Designing In Baltimore by Kristian Bjørnard

Socially engaged projects, 2009–2010 from the Department of Environmental Design, MICA

Title/Contents 1 Introduction 2–3 — H-Box 4 MEA Box 5 1812 Initiative 6 Maritime Museum 7 mica, icff 2010 8–9 Art, Artists and the City 10 re-stART with Art 11 Safety toy collaboration 12 19.6%...26.2%...? 13 River Cities at Risk 14–15 — Department Info/Credits 16

students

Axelrod, Zoe Ohanneson Barron, Leah Katherine Basumallik, Moulee Brodowski, Samantha Lynne Brooks, Whitney Morgan Chiarella, Michael Joseph Chong, Sunny Hyunsun Cook, Shawn Thomas Delinsky, Taryn Dombrowski, Andrea Marie Douka-Doukopoulou, Victoria Dunaway, William James Ericsson, Carol Lily Fauer, Allie Melissa Ferebee, Ashley Foo, Janice Ford, Deunte Alexandria Frost, Michael Cory Giron, Leslie Marie Hagens, Katie LeeAnne Harland-Hue, Hans Thanh Heath, Antoine Tyrome Hong, Paula Howard, Benjamin Wilkes Jackson, Anne B Jian, Cindy Jun, Hye Ji Kaliczak, Lisa Marie Kang, Moon J Keane, Katrina Avery Kim, Bo Ra Landry, Sophie A. Lee, Bomyi Luo, Mier Markison, Ann Louise Martinez, Christian Jim McCarron, Michael Lucas McGlew, John Perry O’Brochta, Garrett Paul Park, Sui Pascual, Nicolas V Pinto, Theo Chequer Richardson, Nicholas Sinclair Sarkissian, Karine Tamar Song, Hae Wook Sternburgh, Kallie Lin Storch, Samantha Tripodi, Tessa Jade Waters, Kurt Langenfelder Weinberg, Jacob Nathaniel Whiting, Katrinna — faculty

Timmy Aziz Inna Alesina John Chow Ryan Hoover Pavlina Ilich Kuo Pao Lian David Lopez Katie O’Meara Fred Scharmen Daniel Umscheid John J. Wilson, Jr. — Erin Gleeson, Adminstrative Assistant 2

— Timmy Aziz, Chair

Many of the reasons for why the teaching of design should seek and embrace socially responsible foci, approaches, and methods is now well established. Design is a recognized part of the solution to some of the pressing problems facing us today. Problems such as global warming and rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions that stem from energy dependency and wasteful consumer habits or social inequity in access to well-designed and healthy urban environments will all benefit from greater involvement of designers and design thinking. So it is natural that in preparing the designers of tomorrow’s world, a design school should today teach students about the problems that we know will persist and intensify in the future. However, for a design school to actively incorporate socially engaged projects— projects that undertake to solve real problems and are committed to tangible, implementable outcomes—into its design studios is a bolder step than merely expanding its syllabi. It must first of all recognize that the design practice in the school is not a pretend world beyond which awaits the

real one, the domain of the profession. Rather, that the work of student design projects can have real outcomes that can directly serve to help communities. One also needs to recognize that the models of design practice are themselves changing. In addition to the traditional mode of design practice of a commissioning client and service-providing designer, other important models of practice are emerging. In these models, the relationship of client and designer are less hierarchical and more participatory in nature. More often than not, the designer identifies and defines the design problem and the design solutions emerge from the labor of a team rather than being authored by a sole designer. The socially engaged design project also fulfills the students’ desires to make a better world for all to live in and thus allows them to live design’s calling in the formative years of their experience as a designer. MICA, Baltimore City, and its neighborhoods provide an ideal context for developing a practice of socially engaged projects. MICA has long been committed to community engagement and socially responsible design. Several of

the projects featured in what follows were done under the umbrella of MICA’s Center for Design Practice (CDP) which enables multidisciplinary design teams to undertake real, sponsored projects which can span multiple semesters ( for more information see pg. 5). Baltimore’s vibrant and artistically savvy communities are particularly receptive to the art-based, innovative design thinking offered by MICA’s Department of Environmental Design (ENV). The academic year, 2009–2010, was a watershed in ENV’s practice of socially engaged projects. During this year, ENV collaborated with community groups and institutions, taking on big issues and small ones alike. The Architecture and Product Design students have successfully helped people around Baltimore and the department gained national recognition for its socially conscious design. What follows are brief introductions to many of these projects, which form an exciting body of design explorations and realizations that are forward looking, optimistic and—literally—constructive.

