluded from enjoying nourishing products due to cost considerations.  Typical options include fresh fruits and vegetables, pre-packaged dried fruits, and trail mix. 

There still exists a real challenge, however.  Marketing of these products is often poor, and the Healthy Corners items are stocked in back corners, hidden between sugary sodas, candy, and cigarettes.  The goal of this charrette is to create a designated space within the partner stores to display Healthy Corners’ products.  The design challenge is really twofold: create a modular unit that can be configured to meet the needs of all partner stores as well as develop a branding strategy.  How can the design encourage further consumption of healthy products?

Charrette participants will need to consider cultural context, display options, and signage.  Possible questions to address include:

• What is the right messaging for these products?
• How can the design positively affect customer decision-making?
• Should the display modules be custom or created from prefabricated modules?
• How can the module easily adapt to different circumstances?

The important things are to be creative, have fun, and make a difference!  

CHARRETTE - March 21, 2014