The Community Design Center Workshop

January 25, 2001

ARC 500-2 Community Design Center Workshop. (CDC)
Advisor: Pamela Heintz, Center for Public and Community Service (CPCS)
Leadership Intern: Joseph Ho (CDC), Brian Howells (CPCS)
3 Credit Hours

SCHEDULE: Monday – 6:00 – 9:00pm
LOCATION: Room 302, Slocum Hall workshop/studio or otherwise as noted
OFFICE HOURS: Office 417A
Wednesday and Friday, 10:00am – 12:00am
(Additional hours by appointment)

The Community Design Center will operate out of room 302 in Slocum Hall. The room is outfitted with eight drawing tables, a conference table, files for research, slide projectors for presentations and a computer for word processing. The room is to be used specifically for projects undertaken within the framework of this course. No design studio work, competitions or individual investigations unrelated to the workshop will be allowed. This rule applies to the use of the computer and any of the materials within the CDC.

CLASS FORMAT:The Community Design Center Workshop has five components:

    Community meetings and presentations
    Workshop investigations
    Group research, design and planning
    Reflective journals & individual research paper

REQUIREMENTS: participation in group discussions, community meetings and design and planning investigations one verbal presentation at one community meeting, weekly submittal of reflective journal, submittal of research paper.

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION:
– Quality of workshop design/research 50%
– Research paper 25%
– Participation15%
– Reflective journal 10%

In addition to these criteria, initiative, enthusiasm and improvement will be taken into consideration in the evaluation of a student's performance. Attendance is mandatory and punctuality greatly appreciated. I must be informed if you are to miss a class. Three absences will result in the lowering of one letter grade. All assignments are due at the beginning of the class period.

REFLECTIVE JOURNALS:
As part of the ARC 500-2 curriculum, you will be required to keep a reflective journal of your feelings, thoughts, ideas, concerns and experiences. The recording of experience of the journals will help the author to recognize the learning and development that occurs throughout the semester. In addition, this journal may provide a foundation for the topic of investigation for the final paper. Students who take the time to write quality reflective journals will find that they are better prepared to complete the course work and are more likely to take a meaningful service experience from the course.

Journals will be collected weekly and returned promptly. You need only describe one to two pages per week. Pam Heintz and not the course instructor will read journals. Comments will be added to the journal, which will help to elicit further investigation. Listed below are some qualifies of reflective journals that will ensure you create the best journal possible.

Journals should be snapshots filled with the experiences of the place: sights, sounds, concerns, insights, doubts, fears, and critical questions about issues, people and, most importantly, yourself. Honesty is the most important ingredient to successful journals. Your journal should not be just a log of tasks, events, activities and dates. Rather, it is important to expand on each experience. Write freely.

Consider approaching descriptions through:

Levels of Reflection – By examining experiences, thoughts and ideas at different "levels", Your Journal will produce a variety of useful perspectives.

The Minor – Reflection on your own involvement in the project. Who are you? What are your values? What have you learned about yourself and how has taking this course and interacting with the community changed you? Has the experience challenged your values or any stereotypes you carry? How have you challenged yourself, your ideals, your philosophies or of the way that you live?

The Microscope – Make the small experience large. Describe your experiences. What happened? What would you have done differently if you were in charge? What have you learned about the community? Do you feel your actions had an impact? How did what happened relate to what you've learned in class?

The Binoculars – Make what appears distant, appear closer. From your service experience, are you able to identify any underlying or overarching issues that influence the situation? How is the community Impacted by what is going on in the larger political/social sphere? What does the future hold?

Information adapted from: A Practitioner's Guide to revelation in Service Learning by Janet Eyler, Dwight E. Giles Jr. and Angela Schmiede and, Reflection: Getting Learning Out of Service by Mark Cooper.
ARC 500-2 Course handbook – page 4

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PAPER: You are required to write a research paper on your experience from the two CDC workshops. The intention of this paper is not to conduct exhaustive investigations into book research, but rather to use your particular experience as the vehicle to discuss an issue of the workshop, which you would like to elaborate on. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Advantages and challenges when collaborating with residents and community groups
Representing cultural diversity
Vertical collaborations / peer learning
Building community. through consensus
Urban renewal and/or New Urbanism
Architecture's civic responsibility
Service learning

Please meet with me to discuss your topic. Be reflective and use critical thought and reasoning for your position. We will culminate the workshop with a roundtable discussion of the topics considered. An outline for the paper will be due on Monday, October 11. The paper should be five to seven pages in length, font size 11 point. The paper will be due on Monday, November 22nd, at 6pm in Room 320.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

    1. How has your involvement in this project changed the way you view the profession?
    2. And/or the community?
    3. How has community involvement helped to add to your learning experience?
    4. What kinds of skills or abilities have you developed as a result of your involvement in the project? What do you value most?
    5. How has your involvement changed the way you look at yourself? How has it
    changed the way you look at others?
    6. How does community interaction alter and compliment your typical classroom
    7. experience?
    8. Describe the ways in which comments from the community have helped you better assess the needs and desires of the community.
    9 Were there problems with communication between students and community members?
    10. And, if so, how did you work through them?
    11. What skills did you develop that may be useful to your professional career?