Student team: JT Holly & Amira Rasayon Faculty team: Kuo Pao Lian, ENV Partners: Greg Pitts Design Director, David Edwards; Charley Mckenzie Owner, Smartbox

The earth and the people who reside upon it are in a state of ecological tension. In the midst of socioeconomic shifts and creeping climate change, people around the world are often also subject to the devastating effects of the overwhelming power of great ecological forces—and none more than the people of Haiti.

Graphic Design major, and Amira Rasayon, a recent graduate from the Environmental Design Department, took the lead on the project. They continued the design process of retrofitting ideation and marketing to communicate about the project, and they began to locate potential collaborators and sponsors to help our cause.

In the spring of 2010, the Environmental Design Department at MICA was approached by Greg Pitts, design director from David Edwards, an international furniture design and fabrication company, and Charley Mckenzie from Smartbox of Maryland. Together, they proposed to donate 2,000 storage containers to be retrofitted and sent to Haiti to assist in the disaster relief efforts, providing adaptable temporary shelters during the reconstruction process. Since the boxes, 8’×5’×7’ in size and made entirely out of wood, would need to be re-designed to become a habitable and functional space, Greg and Charley looked to engage MICA’s ENV department with the project.

Our biggest challenge in this effort will be to convince the public that these temporary shelters are needed. As of now, the majority of all resources and funding are going towards reconstruction efforts in Haiti, particularly permanent housing solutions. Our case is that as long as people live in areas with extreme climate that will affect the sustainability of our infrastructure, our communities, and our homes, then there will always be a need for these types of housing components. The possibility of reconstruction in Haiti is eminent, but the time that it will take to fully recover will not come without a long term process, and even now people still need a roof over their heads.

The project began as a design charrette that included students from across MICA’s departments developing ideas and concepts for the box. JT Holly, a senior

You can learn more about the project online at Metropolis Magazine and listen to a recent interview with the design team on WYPR’s The Signal.

1. Project Parameters 2. Design Charette 3. Field mock up

1. Installation at Brown Center, MICA 2. Construction 3. Detail

In a collaborative effort between the CDP and ENV, MICA students designed and fabricated an exciting new exhibit for the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA). The exhibit, EmPower Maryland: You Owe it to Yourself (nicknamed the MEA BOX ) is a travelling exhibit that demonstrates 15 ways to save 15% on energy consumption by the year 2015. The exhibit promotes energy conservation by inviting users into the space, where they encounter life-sized icons of everyday objects, such as appliances. Users are then encouraged to interact with the icons through a series of flip-cards that allow users to uncover information on cost savings and predict their personal savings by implementing the energyand cost-saving strategies in their own lives. In order to tailor this message to the individual, each person is next asked to calculate their personal savings on an I-OWE-ME form. The MEA BOX experience concludes at the Calculation Station. There users calculate their personal savings and consider what they would do with the extra money—such as take a trip to Europe or buy an Iguana. These choices are then posted for all to see.

The project was completed over the course of two semesters. From conception to completion, the project team applied a hands-on approach to design, creating both virtual and physical mock-ups to test ideas and design concepts. Team members researched and explored the use of many different materials, systems, and hardware to implement the design, including field trips to local “exhibit design” showrooms, conference calls with product representatives, and bidding negotiations with suppliers. Once the design, materials and systems had been selected and approved by the client, the design team quickly turned into the implementation team. Students took on individual duties and were able to see them through to completion. At the end of the semester, the team changed hats one more time—this time to a hard hat—as they had to fabricate and physically construct the exhibit for the first time. Through this exploratory, collaborative and hands-on process, the design team delivered an exhibit to the Maryland Energy Administration that exceeded all expectation. You can visit this exhibit in person as it makes its way around local college campuses.

