CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Phase 2 of Camp North End is expected to be completed in the spring of 2022 and when it opens it will include the designs of four emerging Black architects.

Camp North End’s developer, ATCO Properties & Management, hosted a competition for up-and-coming Black architects in the Charlotte area.

After 24 submissions, Hasheem Halim, Aleah Pullen, Melanie Reddrick and Marcus R. Thomas won. They designed four pavilions that will be part of a new retail corridor in Camp North End called Keswick Platform. It includes close to 200,000 square feet of office, retail, food and entertainment.

Halim is an architect in training and general manager of Saturn Atelier, a creative workshop in Charlotte. His design honored the former railroad tracks and creative brickwork at the entrance of Camp North End.

“I combined my love of recycling plastics into these plastic panels,” Halim explains. He was pleasantly surprised about winning.

“When you believe in yourself and the design shows that you believe in it, it kind of carries through,” he continues.

Pullen, a recent UNC Charlotte graduate and an architectural designer at Apogee Consulting Group, found her inspiration in the existing buildings and the vibrancy of the site. Her design features large windows that allow someone passing by to appreciate a mural inside.

“Being picked, I was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.’ You know, my ideas are valuable and just to know that I can one day come here and see something that I've designed makes me speechless thinking about it,” Pullen says.

Camp North End’s Development Director Tommy Mann says the competition aims to reflect the diversity of this space.

“It’s incredibly important to our desire to make Camp North End and inclusive place that's for everyone,” Mann says.

In addition, he says it aims to show Black architects are underrepresented in the industry.

According to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, only 2% of all U.S. architects identify as Black or African American.

“It allows for more representation. I mean, growing up, you see architects, they don't look like me,” Pullen says. “I was thrilled that something was held for people like me.”

Halim hopes one day he can host a competition similar to this one. In the meantime, he looks forward to seeing his vision completed next year.

The winners of the competition received $3,000 each for their design. Six additional finalists received $1,000 each.