public journal no 2
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
SWINGS FOR DREAMSLandscape architecture students help the Ratang Bana Orphanage
NEEDS BEYOND ARCHITECTUREWomen’s Opportunity Center in Rwanda by Sharon Davis Design
SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE EDUCATIONMasonic Amphitheater by thedesign/buildLAB at Virginia Tech
+ 14.02
(Photo: Mariko Reed)
FROM INTERESTTO IMPACT
L O O K I N G B A C K A N D A H E A D
Announces the upcoming transition from
to the
Learn more atImpact.PublicInterestDesign.org
IMPACT DESIGN HUB
The SHEDSHED by Jensen Architects helps to shape new modern grange movement.
After The StormThe story of the Tulane City Center and Grow Dat Youth Farm.
Needs Beyond Architecture Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda by Sharon Davis Design.
Shaping The Future Of Architecture Education How Marie and Keith Zawistowski are expanding community-based design through ViRGiniA TECH’s design/buildLAB.
* Don’t forget to check out the “Behind-The-Scenes” Section on page 86 to see more details from the Masonic Amphitheater!
Check us online!Want more coverage on public interest design? Visit our website or download our app for more links to videos, interviews, etc. www.thisispublicjournal.comPublic Journal app available on the App Store and Android Market.
SUMMER 2014
FEATURES24
36
46
58
Photo: Jeff Goldberg/ESTO
Cover Photo: Elizabeth Felicella
NewsA taste of the latest Public interest Design news around the world.
Business - Inscape PublicoAn examination of a hybrid for-profit design office that provides non-profit assistance.
Editorial - Student Debt ReliefWhat the AiA-supported national Design Services Act can provide public interest design.
Education - Swings For DreamsLandscape design non-profit, Swings For Dreams provides play spaces in Africa.
CompetitionsFind out what open competitions are happening around the corner.
EventsA calender of conferences, seminars, and talks.
GalleryA gallery of the Cassia Coop Training Center by TYin tegnestue Architects.
DEPARTMENTS14
18
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Founder & PublisherMatthew Linden
Editor-in-ChiefAndrew Goodwin
Assistant EditorsJohn Cary
nick Bilich
Art DirectorMathieu Anfosso
Graphic DesignerTyler Thomas
Contributing WritersKatie Crepeau
Tom di Santo
Marissa Feddema
Gilad Meron
Jeanie Riess
AdvertisingGeffrey Yabes
Newsstand ConsultantJohn Ponomarev
Subscription [email protected]
Advertising [email protected]
Letters to the [email protected]
PUBLiC Journal1239 Garden Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401www.thisispublicjournal.com
All Rights Reserved, 2014
Copyright © 2014. PUBLiC Journal is published quarterly by ConsciousBuild, inc., 1239 Garden Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. no part of PUBLiC Journal may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written consent from ConsciousBuild, inc.
CONTACT
SUBMISSIONS LETTERS TO THE EDiTORShare your thoughts with us by email at [email protected]. Letters may be edited for content and length and published in future issues or online on our blog.
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Photo: Mariko Reed
PUBLIC design humanity+
READERSTO OUR
WHy THE ORANGE CROSS? The cross emblem is now commonly associated with a sense of urgency and care, a rally cry to offer assistance where needed. We are all familiar with The international Committee of the Red Cross, www.icrc.org, maybe less so with Green Cross international, www.gcint.org., whose stated mission “to help ensure a just, sustainable and secure future for all by fostering a value shift and cultivating a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility in humanity’s relationship with nature,” inspires us tremendously.
The humanitarian and public interest design movements deserve to be elevated to a level of urgency. it will take more than a logo, but my hope is that PUBLiC Journal’s emblem resonates and is recognized as a call to action. There is much work to be done, so much that it is at times daunting to think of. This has not stopped the pioneers in these fields determined to make a difference, one designed and built project at a time. We are humbled by what they are up to, and honored to provide a platform for their thoughtful innovations. Please enjoy PUBiC Journal issue no. 2 as much as we have enjoyed putting it together!
Matthew Linden, Founder & Publisher
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IN THISISSUE
THOUGH EVERy DESIGNER THAT CHOOSES to have a profound impact for the greater good deserves to be found within these pages, we took the opportunity with this issue to highlight a collection of design with impact far beyond contemporary interpretation. Architecture has the opportunity to create multiple stories of impact through just one created space. The impact can be seen through the process, such as in the lives of the designers or construction workers. it can be found in those that occupy the space after it has been constructed. Sometimes the impact can’t be seen with an untrained eye, and sometimes it can’t be felt for many years. But those projects that can do all of these things are very special to me. This architecture should be celebrated. As Samuel
Mockbee once said, “architecture has to be greater than just architecture. it has to address social values, as well as technical and aesthetic values.”
This second issue of PUBLiC Journal meets Mockbee’s challenge head on. Our contributors have brought together a group of stories that examine how architecture and the process of design can change lives - sometimes for years to come. We examine how Jensen Architects’ SHED in Healdsburg, Calif. tells the story of how re-imaging the space for the Grange movement can help breath life into small towns. Two projects from two different universities (Tulane and Virginia Tech) help to illustrate how teaching the next generation of change-makers is essential for the future of architecture. We also take a trip across the pond, yet again, to Africa, where we see how a project
can help to bring economy and social sustainability to a community in need.
Through it all, our staff and contributors have worked to bring each of these specific stories to life through the words on these pages. We hope that you find strength and passion to create change just as many of these designers have. i invite you to BE the movement!
Andrew C. Goodwin, AIA, LEED APEditor-in-Chief
EDITOR’S LETTER
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
CONTRIBUTORS
GILAD MERON is an independent designer, researcher, and writer focused on community-based design practices and design education. His current work includes research and program development for the Autodesk Foundation, strategy and visual communication for Enterprise Community Partners, and writing for PublicInterestDesign.org. Gilad also recently co-founded a research collaborative that explores emerging models of public interest and social impact design firms.
MARISSA FEDDEMA is a designer with Brooklyn-based architecture firm Cycle. She also helps manages Big Future Group, a new nonprofit that brings sustainable solutions to developing communities.
KATIE CREPEAU is an architect and writer who focuses on design, social
enterprise, and environmental stewardship. She is editor
at PublicInterestDesign.org, founder of DesignAffects.com,
and consults on community projects in her new home city
of London, England.
+PubLIc JOuRnaL wOuLD LIkE TO Thank ThIS ISSuE’S cOnTRIbuTORS fOR ThEIR DEDIcaTIOn.
JEANIE RIESS is a staff writer at The Gambit, new Orleans’ alt-weekly. She enjoys writing about cities and the good and bad things that happen in them.
TOM DI SANTO, AIA is the Principal Architect of M:oME
and an Associate Professor in the Architecture Department
at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, where he teaches
design, theory, representation and the implementation of sustainable principles. His
interests range from family to watercolors, from poetry to music, from furniture to
design-build.
a LOOk aT nEwS fROm ThE PaST quaRTER. bROughT TO PubLIc JOuRnaL by
PubLIcInTERESTDESIgn.ORgan EvOLvIng RESOuRcE Of ThE auTODESk fOunDaTIOn
04.222014 Berkeley Prize WinnersUniversity of California, Berkeley professor and competition founder Raymond Lifchez announced the winners of the sixteenth annual international Berkeley Prize Competition. This year’s competition invited students to explore the topic of “The Architect and the Healthful Environment” by responding to the question of “How do you design a healthful environment?” in total, 141 students representing 28 countries participated in the competition.
Through three distinct competitions–the Essay Competition; the Travel Fellowship; and the Teaching Fellowship–the international Berkeley Prize competition encourages undergraduate architecture students and their teachers worldwide to go into their communities for the purpose of thinking and writing about issues central to the understanding of the social art of architecture.
n April, nonprofit design champion Design ignites Change released the winners of the 2014 Student
innovation Awards for social design projects that “range from the pragmatic to the provocative, from the feasible to the fanciful, as long as they address a pressing social need within a community and apply innovation and design thinking to solve a problem.” From a community park to medication communication, we’re encouraged to see more and more design students immersing themselves in real-world problems and garnering recognition and support for their efforts.
$1,000 Award WinnersMedication Communication: Helping patients stick to their medication regimen / Laura Brewer-Yarnall, Maryland institute College of Design.
i
Design Ignites Change 2014 Student Awards
After Suicide: Support for loosing a loved one to suicide / Bridget Dearborn, School of Visual Arts
$500 Award Winners.RAXSA: Functional shelter for street merchants in India / Max Berney, Maureen Mullins and Jeff Pettit, Virginia Tech.Just Drop: Encouraging donations through a P-O-P display / Clark Svet and Bryan Burk, Missouri State University.IRIS: Better communication in high-risk medical environments / Claire Sakaguchi, Sara Birns and Curtis Logan Olson, the University of Oregon.Whitelock Community Park: Residents in Baltimore finally get the park they’ve been promised / Andrea Brown and Byron Banghart, Maryland institute College of Design.
04.15
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
04.10New Social Innovation Resource: SOCINNA new site dedicated to social innovation has recently shown up on our radar. Under the tagline “Let’s design the future of our dreams,” the straightforward and simple SOCinn has five areas–Go, Work, Learn, Fund, and Look–ready and available for anyone looking to learn, explore, or find resources for social innovation. From an extensive list of funding options to a global events calendar, we are sure you’ll find something of interest! Visit www.socinn.org.
Harvard Graduate School of Design’s esteemed Loeb Fellowship recently announced ten design practitioners who will be joining the 2014-2015 residency. From sustainable agriculture and food security to traditional practices for tribal community development to water rights and coastal resiliency, the Fellows represent a wide spectrum of people who are “logging extraordinary successes to achieve equity and enhance our built and natural environment.”
Gísli Marteinn Baldursson, former city councilor and television talk show host.Jamie Blosser, architect at Sustainable native Communities Collaborative.Scott Campbell, director at Palmer Land TrustShahira Fahmy, Cairo-based architect.LaShawn Hoffman, CEO at Pittsburgh Community improvement Association.Andrew Howard, co-founder of Better Block and principal at Team Better Block.Maria Jaakkola, director of Helsinki City Planning Department Environmental Office.Thaddeus Pawlowski, planning advisor at nYC Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations.Marc Norman, director of UPSTATE at Syracuse University School of Architecture.Kolu Zigbi, program director for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at the Jessie Smith noyes Foundation.
in May, President Obama announced nominations for key Administration posts. Amongst the list of thirteen nominees was Dr. John Maeda, a Design Partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and former President of the Rhode island School of Design. Maeda is a nominee for Member of the national Council on the Arts, an advisory group for the national Endowment for the Arts (nEA) that reviews and makes recommendations on policies, programs, grants, funding guidelines, and leadership initiatives. Maeda’s experience and leadership in design and technology will bring a new perspective to the Council’s diverse membership group, which includes musicians, a philanthropist, an attorney, a fundraising consultant, an urban planner, dancers, and even a farmer.
John Maeda Nominated for
Administration Post
+ NEWS
05.07
2014-2015 Loeb Fellows Announced
04.30
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On Friday, May 2nd in new York City, D-Rev CEO Krista Donaldson was presented with the prestigious 2014 Alva Award during the annual 99U Conference. Created by Behance‘s 99U with support from GE, the award honors “those who are helping to shape the future by putting ideas into action.” Joining previous winners Sebastian Thrun of Udacity and Tony Fadell of nest, Donaldson is the first woman to be selected by the esteemed
judging panel as a “great inventor” who is solving problems, addressing real needs, and making the world work better. We could not agree more.Whether she’s creating an inexpensive, state-of-the-art prosthetic knee or inventing new ways to fight jaundice, Donaldson uses design and pure grit to solve the world’s biggest problems affordably. Visit d-rev.org.
2014 Alva Award Bestowed On Krista Donaldson
Jonathan Kirschenfeld
Receives Richardson
Award
Watch! MASS on “Beyond Sustainability”
05.14
04.29
he AIA New york State chapter awarded the H.H. Richardson Award
for Public Architecture to Jonathan Kirschenfeld, architect and founder of the new Institute for Public Architecture. Kirschenfeld was recognized for the nearly 30 years of work on environmentally- and socially-sustainable projects, including the recent Floating Pool moored along New york City’s riverfronts. From supportive housing to recreation facilities to child care, Kirschenfeld’s long-term commitment to public architecture for underserved populations is wholeheartedly commendable.
