WORKS by ARCHEWORKS

1 / Infrastructures for Change

ORKS

New Directions for Archeworks One year into his new post, Martin Felsen discusses how he and Co-Director Sarah Dunn envision the future of Archeworks.

Big News In February 2009, The American Institute of Architects College of Fellows awarded its 2009 Latrobe Prize jointly to Archeworks and UrbanLab for the proposal, “GROWING ENERGY/WATER: Using the grid to get off the grid.” The prestigious Latrobe Prize, which carries a $100,000 award, is given once every two years to an architect or group of architects for an innovative research proposal. This year’s Latrobe Prize theme was “Change That Matters.” The proposal builds upon the awardwinning Growing Water concept, which envisions Chicago developing into a resourceful urban model for addressing the global water scarcity dilemma. The Growing Energy/ Water investigation will dive into the social and environmental value of Blue/Green Infrastructure in the city of Chicago. On the Cover Salt Mountain 3, the photograph on the cover by Jin Lee, perfectly portrays an irony embedded in Chicago’s infrastructural landscape. It’s scary how gorgeous and dangerous things can be at the same time. At first glance, the salt mountain is sublime: scale is difficult to determine, the mountain seems to be eroding from the inside out, and its external skin is somehow structurally capable of forming homeomorphic apertures. But, don’t be fooled, this mountain’s beauty veils the hazardous legacy it will leave behind; simply put, excessive salt kills ecosystems. Chicago uses around 200 pounds of road-salt per person every winter. When snow melts, salt enters the soil beside roadways and goes to work corroding everything in its path. Over several months, dissolved salt (sodium chloride) slowly enters watersheds and wells. Peak chloride concentrations in some urban streams and rivers can approach half that of ocean water. Chloride levels high enough to impair freshwater organisms, plants, and animals can persist for months after road-salt is applied. Salt Mountain 3 by Jin Lee Small Mountains series, 2007 Photo courtesy Jin Lee and Devening Projects + Editions.

My first meaningful conversation with Stanley Tigerman occurred a few years ago aboard a Southwest Airlines flight to Baltimore. I wouldn’t be writing this introduction as the new Director of Archeworks if it weren’t the case that both Stanley and I like discount airlines. It’s not so much that we’re cheap, it’s just that we don’t like to waste our resources on luxury items like assigned seats, and we don’t mind taking on a bit of risk, as long as we get to our destination. And as it turns out, this attitude is at the core of Archeworks’s call for creative design solutions for all sections of our society, particularly in the areas where innovation will have the greatest impact — those which are underserved and underfunded. Today, Archeworks has evolved beyond its focus on specific underserved groups to engage the larger challenges facing the 21st century metropolis. Clearly, there are many challenges, and we can’t do it all, so we’ve been identifying the issues that are pressing and vital to a vast majority of Chicagoans. We want our projects to transform individual lives while simultaneously tweaking the fabric of the city itself. Through collaborative design-based research and implementation, we aim to expand the possibilities for our communities to grow in more livable, imaginative, and resourceful ways.

To support these new initiatives we have made a few adjustments to the day-to-day operations at Archeworks. Projects will last much longer than a single academic year. Impactful design initiatives affecting the built environment take years, not months, so we extended the time frame of the research, design, and implementation process. While a project such as a single pocket park could potentially be completed in a modest number of months, a planned network of pocket parks that spans between neighborhood blocks and across communities takes time; legacies aren’t created in a single academic year. Archeworks also launched a new fellowship program, designed to give early- and mid-career designers the opportunity to develop a body of work in relation to project-based teaching and research. Also, we created the Works Gallery to exhibit student projects, and we invited Extension Gallery into Archeworks to regularly feature investigative, experimental, and speculative work by young architects and designers. Finally, we initiated Works, the publication in your hands, which is a collaboration between Archeworks and Rick Valicenti of Thirst.

Sarah and I would like to thank everyone who consistently supports Archeworks, and those who understand that Archeworks is not about charity, but a form of self-interest that we hope is both enlightened and reflective. Realizing Archeworks is taking its expanded mission to the streets, great design projects in communities that need them most literally, by re-thinking the design of urban infrastructure. will in turn directly benefit each and all of us by educating We care about infrastructure because it comprises more and assuring the well-being of our neighbors, allies, than a third of our cities and communities, and because and relatives. we own it collectively. Infrastructure is big, serious, and pervasive, and is the material and moral bedrock We’re especially thankful to Stanley Tigerman, of the city. Infrastructure is the organizational framework Eva Maddox, and the Archeworks Board for their trust that underpins our cities, the physical and social networks and commitment; facilitators Kees Lokman, Mason that connect everything to everything. Infrastructure Pritchett, Andrew Vesselinovitch, Jesse Vogler, Story drives and shapes the way we live, and underlies Bellows (Fellow), and Giles Jacknain (meta-facilitator) the durability and growth of communities. for their unstoppable energy and enthusiasm; Archeworks 2008–09 students for their inspired work; Rick Valicenti, Embedded within infrastructure is the power to drive John Pobojewski, and Bud Rodecker of Thirst for their change, and to invent new relationships. New forms and limitless creativity and patience; Donna Robertson formats for infrastructure can reorganize the way we plan, and Bob Somol for their encouragement and support; design and operate our cities. To this end, Archeworks Archeworks staff, especially Katie Vail and Corinne is helping communities imagine, invent, and design Reynolds, for their hard work and verve; Stan Allen, resourceful solutions to public urban challenges, and foster Tony Fry, Sarah Herda, Sadhu Johnston, Donna community development. We believe infrastructures such Robertson, and Michael Sorkin for their advocacy as parks and public spaces are not simply neighborhood of the ideas underlying our Latrobe Prize submission; “amenities,” but necessities of good health and well-being. Ellen Grimes, Elva Rubio, Lisa Norton, Jordana Joseph, At a time when there is real possibility for substantial Michelle Litvin, and all past Arche-workers for their geninvestment in infrastructure, we (the big We) have erous help and advice; project partners Peter Osler, Ann a unique chance to affect change that matters by offering Feldman, Patricia Novick and everyone at Enlace Chicago, alternative design solutions to re-shape our cities. especially Christina Bronsing and Cesar Nun ~ez, Chicago This first issue of Works documents the ongoing 2016 especially Robert Accarino and Steven Moylan, and physical and social infrastructural design projects underLarry Horist; and of course, we are indebted to our major taken at Archeworks including: (1) design speculations funders who make Archeworks possible including the on Chicago’s network of parks and public zones of activity, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Graham Founda(2) the implementation of new community-owned Pocket tion, the MacArthur Fund at the Driehaus Foundation, Parks in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, (3) an the National Endowment for the Arts, the Chicago examination of an alternative, safe, convenient personal Community Trust, the Illinois Arts Council, the AIA mobility infrastructure, and (4) an investigation into the College of Fellows, the City of Chicago’s Department politics behind vital natural resources, which evolved into of Cultural Affairs, the Irving Harris Foundation, a global public education campaign to increase awareness and the Archeworks Board. of water scarcity. Martin Felsen, Director

The Archeworks Index 2008–2009

Surf + Turf Facts The Archeworks Index, which pays homage to the Harper’s Index, is a snapshot of facts illuminating various aspects of our world today. Admittedly less comprehensive than its predecessor, the Archeworks Index focuses on this year’s theme: Water. Each of the four projects undertaken in 2008-09 and documented on the proceeding pages strives to address the local/global water scarcity and pollution dilemma, especially in urban environments. Archeworks Index items measure today’s drifting tide of social and environmental events. Sources City of Chicago Peter Annin, Great Lakes Water Wars Great Lakes Water Wars Great Lakes Water Wars Water Agenda 2003, City of Chicago World Water Organization United States EPA Michael Specter, The Last Drop The Last Drop United States EPA World Health Organization NAFTA The Last Drop Mark Twain The Last Drop United Nations The Last Drop The Last Drop Maude Barlow, Blue Covenant The Sun and BBC News Chicago Climate Action Plan U.S. Geological Survey Ntl Center for Appropriate Technology WaterPressures.org City of Chicago World Health Organization Australian Water Association U.S. Geological Survey

