Horace Furness Greenhouse Project Summary

VietLead is a grassroots community organization serving the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities in Philadelphia and South Jersey. As part of their Farm and Food Sovereignty program, VietLead established a community garden at the Horace Furness High School in south Philadelphia in 2018. Upon opening, toxic lead was found in the gardening area, which motivated the students and VietLead to rally for funds to clean up the garden. The garden was fully remediated in 2019 and VietLead reached out to EWB to continue improving the space. In 2022 and 2023, members of the Philadelphia Professional Chapter and members of the Temple University Student Chapter collaborated to design and build a greenhouse on the property. In 2026, EWB-Philly initiated phase two of the project, where they plan to install a solar system to provide heating and cooling for the greenhouse.

Phase 1: Greenhouse Design & Construction

Following the full opening of the Horace Furness community garden in 2019, numerous improvement have been made to the facility such as the installation of 20 raised garden beds, a compost system, and water irrigation system. VietLead reached out to the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Community Engineering Corps (CEC) to install a greenhouse that could be used to start seedlings to provide more fresh produce for the school, and improve their educational program. Students from the Temple University Student Chapter of EWB partnered with the Philadelphia Professional Chapter to develop a design in 2022. Construction of the greenhouse finished in 2023 and has been frequently used since installation.

Phase 2: Solar Powered Climate Control System

EWB-Philly laid the groundwork in 2024 to start the second phase of the project, to install a solar powered climate control system and a timed irrigation system. The project was put on hold while VietLead had to focus their resources in other areas of their organization, but EWB-Philly is excited to announce that phase 2 has resumed in 2026! The team is currently working on finalizing the design and selecting a time frame to complete construction.