Wanting to make meaningful civic contributions through architecture, I embarked in the mid-1990s on a quest to create low-income housing and urban projects for not-for-profit clients with minuscule budgets, supporting underserved populations. Embedded in housing is social engagement. I have taken great pride in serving typically-forgotten clients and making contributions to the design of the public realm. There were times, however, when I was ready to throw in the towel, when my sense of isolation from the profession itself was painfully real and when the idea of creating luxury buildings, with a decent salary, was very appealing. What I did not have through these years, and what I would like now to help create, is a community of like-minded design practitioners working towards the diverse but common goal of high quality public architecture.
T
vimeo.com/90841025
04.8
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
Watch! David Damberger on Learning from Failure” fOR DaILy nEwS
abOuT ThE fIELD, vISIT PubLIcInTERESTDESIgn.ORg
During the 2013 Clinton Global initiative (CGi) Annual Meeting, Autodesk launched the Technology impact Program to provide the latest professional software to 500 nonprofit organizations—a commitment worth an outstanding $7.5 million. The program has delivered software suites, including Building Design Suite Premium, Product Design Suite Premium, infrastructure Design Suite Premium, and Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate, to over 200 nonprofits thus far with hundreds morel available. Along with program recipients MASS, D-Rev, and KickStart, the disaster relief housing nonprofit Build Change has benefited from the Technology impact Program.
Autodesk Tech Impact Recipient: Build Change
06.04
Operating under the tagline “Fostering sustainable communities in the United States,” the Surdna Foundation has developed the Thriving Cultures program to support artists, architects, and designers working in community engaged design. For this quarter of 2014, the foundation awarded eight grants totalling an outstanding $845,000 to organizations that “combine artistic and design practice with authentic engagement of neighborhood residents and community organizations.” Grantees include the Kounkuey Design initiative, Skid Row Housing Trust, the Center for Sustainable Development, Michael Singer Studio, the People’s Emergency Center, MiT Community innovators Lab (CoLab), Turner World Productions, and Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. Surdna’s Director of the Thriving Cultures Program Judilee Reed describes the investment in professional activities: Surdna is supporting an approach to design that recasts the traditional top-down method to urban and regional planning, design, and architecture, to one that prioritizes an understanding of the way people live and work in their communities. This focus on professional practice is one that requires prioritizing partnerships based on trust and genuine dialogue that results in projects that are driven by a shared understanding of communities’ needs, values, and aspirations.
Surdna Awards $845K to Community Design Orgs
05.30
Founded in 2004, Build Change designs earthquake-resistant houses in developing countries while simultaneously training builders, homeowners, engineers, and government officials to build them. The organization is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and works with communities affected by earthquakes and hurricanes in China, Colombia, Haiti, indonesia, and the Philippines. in the ten years of operation, Build Change has built over 19,000 safer homes and empowered nearly 9,000 homeowners–and is still counting. As seen in their extensive Technical Resources library, having access to quality software significantly helps in communicating how to build safer homes in vulnerable areas of the world.
youtube.com/watch?v=HGiHU-agsGY
04.26
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Crisis as Catalyst inscape Studio was formed in 1998 and steadily grew over the following decade, but, when the economy crashed in 2008, the firm was forced to downsize from a 12-person studio to a 3-person studio. Like many other architecture firms, it was a tough time for inscape Studio, but it also presented an opportunity for the principal and director to rethink the way the firm operated. “The recession was really a catalyst for us, i had always thought about having a nonprofit design firm, and the economic crash really got the wheels turning on that idea,” says Greg Kearley, the founder and principal at inscape Studio, who holds both an MBA and M.Arch.
inscape Studio was built off of Kearley’s passion for working with community organizations. His experience working with local nonprofits and sitting on a number of nonprofit boards allowed him to understand the key issue organizations face in working with a design firm; they often couldn’t afford the early-phase design services that would give them the vision and
While the past decade has seen an explosion of so called “public interest”
or “social impact” design projects, there remains a gap in our understanding of
exactly how this work gets done. What are the business models and organizational
structures around this type of work?
This new section of PUBLIC Journal will be focused on just that. Each issue
we’ll highlight a different firm that has developed a viable business model
around public interest design projects and shed light on how it operates.
This issue showcases Inscape Studio / Inscape Publico, a hybrid firm based out of Washington, D.C. that blends its traditional
for-profit ‘Studio’ side with its nonprofit ‘Publico’ side in order to provide services
to community groups and cultivate a portfolio of public interest projects.
A hyBRID FIRM BASED IN WAShINgTON, D.C. ThAT BLENDS A TRADITIONAL FOR-PROFIT ‘SIDE WITh A
NONPROFIT SIDE IN ORDER TO PROvIDE SERvICES TO COMMUNITy gROUPS AND CULTIvATE A PORTFOLIO OF
PUBLIC INTEREST PROJECTS.
PUBLICOINSCAPE
PUBLIC design humanity
Summer 2014
materials they needed to raise money. The firm had already been helping local nonprofits overcome this challenge for some time, but they were limited in the amount of time they could invest.
Stefan Schwarzkopf joined inscape Studio in 2009, and, as he and Kearley worked to rebuild the firm, they began a series of discussions where they worked out the model for inscape Publico and made the decision to launch. “in creating Publico, we really were just formalizing what we were already doing and creating a mechanism that would allow us to do more of it with greater efficiencly. At the same time, we knew it would provide some great diversity of projects for the office and thus help Studio as well.”
Studio/Publico: A Hybrid Model The team founded inscape Publico, a nonprofit that would function as an autonomous arm of their existing firm to work exclusively with nonprofits. The goal was to create a symbioses; inscape Publico raises funds as a nonprofit and serves community organizations by taking their projects through the schematic design phase (thus providing them the materials they need to seek funding for built work), while inscape Studio runs its own range of projects, and is fed in part with work from the nonprofits that inscape Publico works with once funding is secured. Publico provides nonprofits with highly detailed schematic design packages that help them apply for grants, connect with potential funders, gain board approvals, and feasibly push projects forward. After nonprofits raise money for their projects, they are free to take the plans to another architect for construction documentation and administration, or bring them back to inscape and work with the Studio side at market rates. Over the past few years, Kearley and Schwarzkopf have seen that most nonprofits that inscape Publico works with do, in fact, choose to come back and hire inscape Studio to complete the project.
A crucial part of the model is the organizational structure; Publico does not have any architects on staff. in truth, Publico is just a shell, a middle-man of sorts. Although Publico is the entity working with nonprofits, all the design work for its nonprofit partners is subcontracted out to inscape Studio. This means that Publico avoids the need for liability insurance, payroll services, administrative staff, and many other requirements a typical architecture firm has. But the work inscape Studio does for Publico is typically done at 20-30 cents on the dollar, which means Publico’s 501(c)(3) status is crucial to their financial sustainability because it allows the organization to fundraise and apply for grants. Design services are significantly discounted, but not free, which helps focus inscape Publico’s services only on committed clients. As Kearley reflects, “if you can’t spend $4,000 to get the ball rolling on a $2 million project, then you’re probably not very serious about the project to begin with.”
For example, Publico charged $7,500 for a recent project they worked on, providing services that would cost about $35,000 elsewhere. Publico’s ability to raise funds is critical to their model because it allows them make up the difference. This happens through fundraising and grant writing, both of which Publico recognizes as crucial aspects of making their model work and are not typically skills an architect has.
GAINING TRACTION Publico’s projects for nonprofit clients now makes up about 40% of the firm’s workload. Kearley credits his and his firm’s early experience with nonprofits for Publico’s initial success. “it was really important that we had inscape Studio established before we started Publico. it gave us credibility, experience, and networks. We already had a portfolio and a reputation, and that was great leverage.” The public-interest focus of inscape’s work is also
attractive to the kinds of employees and coworkers the firm seeks to attract: passionate, intelligent, and value-driven individuals.
“The problem is that for the first two years, we’ve been essentially loosing money on this,” admits Kearley. Many months he has not paid himself in order to keep Publico going, but clearly that’s not sustainable long term. This comes back to the model; by establishing inscape Publico as a 501(c)3 it allows the firm to raise funds on its own to, essentially covering the losses from inscape Studio providing schematic design packages for 20-30 cents on the dollar. However, they’ve learned that establishing credibility with funders takes time. Although they’ve received a few grants recently, the financial viability of Publico has relied on Kearley taking a financial hit to get it off the ground. He’s aware of this, but not very worried.
“it’s the same as starting any new business, you aren’t going to be profitable right from the start and you’re probably going to be in debt for the first few years.” Publico has recently been gaining more visibility, with major design publications highlighting their work and being invited to speak at conferences. Kearley and Schwarzkopf are confident that Publico is simply in its infancy, and their model will very soon be entirely self-sustaining.
To help work towards that future, Kearley and Schwarzkopf plan to hire a development director, someone who not only has the ability to discuss and communicate the value of design, but also has experience with fundraising, grant writing and foundation relationships, something that they know is delicate and requires specific expertise that designers and architects typically don’t have. They also have ideas about potentially untapped opportunities for funding in the construction world, such as encouraging contractors and other partner companies to donate time or money in the schematic phase of a project, which would put them in a better position in the bid phase of a project and provide some great PR. “Essentially they are investing in the project at an early stage and they will see the ROi long term, and at the same time they can publicize that they are doing these pro-bono sessions for great community clients, so they are also really helping themselves in terms of their image and reputation. not only are they are seen as a socially responsible firm, but if the projects do move forward it will bring more business right back to them!”
Kearly also emphasized that another key aspect in raising funds for nonprofit design work is understanding the specific angles of interest. Funders and companies alike are typically interested in supporting specific focus areas, whether it’s a specific city or region, a CSR initiative with a specific focus area, or a desire to help a specific population in their community. Publico has learned that it’s about understanding the various perspectives of a project and doing very targeted fundraising to show funders how your work is helping to achieve their goals.
A PROTOTYPICAL MODEL While Kearley, Schwarzkopf, and the inscape staff are deeply embedded in the issues of their locale, they believe the hybrid model they’ve developed is a widely replicable prototype that could strengthen the fabric of nonprofits in cities around the country, and provide architects with an outlet for meaningful civic work. They believe that there could be a Publico/Studio model in every city, and more ambitiously, they wonder what types of monumental impact a firm at the scale of Gensler or HOK could have if they adopted this model?
By: Gilad Meron & Mia Scharphie of Proactive PracticesPhoto: Inscape Studio / Inscape PublicoProactive Practices is a research collaborative that explores emerging models of public-interest and social-impact design by examining the strategies, methods, and approaches that leaders and pioneers in the field are using to build sustainable models of practice.
+ BUSINESS
|13
Cameron Hempstead
EASTERN UGANDA
Kumbo
Derek McFarland
CAMEROON
Jessica Labac
DdegyaUganda
Paige Taff
PHILLIPINES
Univ. of
San Francisco
Students & Staff
TANZANIA
JI’s Red Studio
TANZANIA
JI’s Red Studio
RWANDA
Journeyman InternationalA 501(c)3 non-proot that matches university architecture thesis projects with real
world humanitarian construction needs. Find out more at www.journeymaninternational.org
+ EDITORIAL
in the United States, student loan debt is a debilitating prospect for our youth. According to a report from Bloomberg1, the student debt our young people have amassed is now up to $1.2 trillion. For context, this figure is at an all-time high and is more than outstanding credit card debt among Americans from students to pensioners and everyone in between. Although the burden is carried on the backs of our youngest generations, it hurts everyone because the extra weight prevents the young from making purchases that strengthen our economy. The debt often times can keep them from buying cars or homes. They can’t start up a business, save for retirement, travel or otherwise prop up other parts of the economy. At the time of this writing, efforts were underway to help reduce the interest rates for present student loans and aid in refinancing past loans. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sponsored legislation in Congress2, but on Wednesday the 11th of June, the bill was blocked by 38 votes against only 56 votes in favor. The issue remains, however. We need to invest in the next generation. All great nations have understood this important link to the future.
Fortunately, there is additional legislation underway in the House of Representatives sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter from Colorado to make a small dent in the student loan crisis. Upon the urging of the American institute of Architects (AiA), Rep. Perlmutter introduced in March of this year the H.R. 42053, the national Design Services Act, which allows loan forgiveness for graduates of architecture programs in exchange for their work in the public interest design sector.