The Great Lakes hold 20% of the Earth’s fresh surface water. The Great Lakes could cover the lower 48 states in 9.5 feet of water. Less than 1% of the water in the Great Lakes is renewable. The U.S. Supreme Court allows Chicago to remove 2.1 billion gallons of Lake water/day. Chicago returns less than 1% of withdrawn water back into Lake Michigan. Over 1.4 billion people live in river basins where water use exceeds min. recharge levels. In the U.S., 30 states will suffer water shortages within 5 years if trends go unchecked. Americans consume between 100 and 150 gallons of water/day. The government of India promises 10 gallons of water/day to each citizen. Americans lose, on average, 18 gallons of water/day to leaky pipes and faucets. Water is a human right. Water is a commodity and an investment. “Rivals” from the Latin rivalis, means “one taking from the same stream as another.” “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.” Citizens of ancient Rome had better water services than nearly half the world does today. Two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in less than 20 years. The water table beneath Beijing has fallen nearly two hundred feet in the past 20 years. The Chinese character for “political order” is based on the symbol for “water.” Global population tripled in the 20th century, water consumption went up sevenfold. Constantly running taps at Starbucks stores use 6.2 million gallons of water/day. Running a faucet for 5 minutes is equivalent to a 60-watt light bulb lit for 14 hours. 634 gallons of water are required to produce a hamburger. A tomato travels, on average, 1300 - 2000 miles from farm to consumer. Women in India walk the distance of the moon and back 1000 times a day for water. On a 25’ x 125’ Chicago lot, one inch of rainfall contains over 2000 gallons of water. About 70% of all available fresh water on Earth is frozen in the polar icecaps. Bringing an iceberg to South Australia would cost an estimated $1.8 billion. Once evaporated, a water molecule spends about 10 days in the air.

Project 1

Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobility infrastructure is designed primarily for the convenience of motorists and merchandise. We believe that we can no longer afford this arrangement, and that car-centric human habitat should now be viewed as a failed experiment. Our starting point toward envisioning the future of mobility in Chicago was to examine the existing relationships between neighborhoods and infrastructure. Chicago has a rich array of infrastructure including the rapid transit system that radiates from the Loop encircling the business district; the Emerald Necklace, which is a broad loop of parks and green boulevards encircling the city; the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uninterrupted street grid; bike lanes; bus network; and, rail system. Despite this incredible lattice of hard infrastructure, many Chicago communities remain underserved and have limited transportation alternatives. Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighborhoods are diverse, with distinct cultures, assets, and needs; and can benefit from community-oriented, locally focused options for improving personal mobility.

photo by stephen shapiro

Local Loops: A framework for investigating improved mobility and quality of life in Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighborhoods

Ua Universal Access

Pocket Parks

Policy

Shop Local

Bias

Medical Facilities

Parking

Surface Treatments

Build Topography

Plant Trees

Community Garden

Permeable Surface

Boulevard System

Sunday Parkways

Safe Streets

Lanes

Barriers

Rain Gardens

Urban Forest

Bird Habitat

Bio-swales

Nature Preserves

Green Alleys

H20

Signals

Paint

Planters

Toxic Remediation

Compost

Harvesting Water

Fresh Produce

Train Tracks

Public Art

Traffic Calming

Markings

Stewardship

Solar Panels

Native Plants

Wind Farm

Living Machines

Under the El

Community

Policy

Boundaries

Ecology

Walk

Scooter

Wheel Chair

Segway

Roller Skates

Skip

Tricycle

Tandem

Bicycle Share

School Bus

Car Pools

Water Taxi

Monorail

Subway

Bus

Train

La Local Amenities

Local Loops is about reducing our reliance on energy inefficient highway-specific vehicles in favor of alternative modes of safe urban personal transportation. The project speculates on long range developments of an environmentally friendly intermediate mobility infrastructure. To this end, Archeworks envisioned a three step process to reshape the way people move within and between their communities.

Recreation

Human Scale

City Scale

Local Loops Process

Bp Block Party

Parade

Art Fair

Sports

Summer Dance

Street Markets

Potato Sack Races

Double Dutch

BBQ

Food Festival

Vendors

Lawn Bowling

Rally

Farmers Market

Yard Sale

Basketball

Concert

Movies in the Park

Soup Kitchen

3-legged Races

Home Zones

Sports

Events

Markets

1 Locate your loops Local loops represent an inter-community form of public transportation intended to strengthen and improve connections between neighboring communities and local destinations. Loops are comprised of main and arterial streets, and are traversed by 24-hour hybrid buses or electric trolleys. Loops provide improved access to existing city-scale public transportation infrastructure.

Little Village Loops Paths Metra CTA Pink Line Emerald Necklace

Little Village

2 Plan your paths

3 Add your elements

Paths are secondary, active transportation thoroughfares that connect residents to parks, community gardens, recreational areas, and neighborhood open spaces.

Customizable combinations of elements (see periodic table) are applied to enhance the new network of local loops and paths.

Local Loops Vignettes Sunday Parkways: Every Sunday on Little Village’s stretch of the Emerald Necklace, the boulevard is closed to cars and transformed into a colorful public space for the community.

Run

Bicycle Ua

Bp Wk

Bike Share: Little Village’s Bike Share Program can be found at Metra and CTA Pink Line stops to make public transportation options more accessible to residents.

Human Scale Hybrid Shuttles: Along the loop, a 24-hour hybrid shuttle bus connects the bustling community center on 26th Street to the CTA Pink Line, nearby parks and public schools.

Trolley

Shuttle

City Scale

Rails to Trails: Old rail lines along the southern edge of Little Village are converted to bike trails by applying permeable pavement, murals, native plants, and trees.

Periodic Table left A “periodic table” was created to organize mobility and land-use elements within the Local Loops framework. The periodic table contains ingredients necessary to cook-up entirely new types of userfriendly infrastructure. Scenarios right Using Little Village as a case study, community leaders from Enlace Chicago and Active Transportation Alliance used the Local Loops framework to identify opportunities to improve mobility and quality of life in the Little Village neighborhood. The Local Loops methodology unlocks existing infrastructure by demonstrating ways a community can reimagine the value of its public assets.

Ba Mk

Project 2

olympics WATER From the sublime expanse of Lake Michigan to the hubristic reversal of its river, Chicago has long been defined by its relationship to water. With the world’s water reserves increasingly stressed, it may be the one natural resource that continues to ensure Chicago’s voice in the global conversation on resource allocation. It is also here that Chicago has the opportunity to pioneer sustainable practices in water use and management. Proposal: create a BLUE-GREEN Emerald Necklace linking greenspace, transit, and communities with Lake Michigan.

ENERGY With a renewed awareness of the fragility of our natural resources and a growing consensus on the political and environmental dangers of oil dependency, Chicago has pioneered new directions in sustainable urban design. Proposal: alter existing transit corridors, tap into solar and wind generating potentials of Lake Michigan, develop the educational and environmental potential of distributed energy production, and design a series of measures to CLOSE THE LOOP on resource use and power generation.

ECOSYSTEM Spread over 234 square miles of former marshland, abutting one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world, and bisected by a river that runs backwards, Chicago is home to diverse human and natural ecosystems. In a city where the line between ‘man-made’ and ‘natural’ is fine to non-existent—where the missile silos of one period are the bird sanctuaries of the next—the notion of a native ecosystem is complex indeed. Proposal: highlight these tensions and work toward a complex co-evolutionary ECOLOGY OF THE REAL.

Olympics In Fall 2008 Archeworks was invited to develop long-term, legacy-based design strategies for five parks selected by the Chicago 2016 committee as potential Olympic venue sites. The committee is investigating an array of issues and design parameters associated with each site, many of which involve environmental, logistical, and social challenges taking place before, during, and after the Olympics engage the city. In response to these parameters students of Archeworks, in collaboration with students of the Illinois Institute of Technology, articulated a strategic framework based on three urbanistic themes: ecological commons, infrastructural connectivity, and community participation.

CONNECTIVITY Central to the mission of Chicago’s Emerald Necklace is the promise of social and ecological connectivity between the biggest parks and their contexts. Proposal: adopt a strategy of INFRASTRUCTURAL STITCHING to reclaim the parks and surrounding communities as a continuous surface of public space.

COMMUNITY More than simply a green refuge, Chicago’s Emerald Necklace is a heavily contested space, incorporating diverse users and desires through its history. Proposal: in an effort to celebrate the plurality of program and the value of greenspace for all communities, design a campaign to PROPAGATE THE PARK beyond the boundaries of the centralized park system by making use of vacant lots and open space in neighborhoods surrounding the Emerald Necklace.

