Supporting health, community, and education.

The FARMacia Wellness Hub is a signature initiative of NewCorp, Inc.’s 7th Ward Revitalization Project, aimed at providing a space for wellness focused activities and educational programming to improve community health. In the spring of 2019, staff and students from the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design at the Tulane University School of Architecture led a series of community design charrettes to better understand needs and capture the big ideas NewCorp Inc. and community stakeholders wanted to bring to life.

In the summer, Small Center’s Public Interest Design Fellows took those learnings and worked through a master plan that would allow NewCorp, Inc. to grow into the nearly 7,500 sq. ft. site at 1835 Old Roman Street. The final design proposed two pavilions, one for gathering and one for growing, a butterfly garden for children to play, a bioswale along the street edge to aid with storm water management, and a storage structure for equipment and materials needed for ongoing maintenance and events. The student team then built the community gathering structure, learning how to do metal and wood fabrication along the way. The final design of the pavilion pays homage to the shotgun house — carrying a similar footprint and using wood and ropes on the side elevations to create a gradient that allude to the public/private nature of a typical layout — with the more public and open spaces situated in the front and the more private and intimate spaces located towards the back. It also serves as a reminder that these lots once contained homes full of vibrant life and rich history — Dr. Thelma Coffey-Boutte, the first Black woman to practice medicine in New Orleans resided here; making the desire to transform this site into a hub for community wellness that much richer. As a nod to the neighborhood, the students incorporated the surrounding street grid into the front facade, celebrating the uniqueness of this section of the 7th Ward neighbors refer to as “The Cut.”

If you’d like to support our mission, head over to the “Grow It Forward” page to donate directly or buy t-shirts that directly benefit the cause and organization!