Architecture graduates represent a perfect opportunity for debt relief from the government, because they combine skill, design ability, alacrity and a growing willingness to help out communities in need. Many architecture students produce humanitarian design projects in their academic formations. To borrow a phrase from Cameron Sinclair, former head of Architecture for
Humanity, “They design like they give a damn4.” Architecture graduates can contribute to house low-income families and the homeless. They work to improve poor urban conditions and food deserts in impoverished communities. They have great passion for helping communities recover from devastating disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornados and other events that destroy the built environment. in addition, architecture students tend to carry more student loan debt than graduates of other departments because their accredited undergraduate programs last at least five years. A 2012 survey by the AiA revealed that students graduating from architecture schools carry on average $40,000 of student loan debt.
Finally, all citizens benefit from such legislation because architecture is at the apex of a design and construction industry that accounts for one in nine dollars of Gross Domestic Product. According to the AiA, every $1 million that gets pumped into design and construction yields about 28.5 full-time jobs. When a client hires an architect, an additional 30 jobs are created. Architects are the first professionals at the leading edge of an industry making sure buildings are safe, accessible and beautiful while following established building codes; therefore, it is even more important to keep these graduates in the profession. There are other professions that benefit the general public that also have federal policies encouraging students and recent graduates to work in underserved communities in exchange for debt relief. There are federal loan forgiveness programs in medicine, law, and veterinary services; ergo, the precedent has been set.
Let’s make it our priority to invest in the next generation and our future leaders. Architecture students have the enthusiasm and ability to contribute to public interest design and other humanitarian concerns. We have the ability to make a small dent in the student loan crisis, but we need Congress to make it happen. Talk to your representatives in the House to support or co-sponsor H.R.4205 - the national Design Services Act. in addition, please encourage your senators to sponsor a similar bill in the Senate. Together, we can solve these multiple complex problems with one simple solution.
PUBLIC INTEREST DESIgN AND ThE STUDENT LOAN CRISIS.
FORGIVE AND FORGET: By: Tom di Santo, AIAPhoto: Jeffrey Zeldman
ThE aIa anD PubLIc
InTEREST DESIgn
Cameron Hempstead
EASTERN UGANDA
Kumbo
Derek McFarland
CAMEROON
Jessica Labac
DdegyaUganda
Paige Taff
PHILLIPINES
Univ. of
San Francisco
Students & Staff
TANZANIA
JI’s Red Studio
TANZANIA
JI’s Red Studio
RWANDA
Journeyman InternationalA 501(c)3 non-proot that matches university architecture thesis projects with real
world humanitarian construction needs. Find out more at www.journeymaninternational.org
|15
By: Andrew C. GoodwinPhotos: Swings For Dreams
IT WAS IN THE SLUMS OF SOUTH AFRICA and in eyes of the children at Ratang Bana Orphanage that a team of landscape architecture students saw hope and a possibility for a lifelong adventure. From only a few weeks building a play space, a lasting change was created for a community that needed it. During that summer, in 2013, two landscape architecture students decided that their experience at Ratang Bana was worth much more to them than a job in corporate America, and founded the nonprofit Swings for Dreams. The founders, Michael Aguas and nicholas Tuttle, along with fellow students, successfully started this grassroots organization with a mission to improve the lives of children in third-world and developing countries through the design and construction of safe, sustainable, and culturally sensitive play spaces.
Swings for Dreams is a by-product of a summer work/study program led by Professor David Watts of the Landscape Architecture Department of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Professor Watts, working under his for-profit company, Watts Landscaping Services, took a group of student interns to Alexander Township, South Africa to build a play space for the Ratang Bana Orphanage. With funding from nonprofit and private donors, the team was able to partner with locals to build out a fully landscaped play space, which has truly helped to change the community. Tuttle, one of the students involved, said that the most impressive comment he received after the fact was when they, “asked those people who showed up every single day how this place was going to be up kept, they said that their homes were staring into this space, and this was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen”. When such a dramatically positive change occurs in a community, often times people fight to keep that change alive. “You will never fully understand why we do what we do until you actually go out there and see it hands-on, because it doesn’t make sense to anybody until you are there,” said Tuttle of his experience in South Africa. “Once i stepped foot out there my passion grew.” Aguas and Tuttle, who are still students at Cal Poly, are working day and night with the team at Swings for Dreams to help people understand the passion of which Tuttle speaks.
SwingS For DreamSLANDSCAPE ARChITECTURE STUDENTS CREATE NONPROFIT TO ChANgE ChILDREN’S’ LIvES.
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For their work in South Africa, Swings for Dreams often cites the fact that 3.85 million orphans live in the country. Without parents, they have found that often times orphans quit school, and end up homeless and hopeless. Aguas and Tuttle feel that the construction of safe outdoor play spaces can help to increase school attendance and combat the tragic loss of childhood. This year, the Swings for Dreams team is working yet again in South Africa in the town of nieu Bethesda. This project will provide a landscape play space for children to enjoy safe structures, under shaded trees. Aguas,
Tuttle and the rest of the team are living the Cal Poly motto, “learn by doing” through these projects. And they have taken the initiative to alter it for their own motto of “learn by providing.” “We are taking resources that we have learned as students and provide them to the people that don’t have the ability to learn these types of things,” states Aguas in reference to their new project. “We are going to be teaching kids what we are doing outside, not just constructing and being disconnected from the kids. We are going to be teaching them about sustainability and landscape architecture.” not only does Swings for Dreams want to help create the next generation of landscapers and designers, but they hope to teach people what it means to selflessly give back to others that need help. The mission and drive of this group of empowered university students is very clear. Swings for Dreams is here to stay, and they are even currently expanding their operations to other countries. “My ten year plan is for Swings for Dreams to have an impact and a project on every continent,” Tuttle describes. But like every nonprofit they need help from those that share their vision. They have recently launched an indiGoGo campaign to help with the fundraising of their current project in South Africa. Their hope is that they can touch over a million children’s lives over the next ten years. They have sounded the call, and are waiting for those that can answer.
+ EDUCATION
Swings for Dreams JuniorsWorking alongside Aguas and Tuttle is another valiant warrior in bringing Swings for Dreams’ landscape architecture work to the forefront. Her name is Erica Monson. Monson is the organization’s youth Outreach Coordinator, and she has taken the Swings for Dreams mission to high school classrooms in America with a program called Swings for Dreams Juniors. Swings for Dreams Juniors is the answer to the question “what are you (Swings for Dreams) doing for our children in America”? Monson describes the program of Swings for Dreams Juniors as “a High School club that teaches the students about landscape architecture and design, and also about community involvement. That way they can be involved in helping and connecting with the children we are going to visit. Also, hopefully they will go out there someday too.”
“Once I stepped my
foot out there my passion
grew”
OuR nExT
gEnERaTIOn
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the SheDA MODERN gRANgE IN hEALDSBURg
By: Andrew C. GoodwinPhotos: Mariko ReedSketches: Jensen Architects
THE BELIEF THAT A BUILDING and a business can enhance a community has painted a beautiful picture in the once great farming community of Healdsburg, Calif. now a center for sustainable farming and wine-making, this small town has shown its passion for community-centric designs
with the addition of Jensen Architects’ SHED. This adaptation of the modern Grange has become a hub of sustainable activity for this town in Sonoma County, and the model of SHED has implications that could help rebuild many of America’s small towns. SHED founders Cindy Daniel and Doug Lipton moved to the area in the mid-1990s and became entrenched in the region’s sustainable farming community. Their small farm in the Dry Creek Valley outside of Healdsburg helped to open their eyes to
the beauty of the complete and sustainable cycle of growing, preparing, and enjoying food. For years, Daniel and Lipton had a dream of opening a store based on this principle, and this dream matured with help from these words: “an agrarian mind begins with the love of the fields and ramifies in good farming, good cooking, and good eating.” This inspiration from prolific author Wendell Berry shook loose the ideas and formed SHED’s ideals, which have seemingly reimagined the modern Grange.
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that still hamper American cities by creating a deeper connection within communities in order to create lasting friendships. Much like the principles of the Grange, Healdsburg’s SHED is built around the ideas of preparing food, gathering people together, and teaching the community about a more sustainable future. “i wanted to create a place that illustrated the whole food cycle: how do we grow food, how do we cook food, and how do we come together around food,” describes Cindy Daniel when asked about why SHED was born. As the history of the Grange tells us, this connection to food that Daniel is so passionate about is not new and has not disappeared from our culture. Through creative business and community models it is seeing a resurgence. SHED is a combination of a commercial center for food, wine, and tools, and a community for those interested in learning more about the agricultural world. This building exemplifies an adaptation to an age old community through commercialization, and it may be something to help bring the younger generations into the agricultural profession.
ThE NATIONAL GRANGE: ADAPTED Founded in 1867 as a fraternal organization that advocates for agriculture and rural America, the national Grange is a nonprofit organization, “with a strong history in grassroots activism, family values and community service.” The Grange was founded by a group of men, led by Oliver Hudson Kelly, in an effort to protect farmers after the Civil War. Essentially a political movement, the Grange quickly exploded to over 1,000 fraternal organization just 5 years after its formation. Today, California alone has over 12,000 members and 200 Granges. As an organization, the Grange continues to contribute to the small town values that originally made this brotherhood an attractive order in towns across America. The Grange brings community members together with a focus on food, farming, and helpful education. The Grange ultimately promotes a more sustainable future. At the root of this definition of sustainability is the need to provide solutions for environmental, economic and social issues. Of these three issues, the Grange offers an opportunity to improve upon social issues
Previous Spread: Main entrance on north Street.Left: First floor of the building.(Sketch: Jensen Architects) Top Right: Outdoor seating on north Street.
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ThE MUCh LARGER CONTExT
The purpose of SHED actually sheds light on a much bigger movement. The U.S. Department of Agriculture published a report showing that between 1998 and 2009 farmers markets in America nearly doubled. Over 5,200 markets now exist where local goods can be purchased by communities with a much bigger interest in keeping jobs, revenues, and food local. The “Sustainability” movement touched America with great ferocity over the past two decades, and the public became well aware that sustainability also meant keeping local economies fueled through community support. in terms of farming, not only do local farmer’s markets help keep jobs in the community, but it also reduces the carbon footprint required to bring food to the table. Mother nature would stand up and shake these community’s hands for becoming “locavores.” Jessica Prentice, a Berekley, Calif.-based chef, coined the term “locavore” which is defined as a movement in which people seek to eat locally grown foods. Though “local” is defined as those foods available within a 100-mile radius, in an interview with the Associated Press Prentice commented that locavorism was much more about “buying from people that you know or can meet and… buying food grown in a place that you can easily drive to and see.” in 2012, the first Locavore index was released by the Vermont-based community agriculture organization, Strolling of the Heffers, where they analyzed data from the USDA and U.S. Census to find out that the number of farmers markets and Community Supported Agricultural enterprises are on the rise around the nation. Eating and buying local produce was having a tremendous impact on local farmers, and local farmer’s markets; it even was helping to revitalize some small towns. in 2011, the nonprofit Project H even showed the world how a simple building dedicated to helping promote local farmer’s markets could revitalize small towns. Project H, an organization that empowers high school students through a classroom-based design-build program for public design projects, built a 2,000-square-foot farmer’s market pavilion for the town of Windsor in Bertie County, n.C. The story of this project, the Windsor Super Market, has been covered in many main stream media outlets, and even a documentary film entitled “if You Build it”. The success of the project, according to Project H, is measured in the fact that two new businesses and 15 new jobs were created because of this pavilion building. The connection between local farmer’s markets and small town economies is definitely apparent in even the smallest of rural towns. The correlating factor between the Windsor Super Market and Healdsburg’s SHED is the presence of a building, structure, or space dedicated to advocating for farming.
Above: Second floor of the building.
(Sketch: Jensen Architects)Right: Outdoor Deck
adjacent to raingarden.
ThE LOVE STORY
Daniel recalls that the idea of SHED “came from [their] lives, [their] interest in food, from being part of the community, and wanting to personally create a place where all the things [they] were interested in were under one roof”. The idea did not come from some spur-of-the-moment entrepreneurial scheme or fleeting fascination. Daniel and Lipton met in college, and at that time Daniel recalls that she became fascinated in both Lipton and farming after seeing Lipton creating his own composting bin. Their collective love-affair with the land began long before Healdsburg was their home. The two have now spent decades in the Healdsburg area and have really become entrenched in farming and sustainable practices. SHED was not only born from the need to provide an outlet for their own local farm and produce, but also from a desire to enrich the community through a multi-faceted store. in 2009, when Daniel and Lipton approached Jensen Architects, the program and ideas were pretty well-developed. Daniel and Lipton approached Jenson Architects because of their
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Summer 2014
interest in a building typology from a previous building the firm designed for the California College of the Arts. The precedent that they liked was a modern interpretation of the old barn building typology. For years, Daniel and Lipton had been mesmerized by the many barns in the Healdsburg region, so much that Daniel said it took a lot of effort to not stop every five minutes and show a “new”-old barn to their children. Lucky for the design team, Principal Architect Mark Jensen was very familiar with the region. His own father still resides near Healdsburg. The project seemed like a slam dunk since Jensen, Daniel, and Lipton shared a common love for the region and the architectural typology.