The Archeworks Record 2008–2009

Extension Gallery at Archeworks SEA: Seeing Eye Architecture (background) is the work of Eric Ellingsen + Species of Space. It is the first Extension Gallery for Architecture installation at Archeworks, Extension’s new home. The exhibition opened Thursday May 7th, 2009, following the Archeworks Final Student Presentation, and ran through August 19th, 2009. Eric Ellingsen recently joined Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin and became co-director of Institut fur Raumexperimente, an experimental graduate art laboratory program. Until Fall 2009 he was a full-time faculty member in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he also taught in the new Masters of Landscape Architecture program. He recently participated in les Transculturelles des Abattoirs in Casablanca, Morocco, the first international art and architecture bienalle in North Africa. Species of Space is an experiment in design studios founded by Eric Ellingsen in 2009. It is structured on the illogical leaps of open door collaboration, cultivated difference, the responsibility of risk, and the joy of the embodied imagination playing in space and matter. Species of Space breeders are Eric Ellingsen, John Castro, Ryan Szanyi, Michael Brassil, and David Basham. Extension Gallery is an experimental forum for testing new thought and practice in architecture. For more information about Extension and the SEA exhibition, please visit extensiongallery.org This exhibition was sponsored by The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill; the MLA program at IIT; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; the Chicago Sister Cities program, Casablanca — Chicago; the National Science Foundation; and Extension Gallery; and was made possible with the devoted work of IIT students and Extension volunteers. Build Team Eric Ellingsen John Castro Ryan Szanyi Michael Brassil David Basham Isaac Plumb Diba Salimi David Rochlen Maurizio Bianchi Christopher Beckcom Catherine Witt Amelia Tabeling Jacklynn Fitzgerald Annie Nguyen

2009 Jul

Jun

May

16–17

Apr

7 15

Mar

Feb

Jan

Summer Open House featuring Martin Felsen (MF) lecture Sarah Dunn (SD) speaks at World Future Society Conference SD lectures for University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) YArch Summer Program ADPSR Chicago’s Mumford Awards hosted at Archeworks SEA: Seeing Eye Architecture Gallery Talk by Eric Ellingsen MF and SD featured as Chicago Matters Global Visionaries Community Planting Day in Little Village Student Final Presentation and Review + Extension Gallery Opening Archeworks Graduation with keynote speaker Scott Bernstein, President and Co-Founder of the Center for Neighborhood Technology Archeworks at Green Festival on Navy Pier MF speaks at Global Environmental Management Initiative Forum MF and Story Bellows (SB) conduct educators’ charrette at the Museum of Contemporary Art MF discusses world water issues at Northwestern with Dan Bena, Director of Sustainable Development for PepsiCo Little Village Pocket Parks Community Presentation at Catedral Café Archeworks Alumni Networking Session MF speaks on urban agriculture panel for University of Chicago’s Earth Week MF lectures at American Planning Association Convention in Minneapolis MF and SB meet with Public Architecture in San Francisco Little Village Pocket Parks: 25th+Keeler Charrette Public Lecture: Douglas Garofalo, Principal of Garofalo Architects Little Village Pocket Parks: Perez Plaza Charrette Water Pressures Web Design Roundtable MF lectures at Northeastern University Little Village Pocket Parks: 26th+Trumbull Charrette Converge: Exchange panel discussion at Chicago Architecture Foundation Converge: Exchange Conference Public screening of The Water Front at Archeworks Little Village Pocket Parks: 27th+Kildare Charrette Public Lecture: Robert E. Somol, Director of the UIC School of Architecture Archeworks Alumni Visioning/Networking Night MF and SD accept Latrobe Prize at AIA Gala in Washington, DC Archeworks honored at Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards Change Workshop with Jeanenne LaMarsh, Session 1 SD lectures at Carnegie Mellon Change Workshop, Session 2 Second semester begins Post-holiday party at UrbanLab Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) Oil and Water Panel Discussion at Loyola University

2008 Dec

Nov

Oct

photo by eric ellingsen

Sep

Virginia Tech Chicago Studio critique at Archeworks MF speaks about green infrastructure at OWP/P Student Semester Presentation and Review SD lectures at University of Michigan MF participates in U.N. Global Compact meeting on water in the 21st Century Chicago 2016 project review James Wines lecture IHC Oil and Water Talk: Richard Heinberg at Chicago History Museum Chicago 2016 jury at Archeworks MF speaks at Greentown Conference in Aurora, IL FLOW: For Love of Water at Siskel Film Center Public Lecture: Liz Ogbu, Associate Design Director of Public Architecture Archeworks Orientation on the Chicago River First Semester starts Terry Guen lecture Public Lecture: Cathy Hudzik Breitenbach, Mayor’s Assistant for Chicago River Initiatives Archeworks and UrbanLab activities featured in Architectural Record

Archeworks Lecture Half-Full / Half-Empty Series 23 October 2008

Cathy Hudzik Breitenbach

Chicago River Initiatives

Assistant to the Mayor Chicago River Initiatives City of Chicago

I hope you all don’t mind if I sit, as you can see I’ve got a social development project going on (pregnancy) and I don’t think I can stand the whole time.

facility in Whiting, Indiana. This group was really working hard to prevent additional pollution from a facility where there is some pollution already.

I was going to start by telling you a little about myself, but as Martin has already done a bit of that I’ll be brief. I am an environmental planner by trade, although not everything that I do day-to-day is traditional planning by working in the Mayor’s office. That said, I’ve been there for about four years. I’ve got a lot of the tactical training for what I do now — I’m working with a local nonprofit called Friends of the Chicago River. Martin, you also mentioned I worked there for about five years in the late 90’s, and it had a lot to do with how I wound up in the Mayor’s office. When I was first hired there in 2004, I was mainly working on our river initiatives for the City of Chicago, and then over time, my job description has kind of evolved. I now work on a wide range of water policies and water projects for the city, and I will just say it’s a pretty fascinating, really exciting place to work, especially being right in the Mayor’s office. Really neat to be able to participate in setting that kind of policy.

Improving infrastructure is another thing that, by working with a coalition, we are able to really push for. You’ve heard the story about all kinds of aging infrastructure in the United States. It’s true with water and wastewater infrastructure, too, and one of the biggest threats in terms of pollution into the Great Lakes is sewer overflows, pollution from storm water. In Chicago our sewer pipes are 100 years old. But this is a national problem, so we have to have the power of a coalition of voices to get anything done. The Great Lakes Compact is an agreement between all the Great Lakes states and Canada to try to manage Great Lakes water, and actually today Congress made this compact a reality.

Cathy (Hudzik) Breitenbach recently joined the Chicago Park District as the Manager of Riverfront Development. She manages programming and seasonal cafes on the Chicago Riverwalk, and coordinates Mayor Daley’s Chicago Riverwalk Development Committee. In addition, as part of the Office of Green Initiatives, Cathy works on sustainability efforts within the Park District — particularly in the areas of water conservation and stormwater management. Prior to joining the Chicago Park District, Cathy served as an Assistant to the Mayor with Mayor Richard M. Daley’s office for five years. She has also worked nationally and internationally as a consultant on urban river revitalization. In the late 1990’s, Cathy worked for Friends of the Chicago River, where she managed the organization’s stewardship and canoeing programs along with work on several riverbank stabilization and restoration projects. Cathy has a BA in environmental sciences and anthropology from Northwestern University and a Master’s degree in environmental planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

“…That guy is standing on discharge from the Chicago Stock Yards; in fact, he’s standing out in the middle of Bubbly Creek.”

