Last month, the rundown house on the corner of Imperial and Montie streets looked like so many others in the Frazier neighborhood of South Dallas: abandoned, neglected, hopeless.

Photos by JIM MAHONEY/DMN

Dallas architect and UTA instructor Brent Brown (center) leads volunteers to transform a house into a translucent structure and a community gathering spot. 'As a metaphor, the idea is of the future and sort of like a beacon, a lantern,' he said.

Now it's ready to shine through the night.

Literally.

Dozens of volunteers – more than 75 mostly architecture students from the University of Texas at Arlington – worked feverishly recently to transform the home into a translucent structure to be used as office space for nonprofit Frazier Revitalization Inc. and meeting space for community members. Frazier Revitalization spent $7,000 to $10,000 to rehabilitate the house.

The project is the brainchild of Dallas architect and UTA instructor Brent Brown and his students. They say the finished product, which incorporates a plastic glass material as the outer walls and will be lighted up at night, is a metaphor for a community accustomed to broken promises.

"One of the ways to have people feel that this is a place that's going to advocate for them is if the walls are clear or somewhat clear," Mr. Brown said. "As a metaphor, the idea is of the future and sort of like a beacon, a lantern."

For Frazier Revitalization, the house also is a rebuttal to those who remain skeptical of the nonprofit's commitment to South Dallas residents. The organization currently is based in the shiny Trammell Crow Co. building downtown. Its parent company, the Foundation for Community Empowerment, aids southern-sector community organizations and is led by J. McDonald "Don" Williams, chairman emeritus of Trammell Crow Co.

"This is a statement that we're here, and we mean business," said Nat Tate, president and chief executive of Frazier Revitalization. "The community wants change."

The house also is a statement about how far the community has come in the last year.

The home's back yard faces the back of the former American Inn Motel, a breeding ground for prostitution, drug use and violence until it was shuttered by the city last year. Community residents, including members of the Bertrand Neighborhood Association, railed against the business for years before its closure.

The project is the first of what Mr. Tate hopes will be many that Mr. Brown helps design via his own nonprofit, R3works, which incorporates various design techniques into affordable housing.

"We're just hoping this project helps the community, helps revitalize the area, helps people pursue greater than what they think they should have," said Samuel Odamah, a 25-year-old senior at UTA who worked on the project.

The students said they consulted with neighborhood residents in planning the renovations and intend to use the house to plan future projects.

Dorothy Beasley, a 68-year-old widow, has lived in the house next door to the refurbished home for 37 years.

"I'm very excited about it," Ms. Beasley said of the renovations. "I never thought it would come to this. Living here so long, nothing has been done."