Student team: Lily Ericsson, Cory Frost, Stephen Plantes, Leah Horowitz, Cody Boehmig, Chris McCampbell, Robin Brunelle, Nick Brooks, Benjamin Bours Faculty team: Daniel Umscheid & David Lopez, ENV; Mike Weikert & Ryan Clifford , CDP partner: Maryland Energy Administration

MICA’s Center for Design Practice (CDP). The CDP is a multi-disciplinary studio dedicated to preparing the next generation of design leaders by bringing students together with outside organizations committed to education, collaboration, and pursuing ideas with solutions not yet defined. Through multi-disciplinary, project-based learning, the CDP engages in socially conscious projects using design to translate ideas into tangible outcomes with the goal of changing behaviors and making a positive impact on society. More than 70 MICA students and faculty have participated in funded projects over the past three years from a variety of disciplines including: Graphic Design, Environmental Design, Video, MAT, Interaction Design & Art, Illustration, Animation, Sculpture, Curatorial Studies, Art History

Student team: Ben Howard, Andrea Dombrowski, Cory Frost, Mimi Cheng, Andy Mangold, Paul Capetola, Cris Cimatu Faculty team: Mike Weikert & Ryan Clifford, CDP; Kuo Pao Lian, ENV Partners: David Carrodine & Kristi Halford, Downtown Partnership-Baltimore

In 2014, Baltimore will celebrate the 200th year anniversary of the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner with a commemorative celebration and a series of events throughout Baltimore City and the surrounding areas. In the spring of 2010, the Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit corporation that strives to create a more vibrant community for businesses, property owners, residents, employees, and visitors, engaged the CDP at MICA to develop concepts and strategies towards a systemic series of events, programs, and marketing strategies for the downtown area during the 200th year anniversary. The CDP, lead by Mike Weikert, developed a team of students and faculty members to take on that challenge of this comprehensive project.

For this project, Kuo Pao Lian, faculty at ENV and Ryan Clifford, faculty at the Graphic Design Department, assembled a diverse team of students including graphic design majors, ENV majors, and curatorial studies majors to develop concepts for this project. The team focused on historical analysis of the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner for the first third of the studio which then lead to ideation of concepts and the eventual systemic approach to the project. You can learn more about the project at 1812.centerfordesignpractice.com.â&#x20AC;&#x2030;

1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2. Proposal for Howard Street Light Rail line

1. Site Model 2–3. Design, research and proposal compilation

Since 2005 The Environmental Design Department has partnered with the Baltimore Maritime Museum as part of an ongoing program to enable MICA to contribute to the historical community by documenting and developing methodologies of what is referred to as ‘interpretive programming’. In 2009 the Baltimore Maritime Studio used the USS TORSK as a case study. The TORSK is a former U.S. Navy Fleet Class submarine launched during World War II and serving into the 1960’s. The problem presented to the class was how to interpret, for the general public, the history of a vessel that underwent continuous modification while in service and currently does not represent its original appearance. The TORSK is situated in the Baltimore Inner Harbor along with other Baltimore Maritime ships. Located along side the Baltimore Aquarium building she is difficult to see from afar. In addition, the pier area is open day and night and has no signage, etc. to explain what the vessel was and is.

Students met with the director and staff of the Baltimore Maritime Museum and toured the vessel to develop a design strategy. Case studies were made in preservation technology, site documentation, interpretive programming and feasibility studies, toward a completed project. The final project that students provided the Mueum included: » Correction of historically iunaccurate renovations.

Student team: Kurt Walters, Antoine Heath, Simona Uzaite Faculty team: John Wilson, ENV Partner: Baltimore Maritime Museum

» D esign proposals for a system of information kiosks incorporating a graphical timeline history of the vessel. » Exterior signage » Below deck signage for self guided tour. » A site model showing the museum and submarine » A historically accurate scale model of the TORSK . » Photomontage of proposals » Compilation of documented research, designs and presentation in both hard copy and digital format, for use in developing grants and funding.

