DownCity Design Summer 2020

Summer 2020 Design Studios

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Contents 4 Introduction 6 Summer Staff + Educators 8 EXPLORE Design Studio 15 Creative Change Studio 22 Design Build Studio 28 Workshops 30 Final Celebration

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Introduction It’s been another successful summer at DownCity Design! This year, due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, DownCity conducted its Summer Design Studios online, with a few in-person build days.

Programs met Monday through Friday for six weeks, from July 13th until August 21st. At 9:30am every morning, students logged on for homeroom and program time with their individual studios (EXPLORE, Creative Change, and Design/Build). After a break for lunch and virtual “office hours,” all students gathered together for workshop time in the afternoons. They went on virtual field trips, learned about career paths and financial literacy, met visitors from various design fields, and participated in free choice activities led by TAs. Virtual programming posed many new challenges for our students and educators. Our young designers learned to collaborate and create together virtually. The following pages are intended to give readers a sense of what this unusual summer looked like. We hope you enjoy!

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Keyco Moreira

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Summer Staff + Educators This year’s summer educators brought a range of interests and expertise, with backgrounds in architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, sociology, education, and more. We are so grateful for their knowledge and energy! In addition we want to acknoelegde our summer admin team and DCD staff for the diligent and creative problem solving they did behind the scenes to make summer studios happen.

Maxine Wright EXPLORE Design Lead Educator

Cornelia Overton Creative Change Lead Educator

Wes Sanders EXPLORE Design Lead Educator

Nicholas Ong Creative Change Teaching Assistant

Tanner McCarthy EXPLORE Design Teaching Assistant

Yasmine Hassan Design/Build Lead Educator, Youth Program Manager

Jackey Robinson Creative Change Lead Educator

Tania Estrada Design/Build Lead Educator

Cristian Lopez Bajan Design/Build Teaching Assistant

Jill Stauffer Community Outreach VISTA

Leslyann Oquendo Design/Build teaching Assistant

Adrienne Gagnon Executive Director

Leslie Ponce-DĂ­az Summer AmeriCorps VISTA

Lexie Whipple Deputy Director

Jane Freiman iProv Documentation Intern

Emily Sellon PCTA Site Director

Zorrybeth Santiago Program VISTA

Devon Artis-White Project Manager

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EXPLORE Design Studio Our EXPLORE Design students were tasked with studying “Revolutionary Design.” They researched the intersection of different social movements and design fields, in order to create final products that raise awareness about these issues. The revolutionary movements they investigated were racial equity, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, and environmentalism.

ToniAnn Andreoli

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“Revolution” Collages

Oluwatosin Okele

Students began by exploring and defining “revolution” and “revolutionary design.” They did this visually by creating digital photo collages. The two examples here use images from women’s rights activism and the Movement for Black Lives.

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Monument Models

Keyco Moreira

Jannessa Ya

In light of the news around the role of confederate monuments in the contemporary United States, students considered what they would memorialize with a public marker. They modeled these monuments out of clay and considered where they might live, as well as how space can be reimagined and reclaimed. These two examples monumentalize women’s rights activism and the Narragansett Indian Tribal Nation, on whose lands Providence stands.

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Research Presentations Students receieved feedback on their research from activists and designers involved with the various social movements and design fields.

“And it’s also helped me develop leadership and teamwork skills, especially in a virtual environment, which is not something that I’m used to, which will probably come in handy a lot more in the future.” -Jannessa Ya

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Logo Design EXPLORE students created logos for their groups, which they featured on websites, social media accounts, and clothing. The examples featured here are from the environmentalism and racial equity groups, which focused on water pollution and housing justice, respectively

Richard Garcia

Oluwatosin Okele

“But our main question was, “How does low income housing affect education and job security for minorities?” And so what we’re trying to do is possibly redesign how low income housing is created, maybe look into what goes into low income housing, how people can come across it, how can we make it more personable?” -Oluwatosin Okele

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Final Projects

GROUP

QUESTION

DESIGN

Racial Equity

How does low income housing affect education and job security for minorities?

How does the fashion industry and fashion design include or exclude the Black community and POC? How does gender bias affect the production and design of products in industrial design?

Social media campaign, Safety Keychain, charter boarding school floor plans Website featuring Black fashion designers and models

BLM

Women’s Rights

LGBTQ+ Rights Environmentalism

Website featuring information, art, and tee shirts

Gender inclusive clothing store What is the environmental Website with reseources impact of water pollution? about water pollution, Eco-Can, Trash pickup game bin

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Creative Change Studio

Students in the Creative Change Studio developed creative community engagement strategies to learn more about the DownCity’s new Cranston Street location. They designed temporary additions to the facade of the building to share the story of DCD and the Cranston Street area with visitors and passersby.

