Dock Street Store

The Dock Street Store is an interdisciplinary design + build project in partnership with the Dock Street School for STEAM Studies. Collaborating with 15 students from Dock Street, the Pratt SoD Co-Design Studio will design and prototype the Dock Street Store—a deployable structure that offers middle school students the opportunity to purchase snacks from a transformable storefront within their school. Operated by and for the students, the Dock Street Store will foster stewardship among the middle schoolers, who will lead its operation and day-to-day use.

The proposal focuses on designing a master plan for the store, alongside the design, detailing, material testing, and prototyping of all storefront assemblies, including material, structural, and visual identity systems.

Rooted in the principles of participatory design, this project emphasizes collaboration and capacity building over the design product itself. Dock Street students will be involved in every step of the design process, working alongside graduate and undergraduate students from across the School of Design on research, ideation, material testing, iteration, and assessment. This approach will create an equitable co-learning environment that empowers all participants to actively engage in their learning and explore what it means to design with, rather than for, the local community.