Student Team: Christi Chung, Wendy Du, Colin Dunn, Mier Luo, John McGlew, Deniz Olcay, Leslie Ortiz, Barbara Ozieblo, Nolla Yuan, Yupari Adelbert, Zoe Axelrod, Moulee Basumallik, Sunny Chong, Leslie Giron, Paula Hong, Hye Ji Jun, Lisa Kaliczak, Rachel Kang, Katrina Keane, Lucas McCarron, Lorraine Nicoletta, Amanda Poerschke, Patricia Pogodzinski, Karine Sarkissian, Stephanie Sevich, Tessa Tripodi; graphic design/handmade letters: Lorraine Nicoletta Faculty team: Inna Alesina, ENV; Ellen Lupton, Graphic Design, MICA’s Center for Design Thinking

MICA presents MICA (Material Inspired Concepts & Artifacts), an exploration of good old materials and how they can be used in the future. Materials that have been around for a long time have been able to evolve and prove themselves to be safe, sustainable, and pleasant to use and work with. Humans have slowly perfected craft techniques for using traditional materials in smart, minimal, and safe ways. It is time for a new generation of designers to dig into the rich history of ancient materials and re-discover jute, bamboo, wool, cotton, terracotta, banana leaves, cork and even earth itself. Let’s carefully craft our future. —Inna Alesina ENV faculty Sketching with Materials

Is a designed object ever complete, finished, and resolved? It can at some point become a final product, manufactured, marketed, sold, used, and disposed of. For designers, however, it is often more interesting to see the evolution of objects outside their finished state. How did a thing become what it is? What happens after it used? What else could it become?

Experimenting with materials was central to the creation of all the objects on view in this exhibition. The objects shown here are three-dimensional sketches that explore the behavior and characteristics of materials that have long been part of the human repertoire and are ready for rediscovery. Rather than focus on end results, these prototypes focus on process and possibility.

1. Spool seat by Karine Sarkissan

Northern Technique/Southern Materials: SpoolSeat

Nøsting, the art of ball winding with a nøstepinde, has been used for ages to create a neat and structural center-pull ball of yarn. Scandinavia is credited with inventing this simple technique. Jute, cultivated in Bangladesh, India, China, and Thailand, is an ancient material. Popularly known as the Golden Fiber, jute is one of the cheapest and strongest vegetable fibers produced — from the skin of its plant’s stem. It is the MICA’s ENV was awarded the ICFF second most important vegetable fiber 2010 best design school award after cotton, in terms of usage, global consumption, production, and availability. It is 100% biodegradable and it has great tensile strength.

2. Dig, Sift Make … Earthen Play by Leslie Giron and Heiji Jun 3. Felting: Making Non-Wowen Objects by sitting by Sunny Chong 4. The Cooler Cooler by Zoe Axelrod

Studying the mechanism of a wool with real dirt—soil from your garden, The Cooler Cooler winder, we built a huge winding tool to dirt from the park, rocks and sand The Cooler Cooler is made from steamwind a ball of jute yarn. A similar tech- from anywhere. Dirt is abundant, free, bent natural cork sheets. Strips of natnique can produce a variety of struc- washable, and full of cool natural dis- ural cork are soaked in hot water and tural objects. It could be made strong coveries like rocks, shells, bugs, roots, steamed, making the material more enough to become a rocking stool on and more. Have fun playing with dirt! flexible. Cork harvesting is a sustainable its own or to create a seat for a kinetic —Leslie Giron and Heiji Jun and environmentally friendly process. swing. A pendulum mechanism could Unlike any other tree, the cork oak can generate power for a small light or a fan. regenerate its bark, continuing to grow Felting: healthily after a harvest. The process —Karine Sarkissian Making Non-Woven Objects by Sitting also helps fight global warming: each The felting process requires pressure, time a cork oak is harvested it absorbs water, and friction to transform wool Dig, Sift, Make … Earthen Play 3–5 times more CO2 to aid in its regenDo you love earth? All humans should. fibers into a compact, nonwoven textile. eration process. Natural cork is elastic, But let us rephrase the question: “do According to the legend of Saint Clemhypoallergenic, insulating, and buoyant. you love playing with dirt?” I am afraid ent and Saint Christopher, both men The pieces of this cooler can be used inmost will say no—unless you are a child packed their sandals with wool to predividually, or taken out of the canvas or gardener. We dislike dirt, and prefer vent blisters. At the end of their journey, carrying case to float in water. The coolour kids to play with bright colored Play the movement and sweat had turned the er can also be used as a small tabletop at Doh or “moon sand” or any new toy wool into felt socks. We packed wool picnics. Pieces of bamboo can be filled media that looks clean and washable. with water and soap in large zipped bags with ice to cool food and drinks. and attached it to a car seat. After sevDig, Sift, Make ... Earthen Play kit is eral days of driving while sitting on this —Zoe Axelrod designed to introduce dirt to kids. The bag, the wool got felted. This process kit consists of bamboo digging tools, a can create any flat object. We chose to storage box with a sifting screen botshow a bag as an example. This project tom, and bamboo molds. This project is about journey-made objects: the two hopes to inspire kids and adults to play saints travelled by foot, we travel while sitting on our butts. The result can be very similar. —Sunny Chong 9