A little bit of Chicago River history. I’m sure most of you know the great story that the river flowed backwards and all that. The images that you see up there show Chicago growing from this tiny little frontier settlement on a marshy little stream that you could barely tell was So I’m going to try to give you both a global picture of what a stream to, by the late 1800’s, the busiest harbor in the the City of Chicago is doing related to water and also go nation, and it had been dredged and deepened and who into detail on a couple of projects that I’m working on knows what? At one point, it was apparently so crowded, specifically. But generally speaking, as a policy we’ve you could just walk across the boats without having been for several years now trying to look at all of our water to use the bridge, and that took its toll. The pictures you resources in an integrative approach — what that means see on the left are of Bubbly Creek, and that guy is standing practically speaking is you look at things like storm water on discharge from the Chicago Stock Yards; in fact, he’s management, like water conservation, and even waterstanding out in the middle of the creek. The legacy of front development as being all related. And we need to pollution in our river system is pretty intense, and we had make sure that what we’re doing in these areas is consisto do a lot of work to overcome it. Now, most famously tent and the policy programs are consistent along the way. how we dealt with this was reversing the river. So you’ve all heard that; this is how it was actually done — it was So starting with water quality, of course you think of Lake engineered so the water flows backwards, eventually Michigan, and obviously that’s why water quality in the out towards the Gulf of Mexico. Great Lakes is important. It’s our drinking water supply, not only for the city but for the entire region, incredibly Like I said, we have come a pretty long way in terms important for recreation and tourism and our economy, of water quality for the river system. A lot of that has been and also the Great Lakes fisheries are very important to through regulation — the beginning of this chart is when our economy as well. There is a lot that the city’s doing the Clean Water Act passed. A lot of the discharges in terms of trying to protect water quality, and a couple to the river are gone now, and it has gotten tremendously of examples, you’ve probably seen a lot in the news about better to the point where now one of the driving forces beach closures and that kind of thing. The science behind for more improvements in the river is the huge amount of beach closing is really not very good, and we’re trying to recreational capital. But we still do have a lot of work to do. work closely with the EPA on making it better so that our At the City we also do a lot of work on our traditional beaches don’t close as often and we understand better why sewer infrastructure, which is very tied to river water they do when they do. So we’ve been piloting new testing quality. Ninety-eight percent of the City of Chicago has procedures, everything from border collies running up a combined sewer system. Does everybody know what and down the beaches to different kinds of trash cans to try that means? Everything you flush and all the rain that falls and get the garbage that contributes to the contamination, on the ground all go to the same pipes. When we get a lot and a lot work goes into trying to prevent the contaminaof rain, those pipes fill up, and it has to go somewhere. tion of water quality levels close to our shores. The system was designed to overflow into the river system The bigger point I want to make about water quality as opposed to your basements. Now, it still does occasionin the Great Lakes is that for the most part it’s more ally flood basements and stopping basement flooding of a regional issue. And the city should do everything is a primary concern, but it’s no longer acceptable to have we can to control our own sources of pollution, but for combined sewer overflows. So a lot of the work that we’re the most part a lot of this is a regional effort. In 2004, doing on our sewer infrastructure is designed to eliminate our mayor founded a group called the Great Lakes and the combined sewer overflows that still happen whenever St. Lawrence City Initiative, familiarly the Great Lakes we have very bad storms. Some of that’s reducing bottleCities Initiative, trying to give local governments and necks in the sewer system, trying to get it to flow more cities a voice in protecting the Great Lakes and advocating efficiently, and you’ve probably heard of the Deep Tunnel. for funding and all kinds of things that would help those It’s basically a giant underground river that carries the improvements to the Great Lakes. We’re really active in overflow water to reservoirs. Reservoirs have not yet this, and you know what? It sounds like it’s kind of boring been fully built… policy stuff, but we have found that it really does matter. For the entire lecture, visit archeworks.org/lectures You might remember the hullabaloo over BP and their

Archeworks Lecture Half-Full / Half-Empty Series 29 October 2008

Associate Design Director Public Architecture Liz Ogbu joined Public Architecture in August 2006 and is responsible for design campaign selection, execution, and advocacy. Through various traveling fellowships, she has pursued research projects, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, examining the intersections in the socioeconomic and physical spaces of the informal sector. Liz has also been involved with many community focused projects and organizations here in the U.S., including the launch of the Community Design: Now or Never website and its associated symposium; the Mayors’ Institute on City Design; and an affordable housing developer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She recently was selected as a “Green Giant” by Steelcase, Inc. for her work in promoting environmentally and socially sustainable design. Liz earned her Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Wellesley College and Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Liz’s lecture was presented by Archeworks in conjunction with OWP/P’s Environmental Awareness Week and AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE).

“…Designers have the unique ability to identify problems as opportunities…”

Liz Ogbu

Beyond Green: What is Sustainable Architecture?

Established in 2002, Public Architecture is a national 501(C)(3) charitable organization that began with the vision of a single architect—that he, his firm, and the profession have a role to play in affecting social change. That vision is based on a belief that designers have the unique ability to identify problems as opportunities, and that it is our responsibility to use our skills and expertise to advance the public good. Increasingly, the notion of the “public good” has been linked with a vision of a “sustainable world.” Yet, it is often overlooked that a designer’s contribution to a more sustainable world can not only foster a healthy planet, but healthy communities as well.

gatherings. It facilitates the employment process and also provides space for meetings and classes. It is a prototypical solution, designed to be a model that can be replicated and further developed by anyone. Sustainability has been integral to how the Station has been conceived. Environmentally, the Station utilizes several green materials and strategies. Materials used range from recycled PVC vinyl floor tiles on the interior to used billboard vinyl wrapped panels on the façade. Green strategies such as solar panels on top of the roof canopy and a dry (or incinerating) toilet in the restroom allow the Station to make a minimal environmental footprint.

Sustainability is most often defined in environmental terms. Within the building industry, green products and certification systems like LEED have witnessed tremendous growth. It is not surprising given that the building industry has a significant environmental impact: buildings represent nearly 40% of the nation’s primary energy use and the building and construction industry contributes nearly 30–40% of the annual waste stream in the nation’s landfills. And yet, as we increasingly discuss sustainability, there also is the opportunity to encompass more than just the traditional focus on environmental issues. Within the broader sustainability movement, there is a growing recognition of economic and social sustainability. When combined with the environmental aspect, these create what is increasingly referred to as the “triple bottom line.” Within architecture and design, there exist opportunities to embrace and advance this more holistic vision of sustainability. As Public Architecture works and advocates for design for the public good, this more expansive vision of sustainability is at the core of our work.

But sustainability is viewed here as more than just green features. By supporting and advancing the economic entrepreneurship of the day labor system, the Station tries to sustain the economic sustainability of each group of workers it accommodates. In the current prototype, there is also a kitchen facility, capable of serving as an income generating food venue. Modeled after a food truck, the main customers of the business are likely to be employers of day laborers and customers of surrounding businesses. The income from the food business can be used to help maintain the overall Station. The Station can also serve as a tool for community engagement. Implementing the Station requires bringing all stakeholders to the table, an act that currently, rarely happens in a constructive manner. Because the day labor issue is often intertwined with the immigration debate, day laborers and their informal hiring sites are often viewed as a black and white manifestation of that debate. So as part of this initiative, we have undertaken a targeted advocacy and outreach effort. Through exhibitions, a portrait series of our day laborer clients, and a dedicated web portal, this effort provides a bridge between the design and the socioeconomic and political issues associated with it. In its design and the surrounding advocacy, we see the Day Labor Station Design Initiative as an innovative vehicle to advance the status of a marginalized group within countless communities across the country.

We engage architecture firms and nonprofits to commit to design for the public good through our national 1% pro bono design program; we act to bring about positive community change through public-interest design initiatives and pro bono design service grants; and we share the potential of design to change the world through advocacy and outreach. Sustainability is a significant and active The aspirations of the Day Labor Station Design component of each of these efforts, but for the purposes Initiative are typical of all our efforts, including those that of this essay, I will focus on one of our design initiatives, we initiate as well as the ones taken on by the almost 500 the Day Labor Station, as a model of how we work. firms that belong to our 1% program. These projects (Design initiatives are prototypical design projects underdemonstrate not only the power of design for the public taken by Public Architecture in collaboration with diverse good but that just design and sustainable design are not partners and linked with comprehensive advocacy efforts mutually exclusive. Instead, truly sustainable efforts to address provocative issues of broad social relevance.) depend on a broad strategy that balances environmental The Day Labor Station Design Initiative focuses on and social sustainability. To do otherwise represents informal day labor hiring sites and the complex social, a short term vision, not a sustainable future. economic, and physical issues that often are associated The Day Labor Station was launched as part of the with them. Each day, over 110,000 people look for day “Design for the Other 90%” exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt labor work in the U.S. Despite their economic contribuNational Design Museum in 2007. Since then, it has tions to society, they receive few benefits in return. Over received considerable press in both design and mainstream 75% of day labor hiring sites occupy spaces meant for other (English and Spanish-language) publications and has garuses, such as street corners and home improvement store nered several design awards, including a Silver Medal in parking lots. These sites are far from ideal; their presence the North America region from the Holcim Foundation’s in spaces designated for other uses means that they often Awards for Sustainable Construction. Conversations are lack even the most basic amenities. Furthermore, despite ongoing in several communities about installing the first the prevalence — and oftentimes longevity — of such inforStation prototype, and several key partnerships have been mal sites, day laborers are still often viewed as a faceless formed with related groups, including one with NDL ON mass; they have no permanent place within the fabric (National Day Labor Organizing Network). of the community. For more info on Public Architecture, its design initiatives, With the day laborers themselves serving as our clients, and its 1% program, visit publicarchitecture.org. the Day Labor Station has been designed as a simple, flexible structure that provides a specific place for day labor

Archeworks Lecture Half-Full / Half-Empty Series 3 February 2009

Robert E. Somol

Poli-Fi

Director UIC School of Architecture

I want to thank Martin and Sarah for inviting me back. Hello, Sarah. And Stanley Tigerman and Margaret McCurry for being here, because I guess Martin and Sarah and I collectively reinhabit Stanley’s previous positions, so it’s nice to have him here watching over us. This talk is, in fact, recycled, showing my well-known conservationist tendencies… The other thing I should say is that this is meant to be a bit of a rant, at least parts of it. Part of it will be sympathetic to you. Parts of it many of you will be totally unsympathetic toward and I look forward to that discussion, and stones at the end. I knew that half-empty, half-full meant — well, I took it to mean, let’s say, optimism and pessimism and I didn’t understand that it meant water, which I know is close to Sarah and Martin’s project, and I also want to congratulate them on the Latrobe, which I think is fantastic, and Archeworks. It will be a great project to continue in the next couple of years. But I don’t know anything at all about water so my “half-empty, halffull” is a liquid that I am more familiar with (refers to image of a half-full glass of beer) and I guess on this question of optimism, I suppose you would say this is full.

having history on your side. And of course it’s easy to be optimistic when you have history on your side and it’s easy to be optimistic when you have the facts and science on your side, when you consider design a form of technology or invention. But I would say that’s a kind of optimism that I would call messianic in terms of its inevitability.

