Further action is required to make this featured image accessible
The below criteria must be satisfied:
- Add featured-image alt tag (in page properties OR on image metadata in the dam)
The image will not display until the issue above is resolved.
Piece by Piece, UC Students Build a Pizza Parlor
Flooring, wall surfaces, signage, cabinets, an entranceway and furniture are among the ingredients University of Cincinnati architecture and interior design students are creating this summer to help complete Venice Pizza in Over-the-Rhine. The non-profit pizzeria, operated by the Dominican Sisters of Hope and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, will serve to provide jobs and training for hard-to-employ residents in the Over-the-Rhine community.
Sixteen students from UCs top-ranked
College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning
, which houses the nations
undergraduate architecture and interior design programs, are spending every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon from now until Sept. 3 to help realize the
concept provided to the sisters by UC faculty and students this past spring.
According to Sister Monica McGloin, Venice Pizza formerly operated in another Over-the-Rhine location, but was forced out when the rent went up. Thats when they picked out a new storefront location at 1301 Vine St. (the northwest corner of 13th and Vine Streets) and first turned to UC students for help. Earlier this year, individual design students created interior-design concepts to guide the renovation of the project. Then, faculty and a student from UCs Community Design Center completed construction drawings and bid packages and now, students are doing hands-on work to renovate the storefront space.
The students now at work are led by Terry Boling, assistant professor of architecture, who explained that the students are also benefiting along with the sisters. Its very important for students to build what they design, to explore design and construction techniques with real clients, real materials and real constraints, he said.
The students agreed, adding that the Venice Pizza project will be among their first chances to see something they design get built. Ben Crabtree of Toledo explained, Weve all worked professionally via cooperative education or co-op quarters. On co-op, I helped design the adaptive reuse of a fire station in Baltimore. Its now a community center with computer training and other services, but Ive never got to see that project finished and opened. Itll be nice to see something local that Ive worked on because Ill see the end result.
He added that the students efforts are already appreciated by residents. They see 20 of us in a storefront and ask us what were doing. They seem to appreciate us. People are happy were here.
Currently, the 19th-century storefronts are sheathed in new drywall, new plywood floors, and the UC students are set to begin creating the interior for the pizzerias kitchen and dining area. Their ideas include an interior light board that will serve as a signboard for the pizzeria and as a hall of fame where pictures of local residents can be displayed. They are also experimenting with other means for playing with light, perhaps a client counter space made of concrete mixed with local metals and glass to playfully refract the light coming in from the front panel of windows.
We want to make this design specific to Over-the-Rhine, a place that really speaks to and for the community so that its not a place that looks like McPizza, and could be just anywhere, said student Emily Wray of St. Louis.
In addition to the kitchen and dining area the UC students are now completing, Venice Pizza will also consist of a catering center as well as a small computer training space. A contractor will complete the interior for the catering center later this year, and other students will likewise complete the interior for the training center. The nuns expect to open for business late in the fall.
When it does open, Venice Pizza will continue its ministry of employing and training hard-to-place workers, paying up to $7 an hour. In the past, the venture has employed up to 12 part-time workers at any one time.
Related Stories
Baylee Schmitt crocheted the childhood bedroom she shared with...
January 17, 2025
UC employee Baylee Schmitt featured in The Boston Globe for her art works made out of yarn.. Schmitt earned her master’s of fine arts degree at Miami University and now manages the University of Cincinnati printmaking lab at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) and teaches there as well.
Makerspace boot camp fast-tracks training for student co-ops
January 13, 2025
In a groundbreaking collaboration, the University of Cincinnati's Ground Floor Makerspace and the visionary minds at Kinetic Vision combined their creative forces to pioneer an immersive makerspace bootcamp — tailor-made for UC co-ops destined to shape the future.
Alumni to be honored at gala recognizing UC Black excellence
January 13, 2025
Outstanding achievements within the University of Cincinnati family are the focus of the 11th annual Onyx & Ruby Gala, to be hosted by the UC Alumni Association’s African American Alumni Affiliate on Feb. 22 at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati.