The 9 Gammon building sits at the site of the 1906 Brownsville Race Massacre in Atlanta. The structure originally served as a community center for Brownsville and the surrounding Atlanta neighborhoods in the 1950s. However, in the 1980s, the building, land, and surrounding neighborhoods changed due to deepening poverty, violence, and public health crises. In 1996, two community-serving nonprofit organizations, Project South and the Hunger Coalition, moved into 9 Gammon. By 2016, both organizations envisioned a shared space that would anchor and fuel a new process of neighborhood power building: the Mutual Aid Liberation Center.
In 2022, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta transferred the deed for 9 Gammon to Project South, which started planning the revitalization of the existing brick building that would become the Mutual Aid Liberation Center. The Los Angeles–based firm Atelier Cory Henry was asked to design this expansion and adaptive reuse, known as the Brownsville Futures Project. However, after community discussions and research into regional conditions, the design team asked to widen the vision to include master planning the 4.5-acre parcel. This allowed the team to increase the Hunger Coalition’s urban agriculture production area by 200%, develop micro-housing, and create a park, a health trail, and an activity hill that will be available to all community members.
Atelier Cory Henry aimed to support the needs of the community and enhance the work of the organizations and social justice movement leaders within it. The extension is clad in weathered steel panels, paying homage to the rail line that once served as a supply route for the community, including during the 1906 massacre. The changing light and shadow throughout the day activate the building’s façades, revealing perforated patterns that form Ghanaian Adinkra symbols specifically selected to embody the work of Project South and The Hunger Coalition. For example, Nea Onnim represents knowledge and learning, and Dwennimmen signifies strength and resilience. As of this writing, Project South is in the capital campaigning phase of the development project. Visit projectsouth.org for more information.