Bob Somol is Professor and Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a member of the Research Board of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. An internationally recognized design theorist, Bob was most previously Professor in the Knowlton School of Architecture at OSU and Visiting Professor at the Princeton School of Architecture, and taught design and theory at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1997–2005. Somol is the editor of Autonomy and Ideology (Monacelli Press, 1997) and has served on the editorial boards of Any and Log. His writings have appeared in publications ranging from Assemblage to Wired, and will appear in his collection of essays, Nothing to Declare, forthcoming from ANY Books and the MIT Press. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an AB from Brown University.

It’s easy to be optimistic when it’s full-full, but I guess this is my version, which in fact you can see isn’t really obviously a half-full glass. So if it’s half-full, you’re optimistic. If it’s half-empty, you’re pessimistic. This one, on the one hand, looks half-full, I suppose, but in fact it’s as full as it gets. And I suppose the part that I consider to be design or architecture is that void in the top, which is to say that architecture and design may well be the thing that makes everything look half-empty, which is why I suppose that architecture and design are under a certain kind of scrutiny these days because even though all of the material is still there, somehow when design takes over it seems like there must be less of it and therefore design and architecture are guilty until proven innocent. But my interest in design is in fact that it rearranges materials in the world in such a way that they actually perform better, so even though this seems like an excessive shape or investment in design, the fact of the matter is that it makes the materials of the world perform better. So it may make it look like the world is half-empty, but in fact, our optimism is in the void. Our optimism is in the empty part which is the part that design contributes, a spacing away from the matter of the world.

“A good crisis should never go wasted.”

On the optimism note, I guess I also want to quote, I suppose, the Rahm Emanuel doctrine, which is something like “A good crisis should never go wasted.” In other words, my optimism is precisely in the moment of crisis. It’s easy to be optimistic when things are going well and it’s even easy to be pessimistic when things are going well, too. That’s what we used to call criticality. Everything was going well but the critical project would tell you it really wasn’t going well even though it really was going fine. Real optimism can only really be evidenced, I suppose, when you’re in a crisis and that’s in part what I mean by the projective act.

The optimism I’m interested in is the optimism of the emptiness, or the fact that failure is inevitable, that crisis is inevitable and one is optimistic regardless. Just how do you take failure or catastrophe or crisis and see it as a kind of opportunity? And so I’m optimistic these days despite our economic bubble catastrophe precisely because selfishly, I think it will be good for schools and I think therefore it will also be good for the discipline. I think if you recall back, for those of you who were looking for jobs in the early ‘90’s, Chicago was impossible. It was the last moment of a kind of economic collapse, the late ‘80’s through early to mid ‘90’s, when much like today, the big firms were laying off hundreds of people a day. But also I think in that moment it was really a great moment of productivity for the discipline of architecture and really for architecture as a cultural practice and architecture as a set of ideas. I think what differentiates maybe that period, that ’88 to ’95 period, was it really focused on the academy — you could say it’s sort of the Assemblage moment or period and therefore the discipline as selfconsciously critical and reflective. And if we’re gonna have a new form now, a new attentiveness, a new turn to the academy and ideas, I think we’re not gonna return to that form. It’s not the Assemblage critical generation project anymore but in fact we have to invent another kind of project that would be appropriate initially to launch from the cultural institutions since the market is not operating any more. And so it’s that project, I guess, that I would also call the projective that Martin has alluded to. So I think part of it is this issue ultimately of politics that I want to talk about that introduces a kind of plasticity into the world. And I guess that’s what I mean by a nonnecessitarian optimism, in other words an arbitrary optimism, an optimism that isn’t based on truth or history or the facts but is basically a leap into the unknown optimistically to produce a new world that doesn’t exist and that is totally contingent. Not everybody has to live that way — it’s really experimentation in new forms of social, cultural, material arrangement.

So I’ve been teaching for almost 20 years and I promised myself when I began that I wouldn’t become the, “back in my day,” crank, but wait 20 years and see what happens. I’m not suggesting that this is just a generational problem, though I think in part it is, but it’s also the tenor of the times. And what I’ve begun to feel surrounded by, especially at this moment, and what I frankly can’t stand, is humorless earnestness and mockish sanctimony. And that’s what the world is now surrounded by partially because it smacks of a fundamentalism that I think is rife in the architectural world now and has been for a short while, but also because earnestness and sanctimony put architecture, and I would We’ve had occasion, really, to respond to the issues of say put any discipline, beyond dispute. And it’s argument, optimism brought up by Archeworks and in particular ultimately, that is essential for any discipline. In the end, a lecture by Bruce Mau, which was incredibly optimistic I believe that architecture design criticism, whatever I suppose, maybe over the top optimistic, and maybe it’s a challenge to that form of optimism that I would like now to genre you want to talk about, is about choice and not about set out. Because I think we share certain aspects of Bruce’s facts, and choice ultimately is a political act while facts project but equally I think the issue of optimism today, are within the domain of science… let’s say, requires what I would call a non-necessitarian For the entire lecture, visit archeworks.org/lectures optimism. In other words, an optimism that isn’t based on

Archeworks Lecture Half-Full / Half-Empty Series 10 March 2009

Douglas Garofalo

Combinatory Territories and Projects

Principal Garofalo Architects

It’s great to be back. What I thought would be good to do would be to go over a series of ideas or speculations, I suppose, regarding our work. Actually, this list is compiled from a number of years of thinking about the work and various people in my office contributing. The office is run really as much as possible as a collaboration, meaning that everybody in the office gets to design.

This is an older drawing. Sanford Kwinter, actually, talked about this years ago when he was at U IC . It’s an epigenetic landscape. Just very briefly, it deals with, in essence, genes and how DNA changes form. What I like about it, though, is that form is not just an exterior surface and it’s not something that’s necessarily static. Another thing I’ll talk about is how we shape things. This happens to be one take on a house shown from many different views. But often times, there’s many, many shapes before we settle on one form.

Doug Garofalo, FAIA, has established an internationally renowned practice in Chicago that produces architectural work through buildings, projects, research, and teaching. The work of Garofalo Architects has been widely recognized, through commissions, awards, publications, and lectures, for innovative and creative approaches to the art of building. With projects that vary in scale and location, the firm has actively pursued architectural design to include forms of collaboration that cross both geographic boundaries and professional disciplines, extending conventional design practice by taking full advantage of the capacity of electronic media. The firm recently completed the new Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, and in the summer of 2006 was the subject of a retrospective exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Doug has been the recipient of numerous awards, including his 2008 selection as a United States Artists Target Fellow. He is currently a full Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Architecture, where he served as Acting Director from 2001-2003. He received a Master’s degree from Yale University in 1987, and was awarded the prestigious Skidmore Owings & Merrill Foundation Traveling Fellowship. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1981 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. Doug’s lecture was the feature of the Archeworks Winter Open House.

“We don’t, or certainly I don’t, separate form from other things such as space.”

So, this list of terms. The first one, “Communicating Structure,” has to do with a number of things. All these terms will have to do with a number of things, some about the project and some about how the project gets done.

