Rising Stars Hasheem Halim, Aleah Pullen, Melanie Reddrick and Marcus Thomas Chosen by Esteemed Jury to Design the Exterior Facades for Camp North End’s New Retail Pavilions

ATCO Properties & Management, developer of Camp North End, is pleased to announce the winners of its design competition for young, up-and-coming Black architects in the Charlotte region.

The competition invited students of architecture, individual designers at architectural firms, and independent practitioners to design the exterior façades for a new retail corridor at 701 Keswick Avenue, a 35,000 square-foot office building that is part of phase II of the development. Called the “Keswick Platform,” the new retail area will contain up to seven uniquely-designed pavilions that will serve as the future home of local small businesses and food & beverage concepts. Four of these pavilions will be designed by the winners.

The jury, comprised of jurors from S9 Architecture, BB+M Architecture, and ATCO Properties, received 24 portfolio submissions, then shortlisted ten individuals to create and submit their design proposals in December. The ten finalists were each awarded $1,000 for their designs, and the four final winners received an additional $2,000.

The winners include (in alphabetical order):

• Hasheem Halim, General Manager of creative workshop Saturn Atelier, LLC, located in Charlotte’s Derita neighborhood;
• Aleah Pullen, a recent UNC Charlotte graduate and an Architectural Designer at Apogee Consulting Group;
• Melanie Reddrick, AIA, NCIDQ, Project Architect with Charlotte-based firm Little Diversified Architectural Consulting; and
• Marcus R. Thomas,AIA, NCARB, Managing Principal at community-based design firm KEi Architects.

“We are thrilled with the response we received for this competition,” said Damon Hemmerdinger, Co-President of ATCO Properties & Management. “By recognizing these talented professionals and shining a light on their innovative designs, we hope to elevate the important work of Black architects in Charlotte and create more equity in the design process as well.”

A Look at the Winning Design Concepts

Taking inspiration from the history and character of Camp North End and the City of Charlotte, each of the four architects brought unique perspectives and design elements to their proposals.

Connecting the past to the present, Halim’s proposal honors Camp North End’s historic features in his pavilion design. As visitors approach the pavilion, the site’s former railroad tracks direct the eye to the entrance. The ties also serve as a frame for the new mural and window display. Additionally, Halim takes cues from the site’s brick buildings and vibrant masonry. In paying tribute to the original brickwork, recycled plastic tile is upcycled and renewed into a beautiful purpose, much like the broader development and North End neighborhood. The pavilion’s color scheme uses light grays and browns, which will allow a future retailer or restauranteur to own the design of the space with colorful signs, murals, and lighting.

Pullen draws inspiration from Camp North End’s existing buildings while allowing room for the tenant’s individual creativity to shine through. In her design, the exterior façade is made up of smooth, metal-clad panels, which can be customized by painting to the tenant’s desired color. As another unique element of the design, the pavilion’s left wall is shared, which uses a standard gypsum material wallboard. This feature allows the tenant mural space to paint, hang items for display, or install shelving of their own.

Reddrick’s pavilion design pays homage to Charlotte’s Sanborn maps, which have recorded 100 years of growth and change in Charlotte’s North End. Utilizing materials like wide metal channels and pressure-treated plywood street signs, this design looks forward, while remembering the shadows of streets that have faded away.

Using the Charlotte skyline as a frame, Thomas’ design juxtaposes the new high-rises of Uptown Charlotte with the city’s past, where vibrant African-American communities once stood. Etched within the reclaimed metal panel featured on the façade of the pavilion is a map of Uptown Charlotte as it exists today. LED lights will backlight the areas of the panel where historic structures, important to Charlotte’s African-American community, once stood or still reside. The rest of the design takes cues from traditional African huts, using natural elements like reclaimed wood and plants, as well as fiber optic string lights to mimic the starry night’s sky.

For more information about the design competition and the winners, please visit Camp North End’s social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Camp North End

Camp North End is a state-of-the-art creative development that is being designed and curated to cater to today’s most innovative and cutting-edge companies in Charlotte’s up-and-coming North End Smart District.

As one of the largest adaptive reuse projects currently underway in the U.S., the project is transforming a historic 75-acre site where people once manufactured Model T cars and assembled US Army missiles into a catalytic hub of creativity and ideas.

With over 300,000 square feet of space already redeveloped for work, artistic expression, dining and hospitality, entertainment, recreation and community building, and another 1.5 million square feet on the way, Camp North End's curated development will drive growth at the businesses that join its community.

For more information about Camp North End, visit the official Camp North End website at https://camp.nc/ or follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn at @campnorthend.

About ATCO

ATCO is a real estate investment and ownership platform deploying capital in select cities across the United States, with a particular emphasis on creating value through placemaking and other strategies in urban locations. ATCO seeks to improve people’s lives by creating places where they genuinely want to work, play, or live, and by doing our work with a long-term perspective.

Through eight decades and four generations, ATCO has owned, managed, and developed a diverse real estate portfolio, primarily in and around New York City and also in select markets we target. ATCO presently owns and manages more than 25 buildings ranging from high-rise office and residential towers to retail properties, from one-story industrial structures to a mixed-use former military base. The portfolio of New York City properties includes 555 Fifth Avenue, 40 Central Park South, 41 West 58th Street, 630 Third Avenue, 381 and 373 Park Avenue South, 515 Madison Avenue, and the Atlas Terminals. Nationally, the company owns properties in Charlotte and Chapel Hill, NC; Austin, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Darien, Stamford and Westport, Connecticut. Internationally, ATCO has investments in seven European countries.