Creative Change members began the design process by meeting with our Executive Director, Adrienne Gagnon, to discuss the vision and goals of this project. Then they broke off into three groups to research the Social + Racial + Cultural, Economic + Political, and Environmental + Infrastructural history of the area.

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West End Timelines Students used their research on the West End neighborhood to create timelines of its history and note important facet of its present day demographics.

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Analytical Mapping Exercise

Students mapped out their own neighborhoods by assigning marks to particular sensations and emotions. They considered how it felt to be in a particular spot, what brought feelings of safety and joy, and what sparked feelings of danger and dislike. Gregory used shading and color gradients to assign meaning to a place.

Gregory Hernandez

“It’s basically about researching the area, the West End. I’m the leader of the group that’s doing the natural resources of it. So we’re researching, like, how was the area back then? What was the Armory used for? What was the park that was right next to it used for? And, we’re trying to make DownCity Design more welcoming in the community.” -Rafael Padilla

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Mapping with 3D Materials

Another mapping exercise involved a mystery bag of supplies that students picked up from the DCD studios along with other materials. In a timed challenge, young designers used the materials to create representations of the area around the new DCD building. Again, they assigned different objects and marks meaning.

Yesenia Jimenez

Kayla Steele

“[Design] is about creative thinking. And you have to think outside of the box to actually work out a problem and a solution because that’s what design is all about, finding a solution for things.” -Ammara Chhoy

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Design Charrette: Who is DCD? What is DCD? Who is West End?

To begin designing the façade of 370 Cranston Street, Creative Change members split into three groups, each with their own guiding question and purpose. The goals were to represent what DownCity is as an orgnization, who makes up the DownCity community, and who makes up the Cranston Street neighbrohood. These were each to take up one of three locations on the building’s front.

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Final Rendering

For the front of the new DCD building, Creative Change members decided to design a colorful, geomteric mural that spills onto the sidewalk and tree planters. They also designed a beaver mascot that adorns the front window and a mural on the side of the building. Each of these serves to make the building more invting and welcoming.

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In addition, in order to communicate what and who DownCity is, Creative Change students gathered photos of community members and their projects to make a collage for the front window. They paired these with relevant quotes and more of the geometric motif.

Finally, utilizing the gate beside the door, students created a space for West End community members to share their story. They created cards for people to write what they love about the West End, as well as slots to deposit them in.

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Design/Build Studio Design/Build members partnered with the Southside Community Land Trust to design, fabricate, and paint wheelchair accessible planter beds for an elderly home. They met with Raffini of the SCLT, who ourlined the main goals of the project: aesthetically pleasing and brightly colored, universally accessible, and capable of holding healthy foods that the residents can cultivate and eat.

Client Interview with SCLT

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Scavenger Hunt Students embarked on a “scavenger hunt” to find planters and gardens in their own neighborhoods. They noted what was successful and what could be improved, in order to get ideas for their own designs.

Nia Patrice

“And so to look outside, and even if they can’t go outside, just to look out their windows and see, you know, art in the form of gardens and plants and fruits and vegetables, I think that’s really special.” -Katrina Waldmanwerth

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Presenting Sketches + Models Design/Build members presented their designs to the group at multiple stages. They shared sketches, 3D digital models, physical models, section drawings, and 3D persepctive drawings.

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Design/Build members gradually combined their individual plans until they decided on one final design.

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In-Person Build Days

“[Working on this project] we can actually have some creative freedom. And that’s what we all really want: to do something that’s fun but helpful for the community.” -Cindy Villaneuva

Although the majority of summer programs were conducted virtually over Zoom, Design/Build members got to meet in person for a few safe and closely monitored work days. They put their designs into practice, building and painting beautiful planter beds.

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Completed Planter Beds

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Workshops In the afternoons, students from all three programs gathered in our “virtual cafeteria” for a workshop block. There they went on virtual fieldtrips, learned about career pathways and personal finance, and participated in free choice activities of their choosing. Free choice was led by our TAs and included such topics as accordion drawings, Photoshop skills, Bob Ross painting, planting seeds in recycled containers, and conversations about gender and drag.

Illusion drawing by TA Leslie Ponce-Dìaz

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Students display their plastic bottle planters, made in a free choice led by TA Nick Ong.

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Final Celebration To conclude our summer programs, we hosted a final celebration for students, staff, families, clients, and community partners. Young designers from each of the three programs presented on their process and final designs, and the rest of us took a moment to celebrate their hard work and adaptability this summer. We are so grateful for each and every member of our beautiful DownCity community!

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Students received a t-shirt and memory book as a “thank you� gift.