DESIGNING FOR ThE COMMUNITY
Led by Mark Jensen and Project Architect Lincoln Lighthill, the design team began diving into the well-developed program, and analyzing the site their client had chosen in downtown Healdsburg.
The client’s site had a couple great things going for it, according to Lighthill. not only was the site close to the downtown square, which made it accessible to pedestrian traffic, but it also was located across the street from the existing Saturday farmer’s market. Therefore, the design team knew that it was important to design spaces such as a pedestrian friendly front plaza into the project in order to stitch together the urban fabric of what already existed, contextually. Concurrently, the team recognized that the client’s desire for the design to reflect a barn vernacular would not be too far of a stretch for the community to approve this modern project. With the help of their consultants and their sustainably-minded manufacturers, the team quickly settled on a pre-fabricated metal building frame, commonly known as a Butler Building, as their structural system. “Butler Building” is a common construction term to represent similar metal building systems, which was named after the Butler Manufacturing Company which manufactures this pre-fabricated metal
building system. The Butler Building frame was a construction system that “represented both the barn shape and connection to that rural heritage, as well as a very forward thinking and modern way of building,” said Lighthill. Combined with an insulated metal wall panel system, this building envelope is composed of 70% recycled steel and assembled in a way to reduce construction energy demand. Other sustainable initiatives utilized in the design of SHED included: an energy-efficient HVAC system, photovoltaic panels, natural ventilation, natural sun-shading, pervious pavement, and a restoration of the adjacent riparian creekside habitat. A ten foot wide planter bed between the creek and SHED was turned into a rain-garden in order to retain 100% of the site’s rainwater before slowly discharging into the creek. This rain-garden doesn’t just help to prevent flooding during rainstorms, but it has also been designed to teach visitors about creek restoration and stormwater. The team realized that this building could be just as much an educational tool for the community as it could be a beautiful piece of architecture.
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Top Left: Kitchen.Top Right: Housewares.
Middle Right: Fermentation Bar.
Bottom Right: Farm & Garden
next Spread:Top Left: Outdoor Deck.
Right: The Grange-Flexible Event Space.
This helped to propagate Daniel and Lipton’s commitment to sustainability for all aspects of SHED. As the building’s design began to take shape, the use of local labor and craftsmen became increasingly important to the team. Daniel and Lipton also felt that if this was going to be a building for Healdsburg, then engaging local construction businesses would help instill a sense of ownership and pride in the community. it was a successful idea. Lighthill recalls that that he “had the Chief Building inspector say to [him] how thankful he was for how many local people were kept employed by the project at a time when jobs were so scarce”. Literally, since SHED was designed as a pre-engineered shell, the expansive interior space became a blank canvas for the work of local craftsmen. Salvaged wood, locally sourced artisan tile, perforated metal, stone, and glazing are a few of the materials that represent work from locals. Having the building be constructed by local groups also helped to keep the negative environmental impact from the construction low. Less distance to travel for contractors and subcontractors meant a smaller carbon-footprint. Therefore, Daniel and Lipton ultimately got their sustainable, home-grown business, to be designed in a way that not only touched the local economy, but also the environment.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE FOR ThE PUBLIC’S FUTURE
Since SHED’s completion in March of 2013, the community of Healdsburg, and the flocks of tourists that come to Sonoma County, have experienced this building as a melting pot of activity. Just as Daniel and Lipton originally programmed, SHED is a myriad of spaces dedicated to sustainable farming lifestyle. The
slew of program spaces inside this 10,800 square-foot agrarian building include a coffee bar, a fermentation bar, an artisan café, a communal kitchen, a store full of local and artisan products, and a large meeting space. People come to SHED to eat and drink from a variety of “locavore” products in their cafe. Sustainably sourced goods sit next to well-crafted cookware and garden tools in SHED’s store. Most importantly, the large, sun-drenched second floor meeting room, known as “the Grange,” has adopted the characteristics of its namesake organization, and it brings people together for a variety of events focused on community. Recently, speakers such as Michael Pollan, Davia nelson, and Severine von Tscharner Fleming have graced the building in order to present in front of hundreds of locals. “The client had the public good in mind,” says Lighthill about SHED, “and in a time of dwindling public resources we often see private enterprise stepping into the gap”. SHED ultimately promotes how a community can become resilient by relying on one another for the bare essentials. Sometimes the bare essentials means educating someone on how to live sustainably. in this culture and economy, the most important component, when it comes to resiliency, is your community. Will those people in your community knock on your door and help you when you are in need? SHED provides a place for people to eat, shop, learn, and meet. SHED and its programs are more about creating a resilient community than any other local commercial enterprise in recent history. There is no doubt that Cindy and Doug’s dream turned reality will be a case study for how architecture and entrepreneurialism can help draw a community back to its roots.
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Healdsburg, CA, United States
Cindy Daniel and Doug Lipton
Cafe, Retail, Event Space
March 2013
Jensen Architects
Russian Riverkeeper, Don McEnhill
CBC Steel Buildings, ZFA Structural Engineers
Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers
Jensen Architects
Lavish Automation
Terry Hill
Oliver & Company
PROJECT LOCATION
OWNER/CLIENT
TYPE OF BUSINESS/USE
DATE OF COMPLETION
ARCHITECT
LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
LIGHTING DESIGN
AUDIO VISUAL
ACOUSTICAL
CONTRACTOR
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after the
storm
after the
stormThE STORy OF ThE TULANE CITy CENTER.
By: Jeanie RiessPhotos: Will Crocker and Sarah Satterlee IN 2005, AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA and the federal levee failures left more than 60 percent of the New Orleans housing stock under water, everyone from designers to residents to developers to architects had big plans for how the city should turn unprecedented loss into much needed growth.
Though ambition in the wake of disaster is never a bad thing, it was easy to get frustrated by just how much time long-term planning takes. Emilie Taylor, at the time a student of the Tulane School of Architecture, began to see community members get disillusioned in the months following Katrina. Thus, Tulane City Center, the public outreach arm of the Tulane School of Architecture, initially focused on small-scale projects, taking an incremental approach as it began its contribution to rebuilding New Orleans. Taylor, who is now the Center’s Design/Build Manager, says it was important to focus on short-term wins before moving on to the larger scale projects.
“People would go to charrettes and nothing would happen, and people would lose faith,” she says. “We called it planning fatigue, because people would go to all these planning meetings. Planning, for it to play out, is a 10-year process at best. So you’re not going to see any immediate results.”
So the City Center started doing projects as small as making pinup boards, just to show the greater New Orleans community that things were happening.
One of those small projects is the Columbus Greenway. The Greenway is located in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans, a neighborhood that’s home to families who have lived there for generations. Despite the historical and cultural significance of the Seventh Ward, the neighborhood is also home to neglected infrastructure and flooding and drainage problems, particularly on the major thoroughfare of Columbus Street. yet the lack of infrastructural investment on the part of the City of New Orleans has not affected the cultural investment of the Seventh Ward community. On Columbus and North Roman Streets, there’s a small green space where members of the community have been gathering for decades. It plays host to barbecues, birthdays, and a regular match of horseshoes organized by a group of older men who were born and raised in the neighborhood.
in 2011, Pat O’Brien, who owns the parcel of land on which the men play horseshoes, submitted a Request for Proposal (RFP) to beautify the Columbus Greenway. The City Center accepted the RFP and went about doing just that by using the skill set of a handful of architecture students to help complete the project. They cleaned up the Greenway, installed benches, planted trees, and tackled a simple building project of a clubhouse from which kids and adults alike could sit and watch the horseshoe match.
Changing the CommonplaCe at tulane For Taylor, there are three crucial elements to this kind of work. The first is lending a hand to the community. The second is letting the community decide what it needs and then acting on that vision. The third is making sure architecture students are getting a solid education, complete with real-life experiences that move the school beyond a clean, comfortable ivory Tower classroom.
“For the longest time we were a very internalized academic school of architecture,” Taylor says. “We did paper projects and nothing ever resulted from them. it was just a theory-based school. Which is fine, that’s what schools are. But we saw this missed opportunity to actually affect positive change and do good things in the community and just be plugged-in. Tulane has had a reputation of just being this walled-in, little affluent thing within the city that didn’t interact much. So we were trying to bust open that model and find ways that we could actually be an asset to the community and not just this weird little island inside of the city.”
The City Center was an idea before the storm, but it didn’t get off the ground until after Hurricane Katrina. The need was so great that Taylor’s team had to be careful to strike the right balance in how it chose which projects to tackle. “About 160,000 houses were underwater or had substantial amounts of water,” she says, “and we as a school of architecture with 200 students and a couple dozen faculty, we didn’t have the ability or resources to work with individual homeowners to re-do 160,000 homes.”
So Taylor and her team set out to work with community groups and nonprofits to draw the line between all the people who needed help with their homes. There were already dozens of nonprofits addressing homeowners and affordable housing. The City Center decided to use its resources and energy to work with community groups and nonprofits on their visions for public spaces.
And the word vision is imperative in describing the City Center’s work. The City Center team doesn’t want to cook up its own ideas and try to force feed them to the community. Once a community is able to articulate that for itself, that is where the City Center steps in.
Each year, the City Center puts out a Request for Proposals. A jury comprised of faculty members, Director and Associate Dean Maurice Cox and community members decides which projects move forward. Taylor is quick to point out, however, that there are always back doors to get a project going. Of the 24 projects proposed last year, three of them got full funding through the RFP process.
As for the education the City Center is providing for Tulane architecture
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Previous Spread: interior Spaces of Grow Dat Youth Farm(Photo: Will Crocker)
Left: Seating area for the Columbus Greenway.(Photo: Sarah Satterlee)Bottom: The walkway to Grow Dat Youth Farm(Photo: Will Crocker)
Tulane City Center| FEATURE
students, Taylor points out that most of the projects involve skills that aren’t necessarily taught in traditional architecture programs. “in the classroom, it’s designing buildings. in the Seventh Ward of new Orleans, it’s designing them, building them, working with communities and community organizers, and everything else in between.”
growing dat youth farm The largest-scale project the City Center has helped make a reality is Grow Dat Youth Farm. Located right in the middle of City Park, a 1,300-acre refuge of live oak trees, green space, and meandering sidewalks right in the middle of new Orleans, Grow Dat’s mission is to nurture a diverse group of student leaders through the meaningful work of growing food. The farm hires young adults from six different schools in new Orleans, both public and private. They go through 5-month leadership training with Grow Dat, where they spend about half the time involved in the actual work of growing crops and the other half in leadership-building activities.
“it’s a pretty broad range, in terms of what socioeconomic and racial diversity we’re drawing from,” says Jillian Gilligan, the founding director of Grow Dat, who proudly recites the project’s goals. “And we also hire for diversity and leadership experience across a spectrum. So that creates a really interesting peer education and peer learning.”
Last year, eighty students applied for forty spots on the farm. The job is partly attractive because it’s paid, but it also gives students intensive training in a wide variety of job skills. “…it’s also connecting them to the networks of businesses and organizations that we’re connected to,” Gilligan says, “which
has translated to really great opportunities for them in the food sector, at places like the new Orleans Food Coop, the online food retailer Good Eggs, or scholarships. We’ve had several students make it to the final round and one actually secure a full ride to Tulane through the Plessy Foundation. We’ve [also] sent students up to farming wilderness programs in Vermont.”
The idea for the project was born when Scott Cowan, former president of Tulane University, approached the City Center with the thought to incubate some kind of food education project, using projects like the Edible Schoolyard as precedents for a entirely local approach to educational agriculture. Gilligan had been talking about starting a farm to give youth the skills they were already in need of. She’d taught high school in the new Orleans public school system for years, pre-Katrina, and she witnessed firsthand the lack of space dedicated to addressing major, real-life issues within the confines of an academic setting.
“i really saw how much my students were wrestling with very real-life responsibilities,” she says. “Some of them had kids, some of them had to be financial contributors to their families… there was high exposure to violence and lack of any good job opportunities in their communities. A lot of them had to work, but their opportunities were in the fast food sector… So i started thinking, how do we marry the idea of creating a space that creates a job opportunity for adults, creates the platform for them to develop communication skills, and taps into a market opportunity to grow all of the food for people who want and need it?”