interest and the goal of the course was to lead students to develop creative and informed strategies for revitalizing life in those neighborhoods. Student team: John Aquila, Lynley Bernstein, Carey Chaia, Ginny Duncan, Nicky Lee, Tammy Lee, Amy Leggin, Rachel London and Nicole Londree Faculty team: Dan D’Oca, Department of Art History; Timmy Aziz, ENV; James Singewald, Teaching Assistant Partner: Central Baltimore Partnership

In the course Art, Artists and the City, a seminar and a multidisciplinary art studio were combined to form a research workshop. The workshop investigated the theory and practice of art based urban development including the role that artists have and can play in it. The course received a grant from the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative, Central Baltimore Partnership, and Central Baltimore Higher Education Collaborative to focus on the neighborhoods around MICA. Central Baltimore and the Station North Arts District were of particular

Offered jointly by the Departments of Environmental Design and Art History, the course integrated scholarly study, creative studio work, and community participation into class activity. The course hosted 23 guests during the semester. Scholars presented their research, the class learnt first-hand about arts initiatives in Baltimore from community organizations and neighborhood figures, and artists active in the neighborhood discussed their work with the students. Class visits examined environmentally challenging areas, historically prominent landmarks that mark the urban landscape, the undocumented, mundane but critical elements of the neighborhoods, and allowed a first-hand look at community developers at work. Precise GIS maps formed the base of projects that captured revealing characteristics of the urban fabric, while other mapping projects depended on innovative frameworks invented by the students. A related series of lectures and guest visits

on innovative urban cartography was organized that informed and inspired the student work. In a game project, the students expressed with elegance and wit the mechanisms of change in the urban environment, as well as the networks of organizations and people through which change comes about. This work was shown in the the exhibition “Fabritory,” a joint effort of MICA & Morgan University that was a part of Baltimore Green Week. The event took place on North Avenue where people of the neighborhood were able to learn to play the games. Work from the class was also featured in 2010 Artscape. For their final projects, students worked on individual ideas with neighborhood people and places in order to bring about creative, revitalizing changes. Some of these projects were proposals while most were actually implemented. A comprehensive book about this class that will serve as a record and as well as a resource of research references and neighborhood contacts is being prepared, and will assist in future efforts to bring innovative change to Central Baltimore.

1. Speculation, a board game, by Carey Chaia 2. Labyrinth, works in overgrown public gardens in Barclay & Greenmount West, by Amy Leggin 3. CBP Map Tool, an interactive study tool to view maps prepared by the class, by Lynley Bernstein 4. Night Lights, events at vacant lots in Greenmount West including digital star projection, by Rachel London

1. View of the Art Auction installation 2. Zig-zag connection detail 3. Pinwheel connection detail 4. Mounting connection detail 5. Lighting detail

In the Fall of 2009, MICA’s Design-Build studio participated in the First Annual re-stART with ART Auction in support of the Baltimore Station organization. The class designed and constructed the installation to support the auctioning of the artwork—as well as serving as the curators for the event. The Baltimore Station focuses on assisting men, predominately veterans, who are homeless, largely due to substance abuse, by providing rigorous self-help programs in a live-in residential setting. The Baltimore Station helps these recovering addicts transition from homelessness and substance abuse to self-sufficiency in society. The Auction served as a fundraiser for future programming for the organization in support of these efforts.

constructed, and installed a system for supporting the doors and the artwork for the auction to take place. No fasteners were used in the doors so that they could be returned to the donating organization as they were received. A series of brackets were used in two configurations—a pinwheel and a zig-zag shape—allowing the doors to support their own gravitational weight without the need for screwing into the floor of the event host’s space. The budget for the installation was $550.