Form is everywhere. I’m not saying it’s always interesting, but it’s always fun to discuss. But I’m going to get into So kind of a typical diagram for us, probably most architects, a recent project. It’s a house in Green Bay. about how the office works. It’s pretty standard. I suppose, me personally, I’m interested in all this, but particularly Just to quickly go over how it got its shape, how the design the outside collaborators. We work with people who are happened, the client’s a slot car racer. I think you know not architects or not even necessarily related to architects, the small, little cars that run around these tracks electrically which I think it makes it quite interesting. powered. That’s his passion. For specific projects, we think about those relationships. For instance, this diagram about the Korean church in New York, and the kind of parties involved and collaboration between two good friends to have the project come to pass.

We started looking at a few things prior to even making a sketch or jumping into the computers: the Fiat factory in Italy, where there’s literally a track on the roof of the factory where they test the cars. And some of the forms that are associated with cars — you all know this stuff from going to any parking garage.

Again, within the office, this idea of communicative structure permeates. It doesn’t necessarily mean always discussing or talking. It might mean building a model. Again, the house is in Green Bay, and they had an existing It might mean taking a field trip. Also, everybody in the house and we started to think of the addition. Although it office right now is teaching certain afternoons a week. looks like a series of additions, we thought of the addition And a lot of the projects we do we’ll try, when appropriate, as one continuous strip, definitely having a relationship to to have students be involved. the slot car racing tracks but not trying to be literal at all, just as a system that would organize — reorganize — some I keep using the word “communication,” but there’s of the spaces and then give the clients other spaces that probably many other terms I could use — has to do to they didn’t have. with thinking about urban conditions, what kind of things happen in a city. Especially in a city like this, architecture Above the garage — it’s the equivalent of a four-car says different things at different times. Ellen Grimes is garage — is one big room where Craig, the owner, builds the figure in this photo. I don’t know if she’s here. But we these huge tracks. He’s constantly changing them. People took these photos and I’ve always been amazed at this from around the world come just to race up there. Then place downtown, Federal Plaza, where according he’s got the toy collection. All the walls are covered with to what the weather is, the buildings really change. So that this slat wall system to display the toy collection, the car kind of dialog gets developed, maybe sometimes more parts, etc. So it’s a very strange interior. interpretative… Another house that considers how many different ways Currently, we’re also collaborating with UNStudio form comes about. This one is under construction and it’s on a pavilion that’s going to be built in Millennium Park down in Jefferson City. It’s a site that slopes down to the this — well, it has to be done June 1. We’re pushing the Missouri River fairly steeply. The clients had started off envelope already. We’re the architects of record. My own talking about an addition. But they called us one day and interest in it and Grant Gibson’s, I think ( I shouldn’t speak said — I mean, they were very excited. But they said, for him, but he’s the project manager from our office) “We bought the house next door and we’re going to tear has to do more with how it’s getting put together and how it down in a week or two and we thought we should do that finish will be worked out, etcetera. a house from scratch.” So “Form” is the next thing I want to talk about. First, I suppose, there are all kinds of forms. We don’t, or certainly I don’t, separate form from other things such as space. To me, form is not just the objectness of something. It deals with a lot.

So we kind of went back to the drawing board. And this is what we’ve come up with, fast forward. In a sense, it’s the first concrete house we’ve done. It’s a very closed façade on the street side. But then towards the river, there is no wall. It’s all glass.

I got this image from my wife and we were trying to figure out exactly what it was today. The best — the closest we could come would be plant genitalia, but I’m not sure that’s correct. My wife’s work definitely gets inside my head. Many of you notice. Some of you don’t. She is an artist who deals with ceramics, in particular, all manner of life and geology and whatnot. So this particular photograph of an installation I’m very interested in because, relative to the topic of form, it’s not one form. It’s many. Then they, in turn, make up all kinds of different forms, swarms, flocks, etc.

It’s not like we started off thinking of a geode. It sort of popped into my head one day and I can’t get it out. But it’s this idea of a very rough object that gets cut open and then the inside is really a completely different character although not disconnected. We also saw this thing as kind of sprouting out of the ground even though it was concrete. As it came out of the ground, it would start to cantilever and get bigger… For the entire lecture, visit archeworks.org/lectures

Fellowship

Archeworks / OWP/P Fellow

An Interview with Story Bellows and John Syvertsen

Archeworks Fellowships offer the opportunity for early and midcareer professionals to develop a body of work in the context of projectbased teaching and researching. Fellows spend one academic year at Archeworks. They are given teaching, research, and design responsibilities. Fellows are sponsored by the public organizations or private practices by whom they are currently employed; they are expected to retain these positions during their fellowship in order to strengthen Archeworks’s collaborative, interdisciplinary, knowledge-building efforts.

Story Bellows, OWP/P

John Syvertsen, President of OWP/P

Story, tell us a bit about your background … how do your work and personal experiences make you a good fellow?

John, what led you to sponsor an Archeworks Fellow? Tell us about OWP/P’s societal mission.

SB: I’m a generalist at heart and find myself drawn more to the intersection of fields than to any field itself, which is why I like urban design. In cities everything’s connected to or influenced by something else, so there’s a role for people like me who find it impossible to commit to a singular discipline, but like solving tangible problems. I love being around people with varied areas of expertise; creating effective solutions for cities not only allows, but requires interdisciplinary communication and collaboration.

JS: At OWP/P we have always believed that it is our professional and social responsibility to improve people’s lives through our work. The social mission of architecture, then, cannot be segregated — added or subtracted — from our work; it is integral.

Archeworks, in a way, is a similar educational experiment, save for the cultural and language barriers. The belief in design thinking as a valuable means to address social and environmental problems unites the diverse Archeworks student body with a common vision. Even with a shared sense of purpose, it is not inherently easy to realize the potential of a group with such wide-ranging skill sets and backgrounds. I find myself most comfortable in these situations and enjoy the challenge of figuring out how different pieces and people can fit together.

that our firm culture advances as a result of this work.

Story Bellows, Assoc. AIA, LEED-AP; Director, Mayors’ Institute on City Design Inaugural Archeworks Fellow Story Bellows was recently made Director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Washington, D.C. During and prior to her fellowship at Archeworks, Bellows directed the research group at OWP/P, a three-hundred person Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm. She was a leader in the development of the OWP/P Open Hand Studio, a program that offers pro-bono assistance to improve the quality of the built environment, and OWP/P Engage, a group focused on increasing the firm’s exposure to and engagement with Chicago’s design community. Prior to joining OWP/P, Bellows was a research associate for Urban Age, an international series of conferences on cities based in London. She also served on the Executive Committee of the Urban Land Institute-Chicago, where she led the Young Leaders group for two years. Bellows is a graduate of Colgate University and received a master’s degree in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

There are many people who have very limited access to design assistance. Through our Open Hand Studio we try to connect members of our firm with opportunities to provide assistance to these people in various ways through networking, information sharing, organized At every level of education I’ve surrounded myself group efforts and working with organizations such with people from different backgrounds and taken courses as Archeworks, who do so much excellent work. in multiple disciplines, so the fellowship at Archeworks What projects does your Open Hand Studio pursue seemed a natural fit for me. I am a passionate believer within the walls of OWP/P? in interdisciplinary approaches to education and problem JS: During our Open Hand Studio Week we presented solving, and sought out a graduate program (Master’s to our firm a couple of the pro-bono projects we are in City Design and Social Science, London School of Economics) currently involved in. One example is our work over that provided that type of experience. The program the past 6 years for Family Focus, an organization that took 26 people from different disciplines, different provides a range of support services for families in nationalities, and with different priorities, and put us Evanston. The work has included a long series of small in a studio where we had to find common ground and but significant projects such as ADA upgrades. Not create solutions for a variety of urban design problems. glamorous yet incredibly meaningful. The people that The hours spent in that studio provided very stimulating have been involved from our firm have truly felt entrusted (and often heated) discussions, and left me amazing by Family Focus to help them pursue their mission. They relationships with people from across the globe. have taken great pride in their contributions. We believe

What projects did you work on as a fellow this year?

“In cities everything’s connected to or influenced by something else…”

SB: I spent the first term working with students on the legacy project for Chicago 2016 and the second term on the Water Pressures project. The scales of the projects are very different, and my relationship with the students has been as well. On the first project, because we had set objectives and deliverables, my role was primarily to provide urban design advice, lending more of my professional expertise to the students and their projects. The second has engaged me more as a participant. I acted more as a true facilitator — a team member charged with making sure that we have well-defined goals and that we come up with a strategy and prioritize the right things in order to meet our objectives. Each project has been challenging in different ways — the first more primarily on content, while the second has focused more on creating and implementing an effective process (in addition to being a crash course in local and global water issues). How specifically does your work at AW integrate with your work at OWP/P - what do you bring back to your firm?