The Grow Dat facility is made of leaf green-colored shipping containers, and though the repurposing of shipping containers is growing more common in the United States, its use in new Orleans is novel for the region. Many of the containers are dented, which renders them useless for trade, and two
dry food storagecold food storage
gravel
storagestorage
outdoor food prep(counter space)
raised covered space
locker room
storagekitchen
covered outdoor stair
ramp at 1’’ in 12’’
composting toilets foot/ hand wash station food washing sinks
hose bib
evapotranspiration bed for bathroom
kitchen grey water condesate from turbo charged window unit
pipe under each releases here
drains into swale
1 FIRST FLOOR PLAN 16'8'4'0
lagoon
existing depression (approximate location)
existing depression (approximate location)
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of the initial donors to the project were interested in using them to make public space. Students in the City Center worked on Grow Dat for two years, designing and building the project to fit Gilligan’s vision. The first planning studio was in 2011, and Grow Dat moved into the space in 2012.
Their facility reflects the multi-faceted educational platform that makes Grow Dat so unique to its community. The building has a small but efficient office upstairs, a teaching kitchen where students learn how to prepare the foods they grow and take home each week, and cold and dry storage space for materials. There’s also composting toilets, which use a grey water management system, unattached to a sewer. Gilligan says that cleaning the facility’s own water is just another educational aspect of Grow Dat that reinforces the farm’s dedication to sustainability.
A large bioswale in the front of the farm serves Grow Dat, but also acts as a model of flood prevention from which new Orleans as a whole can benefit. “it’s modeling appropriate plantings for this region, and also how to manage storm water,” Gilligan says. “We sometimes have flooding in this area, so we dug a large channel here and filled it with rocks, essentially, so water will drain into this bioswale. if it fills up then it returns back into the bayou over
Top Left: The Site Plan for Grow Dat Youth Farm.(Plans:TCC and Grow Dat Youth Farm)Top: Meeting spaces were created out of the shipping container structure.(Photo: Will Crocker)
Tulane City Center| FEATURE
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Top: View of top walkway of Grow Dat Youth Farm.
(Photo: Will Crocker)next Spread: Due to flood issues, a bioswale makes up the front of the farm.
(Photo: Will Crocker)
Summer 2014
there. We had a water managing expert who was a friend of Dan Etheridge, former assistant City Center director, design this for us, but they’re really simple and cost-effective ways of doing water management in a place where we’re now experiencing periods of drought followed by heavy rainfall. That was all led by the City Center. The question was, how do we really make this place as green as we can?”
more than just design/build The City Center’s projects are broader in scope than a horseshoe clubhouse and an urban farm. The architecture outreach program also helps with projects as seemingly simple as graphic advocacy through messaging and signage. Students worked with Pyramid Wellness institute, a new Orleans-based mental health facility, at a time when funding for this kind of
healthcare was being dramatically reduced in the state of Louisiana. not only did the City Center design and build a common outdoor space for Pyramid in 2012, but it also designed informational materials and stickers to educate the broader new Orleans community about the mental health facility. “They just wanted material to help people know what was out there, and give this message of inclusion, like 1 in 6 people have these mental health issues, so you’re not alone,” Taylor says. “[We’re trying] to de-stigmatize mental health…[the students] were going to try and sticker the city, but i don’t think that happened because i haven’t gotten any calls from the cops or anything.”
Another important category of the City Center’s work is community visioning without building, or what it calls Community Capacity Building. A particularly high-profile example of this kind of work is the fight the City Center joined this past January against Perez Architects, who wanted to build a 13-story riverfront project in a Lower ninth Ward community of single-family homes. neighbors opposed the project, and, represented by the Lower nine
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Visioning Coalition, went to the City Center for help. “They knew they were opposed to the Perez plan,” Taylor says. “But we needed to help them think through what some of the viable alternatives were.” The neighbors wanted a park instead of a development, and the City Center brought in the resources to help the coalition understand the implications of that vision, including a sustainable real estate developer, the CEO of City Park, a landscape architect, a preservationist, and other professionals.
“We did some real talk with the community so that it wasn’t just like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a park,’ but understanding what it means to have a park and understanding the mechanisms, so that they weren’t just saying no to the developer,” Taylor says. “They were saying no because we have these other ideas and this is how we propose to implement them.”
eduCating future leaders Justin Park, who graduated from Tulane’s School of Architecture in 2012, worked on three projects through the City Center, including Grow Dat. He still remembers the moment Gilligan looked at the view from what was to become her office space at the farm. “She climbed up and was pretty blown away by the experience of it. it turned into an emotional experience for our group. Standing in her future space seemed to crystallize and affirm all the hard work Johanna had accomplished up to that point, and sharing a moment like that really made me feel like i was a part of something much bigger than just working on a job site constructing a building.”
For Park, it was the potential of learning all of these other pieces to the build puzzle that attracted him to Tulane’s School of Architecture. “i chose to attend Tulane and work with the City Center specifically because i felt that i would learn so much more than just designing buildings,” he says.” i did not anticipate how deep and varied my experience would go though. Emilie Taylor was there to help guide the students and keep us on track and moving towards completion, but she also allowed us to make mistakes and take the longer path to learning valuable lessons. This is especially noteworthy because we were working first hand with clients. it is important to note that City Center clients are not regular architectural clients; they are very special people who are agents of change and catalysts for inspired action.”
“i think having a public outreach arm is critical for all architecture programs,” he says. “Especially Tulane, because it forces students to confront pressing, real world problems on a scale that few students have attempted before…new Orleans is especially well suited for outreach because its rich history, celebrated culture and tough spirit draw strong individuals who aspire to elevate the city to greater heights. These individuals need the energy and creativeness that architecture students posses. They need comrades in the pursuit of change for the betterment of everyone.”
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PROMOTION
NEEDSBEYONDARCHITECTURE
ThE WOMEN’S OPPORTUNITy CENTER IN KAyONzA, RWANDA.
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
A PRESENT-DAy GENOCIDE is something hard for many of us to grasp. in 1994, some 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu sympathizers were brutally murdered over the course of three and a half months, by members of the Hutu majority. This horrific act of genocide was a product of the Rwandan Civil War (which began in 1990), and became breaking news through BBC updates and nPR shorts. The genocide committed by the Hutu’s left the majority of Rwanda in utter destruction. Communities were leveled, families were displace and broken, leaving behind a deserted group of women who had not only lost their loved ones, but experienced inhuman brutality. For these women, the war left deep scars, few resources, and uncertain futures.
Women for Women international (WfWi), a nonprofit organization that directly aids women in conflict-affected countries, has been on the ground in Rwanda since the beginning of their civil war. Currently, they bring aid to over 300,000 women in countries like iraq, South Sudan, nigeria, & Rwanda. WfWi plays a major role in supporting women who have been abandoned and abused by these wars, crossing volatile boarders to respond to survivors. Through a year-long program, they provide emotional support to each women and help them to develop skills for economic independence, and take on important leadership roles in their local communities. When WfWi decided to create a center for these women to heal, develop skills, and come together in Kayonza, Rwanda (where over 12,000 of their program graduates are), they approached Sharon Davis.
Already having done a smaller center for WfWi in Kosovo, Davis was no outsider to the sensitivity of the project. “There’s the initial question you have to consider: How do you go into a community that you don’t know and not be presumptuous about your take on what should be there?” she tells me one afternoon as we discuss working in remote developing communities.
Sharon Davis Design has a strong commitment to sustainability for their residential and commercial projects. But WfWi’s ambitions for the center in Kayonza challenged the firm to include both social and economic longevity, adding some new elements to Davis’ pursuits of sustainable design. With a career in finance before coming to architecture, Davis took a more holistic approach to the project and assembled a group that included environmental engineer Eric Rothstein, structural
By: Marissa FeddemaPhotos: Elizabeth Felicella and John Cary
“HOW DO YOU GO INTO A
COMMUNITY AND NOT BE
PRESUMPTUOUS ABOUT YOUR TAKE ON WHAT SHOULD
BE THERE?”
Women’s Opportunity Center | FEATURE
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Previous Spread: View of kitchen and administration
building.(Photo: Elizabeth Felicella)
Top Left: A group of women talking.
(Photo: Elizabeth Felicella)Top Right: A woman enters
near the administrative building.
(Photo: Elizabeth Felicella)Bottom Right: The
administrative buildings.(Photo: Elizabeth Felicella)
engineer Arun Rimal, landscape designer Julie Farris, and designer colleague Bruce Engel (who currently is based in Rwanda and lives near the site) to address the broad needs of the project.
After discussing the many architectural humanitarian projects in the region that are disconnected and debilitating to their communities—a term the group coined “drop-in architecture”—the team committed to providing a more effective response to women’s needs in Kayonza. Their hope was to develop a new approach to humanitarian architecture: one that showed how design could not only produce a building, but also empower social and economic change.
Davis’ team was unanimous about one element from the start: they had to go there. During the studio’s first visit to Kayonza, their first step was to begin meeting with local craftsmen to discuss design. Davis remembers thinking, “none of the architecture there looked Rwandan,” a realization which catalyzed her pursuit of designing a uniquely Rwandan center. The team became aware of the shapes and objects around them—the woven patterns and common circular shapes of Rwandan crafts and textiles inspired the direction of the new design. But most importantly, they listened—they wanted to learn more about the existing hardships of the community. “i just felt like the most important thing that i could do on my first visit was be really humble, and really open,” Davis recalls about her first introduction to the community. Through their conversations and growing understanding of the community’s needs, the team concluded that a nice looking building simply wouldn’t do. This project was about much more than just architecture.
WfWi had many visions for the new center—they not only wanted to create a space where the women could congregate and develop community, but also to provide professional development for the women of the community. These desires arose from one of the major WfWi program goals: to create economic independence and vocational value through the development of marketable trades and skills.
As a response to this goal, the completed center would include gardens where the women could learn farming and harvesting, a kitchen where they could cook together, and a market where they could sell the products they grew. The team also made a move that many feel was a game changer: they taught the women to make bricks, and hired them to make those that would be used to build the new center. not only would it keep labor in the local community and create a sense of ownership for the project, but it would also give the women an opportunity to learn and practice a skill they could later rely on for income. instead of having a humanitarian group come in and build something for them, the women would construct it themselves, engaging in a process that would define their critical presence and role in the center moving forward.
Davis’ business background again proved valuable, giving her a deep understanding of the economic ramifications of this decision. “One of the things you learn in studying economics is that building is an economic driver. if a country is in a recession, you know it’s coming out of the recession when you start to see building numbers come up.” in fact, it’s what Davis and many others call a, “leading indicator,” which describes a way to predict future economic growth as employment increases. After realizing that materials would be expensive, but creating jobs would make a profound impact on the local economy, they sought a solution that would create jobs and use less
EMPOWERING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ChANGE ThROUGh A UNIQUE BUILDING PROCESS
materials. Brickmaking was the ideal solution to this equation. it would require minimal materials, but a great amount of skilled labor. And by having the women do it, it would introduce an entirely new group of artisans into the local market. So brick by brick, that’s precisely what they did.
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
WE HAvE A DUTY TO BETTER RESPOND TO THE REAL NEEDS OF COMMUNITIES.
Photos Above: images from the
construction of the WOC, and how brickmaking
took place. (Photo Credit: John Cary)
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
level tables were used for forming, tents were set up to allow the bricks to dry before being fired, and bricks were positioned in the kiln with the utmost accuracy to assure the highest efficiency of production. Their process was so effective that it became well known in the local region, in fact, the latest job postings for brickmakers in the area actually offers women that worked for the W.O.C. a higher wage, likely due to their product’s high level of craftsmanship and structural integrity. Davis recalls revisiting the older brickmaking operations after the women had begun theirs at the W.O.C. site, “they now have tables, and they now have tents, and they now have women.” A brief second passes. “They’re still not as good as ours,” she later laughs with the hint of a proud smile.