Student team: Lily Ericsson, Cory Frost and Stephen Plantes Faculty team: Daniel Umscheid & David Lopez, ENV Partners: Baltimore Station; Kathleen Lechleiter, Architect; Second Chance Architectural Salvage

MICA’s Design-Build studio will serve in the same capacity for the Second Annual re-stART with ART auction in November of 2010.

Our task was to set up over 100 re-claimed doors, donated by Second Chance Architectural Salvage, as a temporary backdrop for the artwork. Students designed,

Student team: Benjamin Howard, Allycia Jones, Su Jin Kook, Kyle England, Anna Makowska, Taylor Means, Stephanie Sevich, Simona Uzaite Faculty team: Inna Alesina, ENV; Mike Weikert, CDP Partner: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

This Object Design course was created in a collaboration with MICA’s Center for Design Practice for CARES Mobile Safety Center, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The students enrolled in this class worked specifically on a safety toy or educational object. One of the objects developed in this course was Playing It Safe by Benjamin Howard. Playing It Safe is a game that aims to teach children (ages 8–12) about 15 dangerous household scenarios and how to prevent them. As players move along the board they encounter these dangerous scenarios. To prevent them, they must sort through a set of safe scenario cards and find the corresponding safe scenario. The person with the most cards at the end wins the game.

Table skirt

This felt table skirt is adjustable to fit table of any size and shape. Children like to use dining table to create a playhouse. This table skirt has safety messages integrated in fun and colorful designs. Plush pills and shapes

This is a box full of recognizable plush shapes that easily can be sorted by a young kid into safe and dangerous objects. Apples, milk, cheese and carrots are presented alongside bleach, pills and spray chemicals. Poisoning is one of the leading causes of death of young children, these toys provide an interactive and fun method for teaching them what is safe and what is not. Smoke alarm with visual message

This concept of the smoke alarm by Taylor Means gives a visual message when battery needs to be replaced. Other objects include Safety Rail by Stephanie Sevich. This rail has a touch switch that turns light on and illuminates stairs for safety.

1. Detail of the Table Skirt playhouse designed to teach children about safety at home, by Sunny Chong 2. Interactive danger objects inside the Playhouse, by Sunny Chong 3. Plush pills and talking shapes, by Sarah Machicado 4. Students testing safety game concept at Port Discovery Children museum of Baltimore

1. City Hall Rotunda Installation, aerial view 2. Comment Mailbox cardboard mailbox created to insert feedback and dialogue 3. Untitled by Kerri Dougherty

During fall 2008, the nation’s financial markets were in a perilous status, teetering on the edge of economic collapse. Thousands of Americans lost their jobs and homes due to the precipitous downturn and decline of faith in the national economic system. With members of the media conjuring up images of the Great Depression, political leaders sought to address this matter through direct government action in cooperation with the business and financial communities.

government and numerous communitybased organizations continue their work to assist those in need. Artists have provided a point of reference, focus, and empathy to help us comprehend the issues associated with those suffering from economic marginalization in all of its complexities and contradictions. A popular example of this was the photography of Progressive Era urban reformer Jacob Riis, whose work became emblematic for the “other half.” Students from the Maryland Institute College of Art have been guided by such work, and their art is displayed at this exhibit in this tradition.