SB: My work at OWP/P changes all the time, which is one of the reasons I enjoy it. Process and content are equally important, so my experience at Archeworks has added value on both counts. Effective facilitation is a really valuable and challenging skill; as I grow in my career… Find Story’s interview at archeworks.org/fellowship

How has the Archeworks Fellowship benefitted OWP/P?

JS: At Archeworks, an organization that has continued to evolve in a quickly changing world, I am particularly proud of the involvement of our firm and in particular Story Bellows’ involvement as a Fellow this past year. While I am very hopeful that Story has enriched the Archeworks program, there is no doubt that she has enriched our firm through her involvement. As a firm we have learned a great deal about the focus of Archeworks this year and it has, in several instances, directly impacted our own work. Story is an energetic and fully engaged professional. Archeworks has given her yet another avenue of professional development which we know will further energize and inspire her.

fall semester

September Daylong retreat and orientation Project team studio meetings begin (Mon and Thurs 6–9pm) Fall lecture series begins (Tues 6–8pm) October Midterm Review Teams introduce their assigned projects and present the research they have conducted. Students present at critiques in an open public forum held at Archeworks attended by project partners, fellow students, alumni, directors, staff, design professionals and individuals from the general public. December Final Presentation Students present research and progress on their projects and announce the solutions and prototypes that they will develop in the second semester. Spring Semester

January Second semester begins Project team studio meetings continue (Mon and Thurs 6–9pm) Spring lecture series begins (Tues 6pm) February Midterm Review Students present developments since the last critique. April Final Presentation Students present their final prototypes to the public. May Graduation Ceremony and Dinner

The Archeworks Program: Make a difference

Apply at archeworks.org

Mission/Philosophy

to maintain its unique character. Admissions are structured to enroll students of the highest purpose, while assuring a diversity of backgrounds, skills, and aptitudes. Students enter in September of each academic year. All students attend “full time,” although flex-time is at the core of the school’s philosophy, enabling students to engage in full-time day jobs that help them to maintain financial independence as well as gain knowledge in a specific field of interest. Archeworks is a nondiscriminatory institution and applications are processed without respect to age, race, religion, place of origin, sex, family status, disability, or military status.

Archeworks is an alternative design school where students work in multidisciplinary teams with nonprofit partners to create design solutions for social and environmental concerns. The program was founded in 1994 on the premise that good design should serve everyone. Archeworks calls for education, recognition, and promotion of creative design for all sections of our society, particularly in the areas where innovation will have the greatest impact — those which are underserved and underfunded. Archeworks students have completed over 40 projects focusing on universal design, sustainability, urban agriculture and ecology, elementary school education, neighborhoods with limited resources, micro-enterprises for women and minorities, and other community-based needs in the urban environment. The Archeworks philosophy is radically constructed around the networking of different design disciplines, one reinforcing another, in the conviction that no one discipline can adequately address all the issues that are involved in finding a solution for the challenges in urban society today. Curriculum

Archeworks is Chicago’s only design school that addresses social and environmental needs by developing and providing alternative design solutions through a multidisciplinary process. Archeworks is a part-time evening program and offers a Post Professional Diploma in Alternative Design after one full enrollment year of participation is completed. The program is open to students from a broad range of disciplines and is not limited to those working in design or related fields. First Semester During the first semester at Archeworks, students get acquainted with teammates, facilitators, and projects. They consult with professionals in the field, develop relationships with organizations close to the project and may also form focus groups as part of their research. By the end of the semester, teams will identify solutions for the project that they will develop in the second semester. In addition to project work, students are required to attend a series of lectures. The lectures tackle the underlying principles of Archeworks by studying the works of philosophers, architects, urban planners, and other professionals and students learn how to implement these concepts in the projects. Lecturers include guest speakers and Archeworks facilitators, and occur both at Archeworks and off-site. Second Semester In the second semester, teams will begin developing design solutions and prototypes based upon analysis and feedback from the first semester. At the midterm review, they will receive feedback from peers, professionals, facilitators, and others for direction towards finalizing their concepts. Student teams will unveil prototypes at the final presentation. In addition, a second lecture series will introduce students to the most advanced ideas and information available from international specialists in research and development. Admissions

Acceptance is based on more than academic criteria. Archeworks has a small student body and intends to remain a school of less than 25 students in order

Applications, portfolios, and all necessary supporting materials are encouraged to be received by May 25, 2010 for the 2010–11 academic year, however Archeworks has a rolling admissions policy. If not all spaces are filled by the application deadline, applications will be accepted until the beginning of the school year. A $30 fee, payable by check, and social security number or visa information is required to complete an application. This fee is nonrefundable and is not credited to tuition or other accounts in case of admission. The Directors are seeking candidates with credentials and talent beyond the perceived indications in a portfolio and an academic transcript. Personal attitude and enthusiasm and a deep commitment to socially and environmentally responsible needs are essential to a rewarding and positive experience at Archeworks. Upon acceptance, each student must make a $300 deposit to Archeworks prior to the beginning of classes. Archeworks has instituted a program for Corporate Students which enables companies to sponsor students for the year’s program. Have your employer contact the Archeworks Admissions office for more information. Archeworks accepts applications from students wishing to participate in the program for the full academic year: September–May. The equivalent of a one-year post professional diploma will be conferred at the end of the study based on the successful completion of the full academic year. Transfer credits can be negotiated with an affiliated institution. Archeworks, headquartered in Chicago, is a loft building designed by Mr. Tigerman that includes studios, an exhibition gallery, lecture hall, computer lab, fully equipped metal and wood shop for making prototypes, and a cafeteria. Students live off-site. Rents vary per market. Tuition

The tuition fee for the academic year 2010 – 2011 is $6,200. Interest free monthly payment plans are available. Archeworks offers financial aid in the form of work-study to students who qualify. Please contact Archeworks directly for more information at 312.867.7254 or e-mail info@archeworks.org. Archeworks trustees reserve the right to revise tuition rates. Without the generous support of donors, sponsors, and foundations, the tuition to attend Archeworks would be $30,000 per student. We thank our donors for this valuable tuition subsidy. Go online to find more info and download an application! Archeworks has rolling admissions. The 2010–11 academic year begins with an orientation retreat in late August 2010.

What WORKS?

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll receive a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subscription, consisting of two journals and a hardcover book, when you join the ArcheCircle with a gift of at least $75. Or choose the $50 level if you prefer to receive only the two journal issues. How to Subscribe Go online! archeworks.org/works Or call Archeworks 312 867 7254

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Works is a tri-annual publication that explores the linkages between ways we design our cities and ways we treat our resources, between stuff we make and things we waste, and between design ideas and disciplinary ideals. A medium for speculation, experimentation, and discussion on the future of urbanism in Chicago, the City that Works, Works will also reach out globally to catalogue intriguing works in progress and completion. Works is a collaboration with Rick Valicenti of Thirst 3st.com.

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts The National Endowment for the Arts The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation The Arts Work Fund of the Chicago Community Trust The Illinois Arts Council The Irving Harris Foundation The American Institute of Architects College of Fellows City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Patricia & Laurence Booth Howard & Pam Conant Ned Cramer Marshall & Laura Front Nathan & Evelyn Grossman David & Celia Hilliard Brad & Karen Lynch Eva & Lynn Maddox Eric T. McKissack Christopher Multhauf & Lynn Osmond James L. Nagle Judith Neisser Joel Press Linda Searl & Joe Valerio John Syvertsen Stanley Tigerman & Margaret McCurry Patricia Werhane

AIA Chicago William Achenbach Phyllis Apelbaum Joan Arenberg Dana Arnett Annalisa Barrie Jennifer Beorkrem Kathleen Baltman Molly Baltman Thomas Beeby Barry Bergdoll Emma Bloomfield George W. Blossom Maura Braun Louise Braverman John Brinckerhoff Andreason L. Brown John Buenz Allan Bulley Shashi Caan Ellen Carnahan Sheila & Thomas Cantlebary Anne Champagne Beth Cheng Lourdes Collins Doris & Howard Conant Gladys & John Cramer Allan & Anne Crevi Susan & William Crown Julia Czerniak Robert & Quinn Delaney Dirk Denison John DiCurcio William S. Donnell John S. Durbrow Stephanie Edwards & Rebecca Wood Richard Elden Ron & Lisa Elkins Philip Enquist & Joanna Karatzas Allen Eskew Zurich Esposito Ann Feldman Joel & Toni Fenchel Amy Ferguson Clarke Sunny Fischer Lester Fisher Jeanne Gang Doug Garofalo Frank O. Gehry & Associates Virginia and Gary Gerst Geoffrey Goldberg Helyn D. Goldenberg Marsha Goldstein Ellen Grimes Carolyn Grisko Terry Guen Design Associates Sharon Haar Jill & Larry Haas Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge John F. Hartray Haworth Inc. Hedrich Blessing Sarah Herda Thomas Hirsch Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects Colette Rodon Hornof Kurt Horvath