Progressive design at the W.O.C. doesn’t stop at the building material. Without question, the center had to be entirely self-sufficient on power
The brickmaking process used for the Women’s Opportunity Center was technically quite simple, but thoroughly researched and carefully executed. Bruce Engel, the team’s on-site member, studied brickmaking techniques in developing countries, which differed slightly from existing techniques in the area. Typically, bricks in the community were made by mixing soil and water and packing the mixture into molds—though often on uneven surfaces. Water-to-soil ratios often differed, and many bricks cracked during the firing process. in fact, until recently, these bricks were solely used to fill in walls, rather than hold structure. Additionally, all brickmakers were men. When the brickmaking process was set up at the Women’s Opportunity Center, a separate pit was created for mixing,
and water. This was not because green design was sexy in Kayonza like it is in Brooklyn, but because the only access to power was unreliable and impossible to get to the site. Also, the team realized that clean water—let alone a sewage line—was basically nonexistent. it was during one of the studio’s first trips that the team understood the importance of on-site water for this project. Often subject to waterborne diseases, “Women are spending hours getting water and they’re carrying it all on their backs,” Davis recalls. With the help of water guru Eric Rothstein, the team engineered large leaf-like steel roofs which double as catchment systems above each of the buildings. The safety of the water is insured by a UV filtration process that the water goes through as it travels to large cisterns buried deep underground to keep the water cool and available for any extended dry periods.
BRICKMAKING & BEYOND
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Conversly, design processes must include members of the community beyond architects. These projects were successfully achieved, not just by developing a deep understanding of the community’s needs, but also by the architect’s desire to collaborate with the local community to develop knowledge of subjects beyond architecture.
With these revelations at hand, and these projects standing as built examples, it’s important that we come to expect this from new design in developing communities. While these strategies have major potential in metropolitan cities like new York City and Seoul, their effect is more marginal in a place like Kayonze or Kigali. new design projects in these developing communities must respond to more than just a need for structure, using the building process as a way to empower, heal, and employ the local people.
Celebrating the official opening of the Women’s Opportunity Center in June 2013, the team behind the W.O.C. hopes to continue this way of thinking as they move forward with a new nonprofit endeavor: Big Future Group, which they founded as a way of continuing our collaborative work with developing communities. next up for the Big Future Group: the renovation and expansion of a hospital in rural nepal. if the result is anything close to their work in Kayonza, it’s sure to be worth a closer look.
The Women’s Opportunity Center, as well as a number of other new projects in the region, including MASS Design Group’s Butaro Hospital and Doctors Housing and Asa Studio’s Gasanze pre-primary school, exhibit a new way of design thinking. A mentality that uses design as a mechanism to respond directly to larger needs of the community by creating jobs, reducing the spreading of diseases, and improving the quality of education.
These projects reflect a new revelation of many designers: that we have a duty to better respond to the real needs of communities. While, historically, conversations of successful architecture often followed the contours of progressive forms and detailed ornamentation, current conversations seem to converge with community issues such as politics, health, and education. And indeed, as an expanding collection of projects start to show how issues such as social division, limited resources, and safety can be addressed strategically through good design, the demand for designers to play a part in more civic roles will rise.
ADDRESSING ThE REAL NEEDS OF COMMUNITIES
Right: Classroom interior (Photo: Elizabeth Felicella)
Bottom: Women harvest vegetables from the
center’s on-site farm.(Photo: Elizabeth Felicella)
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Kayonza, Rwanda
Women for Women international
Sharon Davis Design
Bruce Engel
XS Space and Susan Maurer (Julie Farris)
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shaping the future of architecture educationhOW MARIE AND KEITh zAWISTOWSKI ARE ExPANDINg COMMUNITy-BASED DESIgN ThROUgh vIRgINIA TECh’S design/buildLAB.
By: Katie CrepeauPhotos: Jeff Goldberg/ESTO
THE STORy OF ARCHITECT DUO Marie and Keith Zawistowski begins with a truckload of 72,000 carpet tiles. They were both 21 years old, and had enrolled in Auburn University’s Rural Studio Outreach Program to study under Professor Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee with four other students. Over the course of a school year, the studio designed and built the now-iconic Lucy House in remote Mason’s Bend, Ala. The gently rolling lines of thick colorful stacked carpet walls outlined by grainy yellow and brown plywood trim offset by a crinkled purple tower shooting towards the sky was no easy feat for a group of students.
Yet, designing and building was only half of the Lucy House experience that has since shaped the Zawistowski’s practice. “Sambo took us around on what he called his ‘Southern Odyssey,’—the building traditions, the food, and music of the South. We became totally immersed in that culture—learning about the value of rooting architecture in place,” the Zawistowski’s described.
Halfway through the year-long program in 2001, Sambo passed away. This was a startling and profound moment for Rural Studio—the students were left with an incomplete project for a family in need and no instructor to guide the way. “When we got back [to resume the project], we were a group of students and all we had was a concrete slab,” recalls Marie. “We made that project happen, just the six of us. When we left Rural Studio, we were extremely empowered by that experience, because we had the confidence and we had the skills to make changes in the world.”
As many Rural Studio students can attest, Sambo’s legacy of contextually relevant, socially conscious, and environmentally sensitive design has influenced many practices around the world. The Zawistowski’s developed their design/build practice, OnSite Architecture, immediately after finishing the Lucy House. “When we left the Rural Studio, we continued designing and building. We never stopped,” said Marie. ‘OnSite’ is the driving
principle behind the Zawistowski’s practice: they only design and build within the context of each project, with the people and within the place.
THE DESIGN/BUILDLAB IS BORN After working in Marie’s native country of France for several years, the couple received a Graham Foundation grant to research traditional building techniques in Ghana. They published a book from their findings titled The Builders of Ghana: Traditions of Today and Tomorrow, which led them to present their work at Keith’s alma mater Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. After the presentation, both Keith and Marie were offered a teaching position at the School of Architecture and the design/buildLAB was conceived—almost ten years after the completion of the Lucy House.
“When we were [at the Rural Studio], Sambo told us something that really resonated with us: it would take us ten years to fully understand the complexities of what we learned at the Rural Studio,” said Keith. “Ten years later was the beginning of the design/buildLAB when the Covington Farmers Market opened.” it looks like Sambo was right.
Since 2008, the design/buildLAB—an annual studio with sixteen architecture students guided by the Zawistowskis--has completed four projects in Alleghany County, Va, an area where nearly a third of the population lives below the poverty line. One of the significant differences between Rural Studio and design/buildLAB is the type of projects. “As powerful an experience as it was in making the Lucy House, one of the most common questions that people asked us was ‘When am i going to get a house?’” noted Keith. “We realized that we could have a much broader impact by making things that belong to the public at large and touch a broader cross-section of a community, rather than houses for single individuals.”
Top: The wood deck plane bends and folds creating floor space and walls. Left: The community comes together to use the amphitheater for dance performances.
Masonic Amphitheatre | FEATURE
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of town and the downwards economic spiral,” said Keith. The students’ findings resulted in a proposal for public space in the heart of the town. “There’s a creek that runs through the center of town so a lot of them proposed a park along the creek. Their propositions were adopted by the town into their redevelopment plan and it was voted in by the council.”
But before they could begin designing and building the park, a major blockade stood in the way. A 100-year-old saw mill that had been turned into a tire-retreading factory sat on a prime piece of land in the center of the town. The design/buildLAB worked with three local entities—a foundation, the government, and a nonprofit—to
MODERNITY EMERGES IN A BLEAK TOWN CENTER One of the most acclaimed projects that has put design/buildLAB and Alleghany County on the map is the swooping, modern Masonic Amphitheater within the Smith Creek Park redevelopment in the Appalachian town of Clifton Forge, Va. Before the amphitheater and park existed, deserted storefronts, empty houses, and decaying infrastructure contributed to an underlying sense of abandonment in the old American railroad town. The design/buildLAB students’ first step was to conduct an in-depth investigation into the needs of the people and the place. “They created development plans and looked at how the town could be structured to reverse the migration out
organize a land and material swap. Fortunately, the tire-retreading business owner didn’t need too much convincing to relocate. “[He] was excited to move to an industrial park outside of town. So the town and local government came together to buy him a new warehouse that improved the efficiency of his business, freeing up the prime piece of land for public use,” recollected Keith. it was a win-win: the business owner moved to a better area, the town captured a key piece of land, and another design/buildLAB project in the neighboring town of Covington received a huge stock of aged wood from the disassembled saw mill.
Once students disassembled the existing structure, the town had a brand new perspective
Summer 2014
Above: The lighting of the amphitheater and the bridge create a wonderful ambiance at night.
They realized that the newly vacant piece of land had the potential to be a cultural anchor.
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on the site. “All of the sudden you could see the creek. This was something they hadn’t realized existed in 100 years!” Marie exclaimed, channeling the townspeople’s excitement. “People started getting excited about transforming that piece of property.”
During the students’ investigation into Clifton Forge’s economic development, the arts and crafts community was taking shape. A fledgling School of Art was starting up, the town was beginning to renovate the historic theater, and artists were moving into the unused buildings. From their interviews with the locals, they realized that the newly vacant piece of land had the potential to be a cultural anchor where artists, business owners, and the community at large could convene—collectively pointing towards a need for a public performance space.
DESIGNING THE AMPHITHEATER —A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION Like typical architecture school studios, the students first designed individual proposals for the site, taking into consideration sun, wind, natural elements, topography, history of the place, and, in this case, the larger master plan developed for the site based on interviews with the community. However, to arrive at a buildable scheme from sixteen individual ideas, the design/buildLAB took a different approach. The students iteratively merged their proposals for the amphitheater and presented the schemes to the clients and community
members along the way. “Getting to meet the clients and getting to see where a project would actually be located and how it would impact that community was totally different. We are usually given a piece of paper with a brief and maybe you do a site visit but you never really meet the people who make up the that community,” recalls design/buildLAB participant Leah Schaffer who worked on the Masonic Amphitheater.
The large group work methodology took time to get used to as well. in other group projects, students are able to select their team members, typically two to three people, who are familiar with each other’s work ethics. Working within a group of 16 is like managing a small firm, as Keith and Marie refer to the design/build LAB. “it was difficult in scheduling and getting things done,” recalls Leah.
This was also many of the students’ first time working with consultants, including structural, hydraulic, and acoustic engineers, and theater, environmental, and landscape consultants. “it was difficult for the first time to understand where the clients were coming from and the different consultants we were working with,” said Leah. “As students, we want to be overly ambitious in what we want to accomplish. So trying to balance and understand the limitations took time.”
Through more conversations with the clients, community, and consultants became a richer design and new insights that the students learned
to communicate. For instance, the amphitheater’s swooping form responded to the need for a low-tech acoustical solution. “The students talked with the community about the shape of the building being driven almost exclusively by the acoustic model to project sound into the audience without amplification,” explained Keith.
Over the course of a semester, the group arrived at a final scheme developed through consensus rather than competition, accounting for the students, consultants, community members, and town’s ideas. “We anticipated tension every time and it’s almost always been 100% consensus, both from a student and community perspective,” said Keith. “They realized the value of consensus building.”
At the end of the first semester, the design/build team had an elegant sweeping form containing an acoustic shell, a backstage with a loading dock, and a green room and wings, along with a seating area and a sound and lighting control booth—and a site ready to receive it.
A RUSTIC MODERN AMPHITHEATER TAKES SHAPE The team eagerly began the second semester ready to build the Masonic Amphitheater. As with all construction projects, the common challenges of physically demanding work and inclement weather challenged the group. However, the amphitheater utilized new and old technologies to assemble the majority of the components offsite.
Perhaps the most significant
outcome resulted in the students
working with local contractors who
volunteered.
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
Right The decking bends and moves to create seating and planters.
Below: The design/buildLAB students assemble the
deck components.Bottom: The deck separates
to create a backstage entrance.
Bottom Left: The metal panels along the stage
walls shimmer in the night lighting.
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Right: The Zawistowskis supervise the construction
of the amphitheater.Below: A design/buildLAB
student interprets the construction documents
during construction. Bottom: A design/buildLAB
student saw-cutting on site.
PUBLIC design humanity+
The selection of materials played a significant role in blending the past and future of Clifton Forge. One significant moment that defined the design direction came after a community meeting when one of the locals left the meeting, arrived home, and then drove back to the meeting location. “He told us that [Clifton Forge] was an old railroad town so the building should be ‘semi-rustic,’” said Marie. Although some designers may shy away from this direct request, the team understood his insight into the place and used this—perhaps even subconsciously—to shape the project.
They utilized steam-bent white oak planks to wrap the prefabricated wood trusses and make up the majority of the Amphitheater’s form, beginning at the edge of the landscape, wrapping up and over the band shell, and projecting over the Smith Creek below to afford views of the rushing water and dense trees. Aluminum, zinc, titanium, and stainless steel panels offset the ‘rustic’ wood cladding, indicative of the emerging future of Clifton Forge as a place that is resurrecting itself with the help of the Smith Creek Park.
