SBP L9 COMMUNITY HUB
LOCATION: Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, Louisiana
PROGRAM: Wellness Clinic and Community Center
CLIENT: SBP
STATUS: Design Development
PROJECT TEAM: GOAT (Architecture & Programming)
During 2025’s annual Day of Service hosted by EskewDumezRipple (EDR), the GOAT design team worked with New Orleans based non-profit SBP to develop a concept for a small community center in the city’s Lower 9th Ward. SBP sought to leverage one of their vacant residential properties in the neighborhood to help fill some of the community service gaps that have plagued the area since 2005, and asked GOAT to analyze the site’s adjacent uses & zoning parameters to identify a mix of uses that would most benefit residents. The proposed design was developed to house a small health & wellness clinic for pop-up care events, a multi-purpose event space & courtyard, and storage to allow the center to serve as a food bank distribution hub during emergencies, all contained on a typical residential lot.
GOAT Team: Paula Bechara, Julia Ballard, Ian Shaw, Ryan Harnish, Joanna Tanasescu, Peter Spera III, and Colin VanWingen
The visioning package developed by GOAT will help guide SBP’s fundraising and advocacy efforts to develop the site and continue serving the neighborhood and its residents.
The annual Day of Service is held around Martin Luther King Jr. Day and addresses key community needs, from housing and resilience to environmental preservation, in collaboration with New Orleans nonprofit partners. The other organizations that participated in the 2025 event include: High Voltage NOLA, Pontchartrain Conservancy, People’s Housing+, First Grace Community Alliance, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, Algiers Economic Development Foundation, Baldwin House Community Collective, and Bennett’s Village. In addition to GOAT and EDR, 2025 design teams included: Woodward Design+Build, CICADA, Atelier Design, HUE Architecture, and iNeedAnArchitect.