Student team: Ben Howard, Kerri Dougherty Faculty team: Craig Keller, LLC ; Kuo Pao Lian, ENV

Yet the poverty and homelessness recently experienced by Americans was not new but a consistent feature of their cultural, economic, political, and social lives. In Forward by Craig Keller fact, many Baltimoreans have been “scraping by” since the colonial era. More — recently, Baltimore officials enumerated The installation included art works cre3,419 individuals experiencing homeless- ated by students from the Language, ness during their “point-in-time” survey Literature, and Culture Department in January 2009, and the U.S. Census and a built installation by Ben Howard Bureau estimated that 19.6% of the cities’ and Kuo Pao Lian from the Environresidents live below the poverty line with mental Design Department. The instalthe statistic reaching 26.2% when focus- lation depicts a hypothetical space of ing on families. Though great strides have the “home,” with no walls but that still been made in the city over the years, the implies a spatial dwelling through a series of furniture pieces made solely out of card stock. 13

Student team: Andrea Dombrowski, Alexander Fox, Deunte Ford, Dominique Hellgeth, Jackson Howell, Sui Park, Amira Rasayon, Kallie Sternbergh, Lily Worledge, Whitney Wright Faculty team: Katie O’Meara, ENV Partners: Laurie Feinberg & members of Baltimore City Planning Department Baltimore City Planning Department, Johns Hopkins University Map Library

The urban studio is a research-intensive, project-based studio that integrates experiential, historical, and dynamic GIS mapping to pinpoint key sites for social design interventions in Baltimore and other cities in the United States. Working with this range of statistical and spatial information, we are able to propose designs that have the greatest reach with the most economic means. Each semester, with participation from a range of experts including members of the Baltimore City Planning Department and Johns Hopkins University Map Library, as well as members of SITETACTICS, students explore the barriers and potential gateways as they develop design solutions to the most critical local problems within communities whether it is racial isolation, flooding of

poor districts, or physical decay. We use state of the art dynamic mapping techniques to study a range of socio-spatial relationships and couple this data analysis with walk-throughs and conversations with locals, allowing us to pinpoint the site of the most effective interventions. With demographic information about what populations are most at risk, we can also determine what types of interventions will be most affective. In fall 2009, we looked at the impact a moderate sea-level rise would have on the most vulnerable communities in five industrial cities on the fall-line—it’s that line along the mountainous Piedmont Plateau where 19th century industry sited their mills along the natural waterfalls to power machinery, localizing energy, industry, and ultimately industrial cities. These cities have particular vulnerabilities regarding racial segregation, vacancy, and aging infrastructure. The work shown here are some of the studies done by students of this class for the ‘River Cities at Risk’ project. Laurie Feinberg and members of Baltimore

1. Baltimore, Maryland 2. Wilmington, North Carolina

3. Charleston, South Carolina

City Planning Department participated in the project’s development and in turn, the students presented their conclusions of the studio at the City Planning offices, in downtown Baltimore. This year, fall 2010, we are looking at the historical and contemporary affects of the railroad in Maryland and Baltimore City. What does “the other side of the tracks” really mean? Is it age, race, and income biased? When tracks are elevated do they divide social groups differently than when they are trenched? Are there conditions where tracks actually preserve the integrity and well-being of a neighborhood? Can we determine what track-community conditions are best, and if so, are there interventions we can make to ameliorate the social divisions created by rail continuities? Understanding these kinds

of differences not only helps us release a stagnating community that’s been penned in with rail cinctures, it can also help us guide new rail projects with appropriate conditions that we’ve been able to test, like the frequency and location of intersections, crossovers, and underpasses, so that we can ensure that our new rail infrastructure supports rather than divide the communities it serves. Students in the Urban studio gain a lasting sense of how to engage the city and its dynamic actors. Questions of social justice, environmental stewardship, and spatial equity become a part of their daily work in design, research, and artmaking.

ENV defines Environmental Design as design for the built environment. Our curriculum of Architecture and Product Design encompasses the design of the context of our daily lives: the neighborhood, the street, the building, the inside space, the chair and the toy. For more information:

Department of Environmental Design Maryland Institute College of Art 1300 W. Mount Royal Avenue, Fox Building, 4th floor Baltimore, MD 21217 410.225.2240 http://env.mica.edu

Special thanks to Gunalan Nadarajan, Vice Provost, Office of Research, MICA, and to Lorri Angelloz, Manager of Institutional Communications, MICA.