A group of artists alongside Rick Lowe bought and restored 22 “shotgun houses” in Houston and created a space for artists and their studios as well as community development initiatives such as a program for young mothers. Through the emphasis on the preservation of cultural identity, these houses revitalized a once crumbling neighborhood into a destination for art and activism. It puts art as a necessity to the community with other aspects traditionally thought of as community engagement. It also allows the artistic freedom to be handed to those they employ by creating a social sculpture in and out of the work itself. The community created from the houses is a social sphere that acts to parallel and also coexist with the social sphere of those who work there. This work integrated art as a crucial part of the future of the community through the physicality of these structures, but also through their deeper worth in this society. It blurs the lines between art and life and creates a collective of people all who might be struggling, but working to better themselves and their community. It also instructs the individual to realize that they are not just an individual, but part of a whole. Lowe might have been the lead on this project, but was aware that the power was centered in the liberty of his work, that it could function without him. Instead of telling people what the problems of their community were, Lowe found that it was much more meaningful to help fix those very problems and allow for a positive dialogue between art and its consumer.