The band shell’s structure was constructed of prefabricated wood trusses; its shape was determined by a 3D model produced by the students. By working with a local manufacturer who machine-fabricated the wood trusses, the team was able to minimize the typical waste in materials and time of hand-fabrication. Additionally, the metal composite panels that clad the band shell’s curvaceous backdrop were individually cut using Virginia Tech’s CnC router.
Along with minimizing time with new technologies, the team sped up the construction by working in two different locations. While a local contractor completed the foundation work and utility connections on site, students were busy prefabricating the Amphitheater’s floors, walls, sound booth, roof panels, and benches back at the university’s facilities. This allowed for two phases of construction to proceed simultaneously, resulting in a prefabricated and assembled structure completed in less than four months.
Building a project in a place with an extremely limited budget resulted in the students learning to be resourceful and creative in sourcing materials along with establishing a committed network of volunteers. The team received a grant from The Alleghany Foundation in an amount of $150,000 and relied on significant in-kind material donations from local, national, and international product manufacturers. Perhaps the most significant outcome resulted in the students working with local contractors who volunteered to help with the construction. “Usually there is an adversarial relationship between architects and builders. Architects are seen as making things that are really complicated that make builders say, ‘Why do they do these things?!?’” said Keith. “But because [the students] are there in the pouring rain and the heat of the day, they make it happen alongside [the contractors]. There’s a mutual respect gained where they are learning from each and they are in it together as opposed to against each other.” After six months of sweat, blood, and tears, the Amphitheater was ready. At 6:30am on the morning of June 23, 2012, the students secured the final
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
Above: The Smith Creek Pedestrian Bridge connects Clifton Forge’s historic downtown.Right: The public using the bridge.
wood board into the Amphitheater’s surface and just a few hours later, the Clifton Town residents arrived to celebrate the official opening of the new gleaming gem in their town center. “To see the public using it and enjoying it—that was the most rewarding moment,” recalled Leah. For Keith and Marie, it’s a reminder of the capacity that they themselves had over ten years ago. “it’s always amazing to see a group of 21 year olds pull off something this impressive,” said Marie proudly.
SMITH CREEK PARK RECEIVES ITS SECOND STRUCTURE in the Spring of 2013, a new studio of students took on the second phase of the Smith Creek Park redevelopment. “The Amphitheater project was crazy ambitious in terms of scale,” said Keith. “We were joking after the end of the Amphitheater project that we needed to do a dog house—something much smaller.” “So we did a bridge,” laughed Marie.
The Smith Creek Pedestrian Bridge is a bent pathway that ramps out of the park’s landscape to link the new Amphitheater to Clifton Forge’s historic downtown. The students participated in a similar process to conceive the final bridge and landscape design: first working on individual proposals based on the overarching idea for the park, which were then combined into a final design with input from the local government, community members, and consultants.
Since the site had been opened up to afford views of the previously hidden creek and forest area, it was vital to the community to maintain the feeling of openness and transparency. The students designed the bridge deck and handrails to have as thin of a profile as possible to minimize the bridge’s presence in this newly dedicated natural space. At the bridge’s mid-span, a forest of leaning columns emerges from the ground plane to reflect the dense trees lining the banks of the river. Just like the Amphitheater, the bridge showcases a mixture of modern materials—steel framing and guardrails mixed with warm natural surfaces in the curved handrail and wood floor.
Finally, the students worked with a landscape architect to introduce a mixture of green areas into the park. A line of tall grasses dances along the river’s edge alongside a beach area where residents can escape on warm days. A labyrinthine butterfly garden lies next to the Amphitheater, along with a series of grass lawns providing picnic and play space surrounding the stage. This textured environment links the natural landscape of the creek, with the sculptural forms of the park’s built elements, and the historic town.
“To see the public using it and enjoying it-that was the most
rewarding moments”
Masonic Amphitheatre | FEATURE
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A RENEWED VIBRANCY IN CLIFTON FORGE Since the opening of the Masonic Amphitheater and Smith Creek Park, Clifton Forge has seen an influx of activity. in 2012, the Amphitheater hosted 15 performances, which grew to 42 events in 2013, and now has more than 50 scheduled for 2014. Musicians, dancers, theater troupes, and youth performances continue to take the stage by storm, drawing hordes of locals to the park weekly—sometimes even daily—to infuse energy into Clifton Forge’s downtown.
With the many recognitions bestowed upon the Amphitheater and Smith Creek Park, the town has become a beacon for modernity. Almost immediately after completion, the Amphitheater was named the American Architects Building of the Year in 2012 and Clifton Forge did not miss a beat in sharing this recognition. “The town had huge banners made saying ‘Masonic Amphitheater Wins Building of the Year’ and hung these at every entry point to town,” said Keith. “They value what architecture can bring to the development of the town and they’ve really embraced what the students have done.”
Along with the recognition by American Architects, the 42-minute documentary film, Reality Check, created by filmmaker Leon Gerskovic, told the story of the design and build Masonic Amphitheater from start to finish. it has been screened nationwide, bringing the story of this architecture studio’s accomplishment to other architecture schools and design communities. Most recently, the entire Smith Creek Park development was voted to receive an Architizer A+ Award for Urban Transformation by the larger design community. This notable recognition highlights the significance of a beautiful, modern project developed with a small town community.
not only has the experience made a significant impact on Clifton Forge, it has also transformed
the architecture education at Virginia Tech. Just like Samuel Mockee who created the Rural Studio at Auburn University, Marie and Keith Zawistowski are injecting an alternative mode of learning into the student’s education. “A lot of our classmates have become interested in the process, how we accomplish this in a year, and how communities are involved,” said Leah, who witnessed during her four years—and partook in—the transformation at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture and Design. “it’s opening up people’s eyes to what design education can be.”
Ultimately, the intention behind design/build LAB is not to create a plethora of design/build architects but rather to expose students to the many dimensions of architecture. “Architecture has to encompass social consciousness, environmental consciousness, and consensus building,” said Keith. “All of these things that are seemingly niches in architecture are all really architecture.”
now entering its fifth year, the design/build LAB is growing into its adolescence stage. The Zawistowski’s are part of a committee of representatives from Alleghany County, which includes members from a local foundation, town managers, regional economic development experts, and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce. The architect duo has defined a set of criteria with community members to determine and prioritize the most impactful projects to develop with the Virginia Tech students, solidifying the significance of the LAB’s role in the wider community. “We’ve grown to value the idea of the local architect and the ability to have an influence on a place by being in a place,” said Keith. “There’s a network of trust that you build and you can have a much greater impact with each project when you don’t have to build that network from scratch each time.” “And vice versa—the community will trust you because they know you well,” said Marie.
PROJECT LOCATION: Clifton Forge, VA, OWNER: Masonic Amphitheatre LLCARCHITECT AND DESIGN TEAM: Keith Zawistowski, AIA, GCMarie Zawistowski, Architecte DPLGBethel Abate, Aiysha Alsane, Tyler Atkins, Justin Dennis, Lauren Duda, Huy Duong, Derek Ellison, Megumi Ezure, Katherine Harpst, Ryan Hawkins, Catherine ives, Anna Knowles-Bagwell, Michael Kretz, Kyle Lee, Jennifer Leeds, Stephanie Mahoney, Leo naegele, Margaret nelson, Stephen Perry, Fernanda Rosales, Leah Schaffer, Katherine Schaffernoth, Amanda Schlichting, ian Shelton, Brent Sikora, Claudia Siles, Emarie Skelton, Samantha Stephenson, Taylor Terrill, Daniel Vantresca, Bryana Warner, Samuel “Aaron” Williams, Samantha Yeh.GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Commonwealth Contracting ServicesSTRUCTURAL/CIVIL ENGINEER: Draper Aden and AssociatesSTRUCTURAL-BRIDGE: Mehdi Setareh, PE and Mario CortesTHEATRE CONSULTANT: Theatre Consultants CollaborativeACOUSTICAL CONSULTANTS: Michael Ermann, Ana JaramilloENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CONSULTANT: Robert SchuberGEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER: Froehling & Robertson, incHYDRAULIC ENGINEER: Hassan Water ResourcesLANDSCAPE CONSULTANT: Brian Katen OwnerPROJECT FUNDING: $150,000 cash grant from The Alleghany Foundation and significant in-kind material and service contributions.
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The design/buildLAB is just one example of how hands-on, minds-on education in Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies is shaping the lives of our students and changing lives in Virginia and far beyond. If our third-year architecture students can transform a community, just imagine what our graduates can do.
The objective of the School of Architecture + Design is to produce graduates who will be leaders in their chosen professions and in the communities in which they live. The School seeks to provide a forum that cultivates vigorous dialogue and debate, enrich-ing the interrelations between education and practice.
— www.caus.vt.edu —
Hands on. Minds on.
School of Architecture + Design
+ COMPETITIONS
BREAKING NEW GROUND is an international design and ideas competition addressing the urgent affordable housing needs of farmworker and service worker families in the Coachella Valley. Efforts to improve living conditions suffer from a lack of funding and coordination. The competition seeks to address this by harnessing the power of design to envision new precedents, mechanisms, and policies for affordable housing implementation and development, with implications for California and the nation.
OPEN DIVISIONThe goal of the Open Division is to produce an implementable proposal for a housing community that can and will be realized.STUDENT DIVISIONThe goal of the Student Division is to produce comprehensive proposals that address the full scope of competition issues with a greater emphasis on creativity and less emphasis on short-term implementation.
Want to learn more about this competition? Visit : www.breaknewground.org
Breaking New ground:
Designing Affordable housing
for the Coachella valley Workforce
IN 1991, MEDELLIN WAS CONSIDERED to be the most violent city in the world with almost 20 people being shot every day, and one of the five most corrupt cities of Colombia in the year 2003. Society was marked by violence and a strong sense of inequality. The main problem in Medellin was drug trafficking. The drug cartels had the power in the irregular settlements of the city called “comunas”. The traffickers were turning into public figures such as Pablo Escobar, perhaps the best reference to an eccentric lifestyle of the time. in the past years, Medellin has carried out social integration policies with the purpose of reducing violence and forming an inclusive city. During the past years large public infrastructure has been developed to connect the territory’s peripheral neighborhoods. The intervention with the most results has been the installation of public facilities and the improvement of the public space of the city. nowadays Medellin is an important reference in architecture around the world, and is a perfect example of what is known as social urbanism.
CHALLENGE The local government intends to handle the housing program in the near future. Every year the population of Medellin grows by about 30,000 due to a flow of people from the countryside and into the city. These people usually settle in self-built houses on the mountainside, expanding the city limits in an informal and uncontrolled manner. Through the established program, we propose to regenerate the city through a new mix of building uses in the historic downtown area. Currently, the center of the city is mostly given tertiary use (office buildings and commerce). This project revolves around implementing new residential use by reformulating the adjacent public spaces in a way that includes housing.Visit : http://en.archmedium.com
Mesh:Medellín
experimental social housing
MAKE ARCHITECTURE HAPPEN IS REVOLUTIONIZING the way we conceptualize, design, and finance the projects of tomorrow. By utilizing the limitless potential of crowdfunding, Make Architecture Happen is connecting architectural enthusiasts, practitioners, and educators to fund innovative new projects by designers the world around. “Our goal is to help make your most ambitious projects reality. Submit your project for consideration to be a part of our international launch campaign and be a part of the revolution.”
Submit your project to be funded today. Visit : www.makearchitecturehappen.com
Make Architecture
happen:Crowdfunded
ArchitectureREGISTER: 7/15/2014; SUBMIT: 8/1/2014REGISTER/SUBMIT:8/31/2014REGISTER: 10/1/2014; SUBMIT: 11/1/2014
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bE acTIvE!
gET InvOLvED
conferences,seminars& talks Calendar of Events
from July to October 2014.
