"IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY"

Felicia Farrante was born and raised in STX and attended the St. Croix Country Day School. As a child, she was more interested in building with Legos than playing with Barbie dolls. Her dad is an electrician by trade and every night at the dinner table they would sit and draw together. Felicia learned how to express her ideas mathematically and artistically. She was an AP Art student and found expressing herself through a pen or pencil exhilarating. Matthew Labon and Monica Marin were her art teachers. Mr. Labon was an architect fresh out of school and he came in one day to her classroom with a beautiful drawing of a bird that he broke down to the class mathematically. Felicia was so intrigued by his presentation that she decided to apply to the architecture program at the University of Arizona in Tuscon.

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Shortly after starting she realized she did not want to design singular buildings or design things for one person. She found her passion in understanding how to build sustainable environments. “Business districts, arts, people. You need a balance between all entities of life. It’s a very man-made ecology: Humans build things, decide how we want things to flow. It’s still very natural and everything is designed from nature. You must look at each asset and how they intertwine with each other. When you visit a certain place, you can tell that the flow is normal, whereas other places you can’t figure how people are moving. There are different kinds of material. You need to be able to build the environment and still be part of the environment,” said Ms. Farrante.

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She changed her major and graduated with her Bachelor’s of Science in Sustainable Environments & Community Development. During her study-abroad session in Stuttgart Germany Ms. Farrante worked with a planner who focused on redesigning and redeveloping a corridor. “Stuttgart is a small town that wasn’t alive. The project was to bring love, health and excitement into the space. You take yourself out of the design aspect. The planners have to think about the economic longevity and diversity in the space,” said Ms. Farrante. At that time she didn’t know if she wanted to go to grad school. She thought, let’s apply to grad school for planning. It entailed a lot of math, logistics and policy making. She took a couple of classes in the landscape design program and found like-minded people who didn’t want to go into planning. Her mentor Ron Schultz discussed the possibilities. He explained that a landscape architect predicts or manipulates the way people interact in different spaces. They determine places of interest and excitement. Listening to Schultz speak passionately about what he did made her want to learn about landscape architecture. She was fascinated with how businesses, residents, buildings and cities function. “You can’t have a public park without something that feeds into it. There is a level of hierarchy, a flow, a balance,” said Ms. Farrante.

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Upon graduating in 2016 with a dual- master’s degree, she returned home and met Ida Pasados; an architect and interior designer on St. Croix and worked for her on architecture based projects. Shortly after meeting Gerville Larsen; a prominent Virgin Islands architect who invited Ms. Ferrante to Quin House and told her about the project she became involved. He said, “This going to happen. Would you start teaching?”  She didn’t know that the project wasn’t completed. Even then she was selected to continue working on the 4-6 week project. During that time Felicia conducted research, gathered inventory and put together three concept designs to explain to rest of the community and field holders. Ms. Farrante recalls that they struggled with key questions such as, ‘What direction do we want to go in? and How is this going to impact Christiansted town?’  

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The “In Search Identity” Project for the Academy of Architecture Building Crafts & Cultural Heritage is born from the enacted Christiansted Town Plan of 2016, which was selected and awarded in 2013. The partnership between the V.I. and Denmark is moving forward with the collaboration between the Association of Owners of Historic Houses in Denmark, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and the Aarhus School of Architecture and the Office of Senator Myron Jackson. A main purpose of the ‘2017 Centennial Celebration’ was to highlight the similarities between Danish culture and U.S.V.I. culture.

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Felicia is most excited about the opportunity to create something modern in town. “To create a school is out of the ordinary. It’s a different outlet and feel with the placement of this project. With the placement of the barracks itself. The youth can explore different parts of their culture. It’s important to teach a skill such as architecture that can be taken with you forever and handed down. Things such as how to maintain and build and continue to build that cycle," said Ms. Farrante.

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Each part of the project has an equal amount of money and all non-profits and organizations involved are working full-time to raise money. They received $150,000 invested from the Danish organizations with hopes that the U.S.V.I. government would match it.  As of Dec 20, 2017 the USVI government did, bringing total investments to $300,000. “That money will be put towards stabilizing the ruins first. Engineers, architects, surveyors and all involved need to assess the foundation of the building. I along with everyone else am ready get ball rolling!” said Ms. Farrante.

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After the project is completed Ms. Farrante would like to continue to work with Mr. Larsen on the town plan. There are pockets of green spaces throughout town that she would like to influence how they connect to each other. Her focus is on Christiansted with more movement and walkable places. “I would love to work in Frederiksted, but it needs a little more life. There are too many vacant spaces and not enough interest or businesses. It’s about creating comfort in these places. There must be a balance between interest, excitement, surprise and comfort. Those things all have to be designed,” said Ms. Farrante.

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The “In Search of Identity” project has garnered great support and interest from both Danes and Virgin Islanders. “BYFO are the people who are connected to historic buildings in Denmark: Ulla Lunn, Senator Myron Jackson and Gerville are working together to complete the project. Ulla persuaded the two architecture schools students and top professors to visit the USVI. They had never been here and Lunn’s thinking was that the historic architecture of the VI is part of Danish heritage. A group of students came here to do their project. One school was here and one on STT a year ago. Each student was given rooms and buildings to decide what they would like to do. Their final exam is based on what they’re suggesting to change or revitalize about the historic buildings.  It’s a good thing, showing young Danish architects all of the fantastic treasures that are here that they are not aware of,” said Anne Walbom, President of the Danish West Indian Society.

Although there is great excitement, the notion of respect for both countries must be upheld. Ms. Walbom spoke seriously about the importance of respecting the local government and people of the Virgin Islands when proposing a revitalization project. “Ulla Loon traveled to Denmark and the Danish Prime Minister & Minister of Culture that you cannot put a project together and tell the V.I. people to carry it out like an order. They are an American territory now and no longer under Danish rule so you cannot have such power,” she said. “In St. Croix, it would be used as a school. It would be a connection with a university so that there could be an education for architects. I don’t think they intend for students to start here and complete their education. It’s a starting point for you to transfer to another school either in DK or the US,” said Ms. Walbom.

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Echoing Ms. Farrante’s points, Ms. Walbom emphasized the importance of getting an education from masons and crafters when you’re dealing with antiques. “If you’re dealing with historic houses you have to know how maintain them.”

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Ms. Walbom’s hopes are that the school will be a place where people could be educated about local architecture and history in addition to bringing much needed jobs to the territory. “It can be a place where taxi drivers can be tour guides or people who work in the hospitality industry can get jobs once more people come in to visit and attend the school.  In St. Thomas, a little museum will curate what is going on right now. People could work as storytellers. The project will be very good for Virgin Islanders and tourists. First, it is supposed to be good for Virgin Islanders. I thought in the beginning it was to attract tourists I now understand that the point is to help the people of the Virgin Islands,” said Ms. Walbom. The plans are for the school to be completed within a 10-15-year window. You can find further information about the project on the Senator Myron Jackson’s Website: http://www.legvi.org/1720-2/ and the Danish West Indian Society website: www.dwis.dk.