Ruth Horwich Tara Hovey Greg Howe Helmut Jahn Jordana Joseph Casey Jones & Reed Kroloff Nancy & Frank Karger Christopher Kennedy Nathan Kipnis Kelly Kolar Pamela Lamaster-Millet Lisa Kulisek & Scott Crowe Tom Kundig John & Jill Levi Toby D. Lewis Henry Loeb Sarah Lopez Donald & Nancy Los Jeffrey Mack & Carol Anderson Victor & Sylvia Margolin Susanna B. Matthews Bruce Mau Raimund McClain Richard Meier Foundation Beverly Meyer Kathy Nagle & Ralph Johnson Alf Naman Richard Olcott OWP/P Gregg Pasquarelli Diane Pascal & Thomas Richie Marilyn Payton Annie Pedret Podmajersky, Inc. Bronwyn Poole Gordon S. Prussian Drew Ranieri Donald Ratner Amy Riseborough Mark Robbins Donna Robertson & Robert McAnulty Jill & Ron Rohde John Ronan Penelope Rothfield Elva Rubio Ryan Enterprises Group Searl Lamaster Howe Evan Sharp Peter L. Schaudt Gloria Scoby Debra Shore Ori Sivan Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Robert E. Somol Robert A. M. Stern Architects David Thompson Tigerman McCurry Architects Urban General Store John Vinci Chip von Weise The Walsh Foundation Sharon P. Wang Wheeler Kearns Thomas White Ryan Wilson William Worn Richard Wright

Project 3

Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Little Village Neighborhood is home to more than 90,000 residents and represents the largest concentration of MexicanAmericans in the Midwest. The population is primarily working-class, first- or second-generation immigrants to the U.S, Spanish-speaking, young (50 percent under the age of 21), and male. It is a thriving community, but is plagued by gang and obesity problems stemming from lack of resources for its youth. Creating new community greenspace has been identified as an urgent priority in combating these problems. In Fall 2008 Archeworks began a multi-year project to engage Little Village residents in a participatory design process to create new open spaces that promote sustainable land use, advance community health and well-being, and celebrate the unique character and heritage of Little Villageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mexican immigrant community. Together with Enlace Chicago, other community-based organizations, and most importantly, Little Village residents, we have started to transform otherwise under- utilized land into community managed public space that can be enjoyed by the entire community.

Posters were hung throughout the Little Village neighborhood to spread the word about pocket parks and recruit residents to participate in community design charrettes. The posters seen here hang in the site they depict: a vacant lot at the intersection of 26th Street and Trumbull Avenue.

18 Enlace Chicago, community residents, and Archeworks identified four initial sites in Little Village to reimagine and transform. 1 2 3 4

Perez Plaza 27th St + Kildare St 25th St + Keeler Ave 26th St + Trumbull Ave

Two of the sites are privately owned, two are city-owned land that will be transferred to the community with the help of NeighborSpace, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to acquire land for and support community-managed public space and natural areas in Chicago.

Chicago Neighborhood Open Space Decifits Little Village — 101.1 Albany Park — 73.8 Auburn Gresham — 59.8 Near West Side — 13.9 Woodlawn — 0 Lake View — 0 open space acres needed to meet minimum standard of 2 acres per 1,000 community residents

More Little Village diagrams and analysis can be found at: archeworks.org/pocketparks Little Village has a greenspace deficit. The community’s 90,000 residents have 25 square feet of public open space each, which is 28% of the City of Chicago’s minimum standard. Expanding access to public space is essential in combating the neighborhood’s health and violence problems.

Project 3

This image shows Little Village community members sketching their ideas for a new garden and public gathering space at one of the sites. archeworks.org/pocketparks/1

This photo depicts Little Village residents expressing their desires and concerns about public open space at a community design charrette facilitated by Archeworks and Enlace Chicago. archeworks.org/pocketparks/2

More pictures of the planting process are available at: archeworks.org/pocketparks

This photo shows local volunteers at work during a Little Village community planting day. Enlace Chicago began bi-weekly work days in Summer 2009 to start transforming two of the four Pocket Parks sites.

This photo shows young men from the neighborhood assembling the corner of a raised planting box at a community work day. Archeworks trained volunteers in constructing and installing these boxes.

archeworks.org/pocketparks/3

archeworks.org/pocketparks/4

Project 4

Chicagoans routinely discard, literally “flush down the drain,” more than two billion gallons of fresh water (extracted from Lake Michigan) per day. This water never replenishes the Great Lakes Basin. As if it had no value, Chicago sends (after treatment) its discarded water down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. The goal of the Archeworks Water Project is to radically increase Chicago’s environmental health through educational and design initiatives that seek to ultimately increase the overall well-being of the Great Lakes ecosystem. One such project, Water Pressures, is a public education program to examine collaborative models for water management around the world and mobilize people to take an active part in water conservation. In partnership with artistic circles, a collaborative media organization, Archeworks is conceptualizing and testing prototypes for an interactive Web portal to facilitate community engagement and knowledge-sharing on issues of water management, scarcity, and pollution. A Water Pressures knowledgesharing campaign depicting the embedded water usage in everyday foods and activities can be found on the next two pages. Follow the project’s progress at waterpressures.org. The Archeworks Water Project addresses a report from the United Nations that two out of every three people in the world will be facing water shortages by 2025, a situation that will inevitably lead to global conflict. Access to clean water is fundamental to the lives of healthy human beings. While the United States is generally considered to have adequate water resources, water scarcity and droughts occur regularly throughout the country. Water shortages are even routinely reported in cities directly adjacent to the Great Lakes, which hold 20% of the Earth’s fresh surface water. In the very near future, clean water will be both the Chicago region’s, and the world’s most valuable resource: the new oil. The Archeworks Water Project conceptualizes unprecedented uses of local water supplies relative to local land use and land conservation, and the project envisions ways that Chicago can become a sustainable urban model for addressing the local/global water scarcity and pollution dilemma.

Project 4

WaterPressures.org Crisis, Collaboration, Change

As part of its knowledge-sharing campaign, Archeworks developed a series of info graphics to communicate embedded water usage in everyday life. Embedded water, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;virtualâ&#x20AC;? water, is the amount of water actually required to produce commodities and activities.

4 gallons Dishwasher 7 gallons Baked Potato 9 gallons Tea 20 gallons Dishwashing by Hand 20 gallons Beer 22 gallons Cereal 23 gallons Shower 31 gallons Wine 33 gallons Soda 35 gallons Bath 36 gallons Eggs, 2 of them 37 gallons Coffee 287 gallons Chicken, One pound

634 gallons Burger

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Works 1: Infrastructures for Change Editor Martin Felsen Design Curator Rick Valicenti Thirst Design Rick Valicenti Bud Rodecker Assistant Editor Katie Vail a r c h e w o r k s 2008–2009

Co-Directors Sarah Dunn Martin Felsen Facilitators Story Bellows f e l l o w Giles Jacknain Kees Lokman Mason Pritchett Andrew Vesselinovitch Jesse Vogler Students Danielle Ahern Jenny Babcock Kristen DeLap Aaron Drake Kadi Franson Danielle Gharst Nikki Hopewell Shannon Mangiameli Stacy Peterson Brad Riemann Kendra Robinson Rachael Rodeck Ann Marie Schneider Michael Sullivan Lyndon Valicenti Christopher VandenBrink Preethi Venkataramanujam Board of Trustees Patricia Booth Howard Conant Jr. c h a i r Ned Cramer David Hilliard Eva L. Maddox Eric T. McKissack James L. Nagle Judith Neisser Joel M. Press Linda Searl John Syvertsen Stanley Tigerman Patricia Werhane Staff Lance Drake Cara Flaster Corinne Reynolds Katie Vail Project Partners Robert Accarino Chicago 2016 Christina Bronsing Enlace Chicago Ann Feldman artistic circles Larry Horist Public Policy Caucuses Steven Moylan Chicago 2016 Cesar Nuñez Enlace Chicago Peter Osler Illinois Institute of Technology Jay Robinson Robinson + Robinson Design Katie Tully Active Transportation Alliance Illustrations Kadi Franson Additional Contributors Lee Greenberg Ellen Grimes Jeff Macias

photo by Jin Lee