ACADIA 2014 Design Agency Conference - October 20-26 2014 Los Angeles, CAhttp://acadia.org/events/T76V3Y
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
+ EvENTS
Poverty Alleviation Unconference - October 12-17 2014 ixtapa, Mexicowww.opportunitycollaboration.net
ACSA Fall Conference Conference - October 16-18 2014 Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canadawww.acsa-arch.org/programs-events/conferences/fall-conference/2014-fall-conference
Eco-Architecture 2014 - 5th International Conference Conference - September 24-26 2014 Siena, italy
HCD for Social Innovation Workshop - July 10 to August 14 2014Online, freeplusacumen.org/courses/hcd-for-social-innovation/
SXSW Eco (2014) Conference - October 6-8 2014 Austin, TXsxsweco.com
XPerspective USA Lecture - July 10-11 2014 Grand Hyatt, new York City, nYwww.theplan.it/J/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6411&catid=1072
GAIN Conference - October 23-24 2014 new York City, nYwww.aiga.org/gain-conference-2014/
SVA Impact: Design For Social Change Conference - July 7 to August 15 2014 new York City, nYhttp://impact.sva.edu/
CSR: Strategies to Create Business and Social Value Workshop - September 25-28 2014 Boston, MAhttp://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/csr/Pages/default.aspx?lb=FY13:CSR-SSIR
yestermorrow Public Interest Design/Build Course Course - Begins August 3rd 2014Waitsfield, Vermonthttp://www.publicinterestdesign.org/2014/05/21/yestermorrow-public-interest-designbuild-course/
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CASSIACOOPTRAININGCENTER
PhOTOgRAPhy By PASI AALTO
+ GALLERY
Previous Spread: Local in front of the
Showroom wall.Current Spread: A buffalo
parked outside, waiting for its owner.
interior view of the Showroom.
Previous Spread: Front facade.Current Spread: Overview of
the 600 square meter roof surface.
next Spread: Large roof eaves all around the buildings.
PROJECT inFO: Cassia Coop Training CentreLOCATION: Kerinci, Sumatra, IndonesiaCONSTRUCTION BUDGET: 30,000 EuroCONSTRUCTION TIMELINE: August-November 2011ARCHITECT: TyIN tegnestue ArchitectsPHOTO CREDIT: Pasi Aalto / pasiaalto.com
DESCRiPTiOn: The work on Cassia Coop Training Centre started in 2010. it all began with a visit from a French businessman, Patrick Barthelemy. He had come all the way from Sumatra to our office in Trondheim, and sat before us with a fascinating story and a briefcase full of cinnamon. Part of the story told of how an area of Sumatra supplies 85 % of the cinnamon consumed worldwide. Yet another and more sinister part of the story concerned workers without rights, underpaid and working long days in unsafe and unsanitary factories. The story made
an impression on us. After a year of planning we found ourselves deep within the cinnamon forests of Sumatra, ready to design and build a sustainable cinnamon school for local farmers and workers.
Cassia Coop Training Centre has become a unique centre with ambitions of being better than its competitors, not only in qualty, but first and foremost in ethics. The centre wishes to set a new standard in how to run a socially well functioning enterprise; local farmers and workers will receive proper payment, a decent healthcare program and have access to schools and education. in addition, the factories of Cassia Coop will be sanitary and safe.
To read more visit: www.tyinarchitects.com
THE MASONIC AMPHITHEATER CONSISTS of the complete redevelopment of a post-industrial brownfield into a public park and performance space containing two primary built elements: a public amphitheater and a pedestrian bridge. Both the amphitheater and the bridge were designed with the goal of reintroducing a feeling of community into a town that had been struggling socially, culturally, and economically since the decline of the rail industry. The redeveloped site provides much needed public space along the creek, at the center of town. The bridge and amphitheater serve to knit together the fragments of a fledgling arts based re-vitalization in neighboring buildings.
The amphitheater is driven by the idea that the built elements are sculptural forms emerging out of the landscape of the park. The built elements include a stage with acoustic shell, a backstage with loading dock, green room and wings, a seating area, and a sound and lighting control booth. The ground plane is peeled up from the stage to create its shell. Steam-bent white oak walls curve to define secluded pockets offstage and intermediary zones of varying intimacy, allowing performers
SITE PLAN: Masonic Amphitheater and Pedestrian Bridge
Prefabricated Shell Assembly Sequence: Masonic Amphitheater
BEhIND ThE
SCENES WITh
DESIgN/BUILD
LAB
BEhIND ThE
SCENES WITh
DESIgN/BUILD
LAB
PUBLIC design humanity
Summer 2014
bridge stair axonometric
AMPHITHEATER ELEVATIONS
Masonic Amphitheater Construction Time Lapse VIDEOVirginia Tech: Design/BuildLAB VideoThe team at design/build LAB created multiple videos to document the work for the Masonic
Amphitheater. Go to Vimeo and search “design/buildLAB” to find more.
vimeo.com/72921966 vimeo.com/45470979
+ BEHIND-THE-SCENES
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Bridge deck axonometric Bridge deck axonometric
Bridge ELEVATIONS
to slip in and out of audience view. The interior walls and ceiling of the shell are sculpted to naturally project acoustics toward the audience. The backstage area is conceived as a creek-side terrace: an intimate place for waiting performers or a casual place for social interaction. To this end, benches pull up from the deck to invite pause while crape myrtle trees push through its surface to provide shade. Sound and lighting are controlled from a covered booth: an oak wedge, nested at the corner of the seating area. The material pallet anchors the project in its context, while the timeless contours reflect the creativity and aspirations of a forward thinking community.
The bridge shares the central concept that the built elements should emerge out of the landscape of the park. The bridge is a bent path, which ramps and steps, inviting people to wander as well as providing a direct link, over the creek, between the new amphitheater and the historic downtown. it is supported at mid-span by a forest of leaning columns, which create a sheltered repose along the creek. Transparency was an integral part of the overall concept; the bridge deck and rail assembly maintain a thin profile, giving the bridge a subtle presence on the site. The entire length of the bridge is ramped to accommodate the site’s significant elevation changes.
The park is divided into multiple landscaped areas, including a line of tall grasses along the creek, a labyrinthine butterfly garden adjacent to the amphitheater, a beach along the creek, and a series of grass lawns at the center. The park’s extruded lawns and carved paths that knit the surrounding urban fabric into the site’s circulation. Smith Creek Park serves as a cultural anchor that belongs to the community at large. it is a vibrant center of spontaneous public gathering that promotes community, supports local businesses, and nurtures the arts.
PUBLIC design humanity+
Summer 2014
Your benefits just got better!Great in-store and online benefits allow you to save every day and track your paint and color purchases for 10 years. PLUS, manage your paint projects and view your
purchase history online.
Sign up for free at swpaintperks.com, or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams.
©2014 the sherwin-Williams Company.
IntroducIng
CHRISTIANBURG1725 N Franklin St
540.382.8851
COVINGTON479 W Main St540.962.4974
Your benefits just got better!Great in-store and online benefits allow you to save every day and track your paint and color purchases for 10 years. PLUS, manage your paint projects and view your
purchase history online.
Sign up for free at swpaintperks.com, or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams.
©2014 the sherwin-Williams Company.
IntroducIng
CHRISTIANBURG1725 N Franklin St
540.382.8851
COVINGTON479 W Main St540.962.4974
Archdaily.com. “Masonic Amphitheatre Project / design/buildLAB at Virginia Tech.” 2012. http://www.archdaily.com/253283/masonic-amphitheatre-project-designbuildlab-at-virginia-tech/ (accessed 27 April 2014.)
Architectmagazine.com. “Rural Studies – Architect Magazine.” 2011. http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/onsite-is-not-your-typical-firm-but-its-principal.aspx (accessed 30 April 2014.)
Designbuildlab.org. “Masonic Amphitheater < design/build LAB.” 2014. http://www.designbuildlab.org/gallery-2/masonicamphitheatre/ (accessed 27 April 2014.)
Designbuildlab.org. “Smith Creek Pedestrian Bridge < design/build LAB.” 2014. http://www.designbuildlab.org/gallery-2/smithcreekpedestrianbridge/ (accessed 27 April 2014.)
Onsitearchitecture.com. “OnSite Architecture.” 2014. http://www.onsitearchitecture.com/ (accessed 27 April 2014.)
Ruralstudio.org. “Lucy Carpet House.” 2014. http://www.ruralstudio.org/projects/lucy-carpet-house (accessed 11 May 2014.)
Telephone interview. Smith Creek Park & Design/build LAB. 29 April 2014.
Wikipedia.org. “Clifton Forge, Virginia – Wikipedia.” 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Forge,_Virginia (accessed 2 May 2014.)
1Architectmagazine.com. “Rural Studies – Architect Magazine.” 2011. http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/onsite-is-not-your-typical-firm-but-its-principal.aspx (accessed 30 April 2014.)
Healdsburgshed.com. “Severine Von Tscharner Fleming & Greenhorns at SHED.” 2014.http://healdsburgshed.com/2014/03/12/severine-von-tscharner-fleming-greenhorns-shed/ (accessed 25 May 2014.)
Jensen-Architects.com. “SHED – Case Study.” 2013. http://jensen-architects.com/case_studies/case-study/shed/ (accessed 11 november 2013.)
Strollingoftheheifers.com. “Vermont tops 2013 Stolling of the Heifers Locavore Index.” 2013. http://www.strollingoftheheifers.com/componentcontentarticle181-locavore-index-2012/ (accessed 11 november 2013.)
Commondreams.org. “’Locavorism on the Rise Everywhere’: US Consumers Turn to Smaller, Local Farms.” 2012. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/08 (accessed 11 november 2013.)
Projecthdesign.org. “Windsor Super Market.” 2013. http://www.projecthdesign.org/projects/windsor-super-market/ (accessed 25 May 2014.)
Telephone interview. Lincoln Lighthill, Jenson Architect. 16 May 2014.
Telephone interview. Cindy Daniel, The SHED. 17 May 2014.
WORKS CITED
thE shED
ShAPING ThE FUTURE OF ARChITECTURAL EDUCATION
1. Lorin, Janet, “Buy a House or Pay Off College? $1.2 Trillion Student Debt Heats Up in Capital”, www.bloomberg.com, 10 June, 2014
2. Clawson, Laura, “Elizabeth Warren says it’s ‘time to come back louder’ after Republicans filibuster student loan bill”, www.dailykos.com, 12 June, 2014
3. To review the Bill or for more information, refer to: http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/4205
4. Architecture for Humanity (author), Stohr, Kate (editor), Sinclair, Cameron (editor), “Design Like you Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises”, Metropolis Books/D.A.P. Distributed Art Publishers inc., 2006
Forgive and Forget
PUBLIC design humanity
Summer 2014
EMPOWERED USTHEOUR ORGANIZATION
NEEDED TO SEE OUR VISION
“JI GIVING
SUCCEED.
TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONALSERVICES
John LookPresident
Global Health Services
“
AFTERWAS READY TOUSE ARCHITECTURE
THAT DO NOTAMOUNT TO MUCH,4 YEARS OFPROJECTS
MEDIUMTO HELPPEOPLE
I!
AS I INTENDEDJIPOSSIBLE
MADEIT
David GibbsStudent
Cal Poly SLO
AS A
JOURNEYMAN INTERNATIONAL
CALL FOR PROJECTS!We have designers ready to start today!
Please contact us with any humanitarian project leads!
pairing university talent with humanitarian need
www.journeymaninternational.org 805.952.5469
VS
ITEMIZEDCONSTRUCTION
COSTS
26%SOFT COSTS
WITH TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONALS
5%SOFT COSTS WITH
JOURNEYMAN INTERNATIONAL
WOOD / PLASTICS
CONCRETE / MASONRY
WEATHER CONTROL
METALS
SITE CONSTRUCTION
FINISHES
MEP20%
18%
6%
9%
9%
6%6%
21% SAVINGS TO PARTNER NGO
EMPOWERED USTHEOUR ORGANIZATION
NEEDED TO SEE OUR VISION
“JI GIVING
SUCCEED.
TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONALSERVICES
John LookPresident
Global Health Services
“
AFTERWAS READY TOUSE ARCHITECTURE
THAT DO NOTAMOUNT TO MUCH,4 YEARS OFPROJECTS
MEDIUMTO HELPPEOPLE
I!
AS I INTENDEDJIPOSSIBLE
MADEIT
David GibbsStudent
Cal Poly SLO
AS A
JOURNEYMAN INTERNATIONAL
CALL FOR PROJECTS!We have designers ready to start today!
Please contact us with any humanitarian project leads!
pairing university talent with humanitarian need
www.journeymaninternational.org 805.952.5469
VS
ITEMIZEDCONSTRUCTION
COSTS
26%SOFT COSTS
WITH TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONALS
5%SOFT COSTS WITH
JOURNEYMAN INTERNATIONAL
WOOD / PLASTICS
CONCRETE / MASONRY
WEATHER CONTROL
METALS
SITE CONSTRUCTION
FINISHES
MEP20%
18%
6%
9%
9%
6%6%
21% SAVINGS TO PARTNER NGO