These questions, together with experiences noted in the journal, should provide the point of departure for themes, which can be researched and developed for the final paper.

PEDAGOGIC INTENT:
The primary objectives of this course are to compliment the education of design professionals by capitalizing on peer, applied and service learning opportunities. The Community Design Center fosters an atmosphere where students work collaboratively both between the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as other, related disciplines. As a design professional, much of what one accomplishes in the public realm exists through the interaction with others. The workshop atmosphere also provides an opportunity for students to apply skills that they are learning in design studio, technology, theory, structures and additional courses into a real world context. In this sense, CDC participants are "interns", still developing their education but applying knowledge gained in their education to date. Finally, the CDC provides an opportunity to offer design services to the community. Particularly in neighborhoods, which do not have the financial resources to hire professionals, the CDC offers students a chance to give of their knowledge, time and talents to assist in design and planning solutions.

WORKSHOPS:
THE JOWONIO SCHOOL:
The Jowonio School is an inclusive pre-school and kindergarten currently located in the Summer School on Basset Street in the Westcott neighborhood. They have outgrown their space in this shared and inaccessible building and -the Board of Directors are considering renovating an existing structure or building anew. The parents and staff have some basic ideas about what they want to be included in the building itself and the surrounding grounds (e.g. a playground that will serve children with special needs and their peers). They now hope to create a vision of the building (interior and exterior) that they can share with architects, contractors and potential funders. The semester project will begin by a discussion lead by the School's Director, Dr. Ellen Barnes. CDC interns will visit the school in session, conduct research into school design and building codes and conduct a community charrette at the school. Follow-up meetings will take place as needed and a final presentation will display formal and spatial options for a new Jowonio School.

SOUTH SIDE GATEWAY WORKSHOP:
In conjunction with the CNY/AIA's newly created Urban Design Center and the Landscape Architecture Department at SUNY ESF, the CDC will participate in a one day charrette on the South-side of Syracuse (9/18). The objective of this design workshop will be to develop ideas, models and drawings for two areas within the neighborhood. The concept of an urban village center, based off of a programmatic survey and a gateway node will be developed in conjunction with architects, landscape architects, city officials and the residents to encourage active participation in the redevelopment process.

RESEARCH:
In addition to the two workshops, CDC interns and students not within the School of Architecture will conduct ongoing research into the following organizations. The purpose of these investigations will be to foster relationships with community organizations, the City of Syracuse and professional organizations.

    Research on public and private development and non-profits (MDA, University HillCorp., TNT's, UMPA, ENIP, Habitat for Humanity, CPCS, Community Relations)
    Research on the City of Syracuse (Maps, historical evolution, data and development)
    Research on grants and funding sources (NEA, AIA, private corporations)
    CDC contacts (press relations, Record, Post-standard, TV)
    CDC outreach (web master, listserve, presentations)

BOOKS ON RESERVE

Please consult the Architecture reading roster or Check with instructor

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs (1961)

Towns and Town-making Principles, Andreas Duany and Elizabeth

Plater-Zyberk (1991)The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989)

The Geography of Nowhere, James Kunstler (1993)

A Practitioner's Guide to Reflection in Service-Leaming, Janet Eyler, et al. (1996)

Common Place: Toward Neighborhood and Regional Design,Douglas Kelbaugh (1997)

Cities Back from the Edge, Roberta Gratz (1998)

Communication Strategies Foster Public Participation in CommunityDesign, (Representation Journal of the DesignCommunication Association, Cheryl Doble (1998)

Introduction/overview/discussion
Community service and relations: Mary Ann Shaw, Pam Heintz, Sylvia Martinez-Daloia, Westside workshop: 1998-99 interns, Jowonio workshop: Dr. Barnes, Southside workshop

Workshop lecture Southside Charrette
"An urban village and gateway node". Main auditorium
Slocum Hall 7pm. Dean Biancavilla and Bob Haley
Week 1-3: site model

Labor Day (no class) Week 2 – Site visits: Jowonio group (observation and interaction)

Site visit: South-side of Syracuse
Bus departs from in front of Slocum Hall at 6:20pm
7:30pm – Slocum 320: Jowonio Literacy Core tutors
8:30pm – Slocum 320: PBS Video: On Inclusion

SOUTH SIDE CHARRETTE
Time, 8:30am – 3:30 p.m.: location to be announced

Yom Kippur (no class) Week 5: Jowonio preparations

JOWONIO CHARRETTE time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm: Gymnasium Jowonio School 215 Basset Street in the Westcoff Neighborhood
Project development
Project development: paper outline due
Jowonlo In-house review
Project development

JOWONIO PRESENTATION
Gymnasium Jowonio School 215 Basset Street

TBA
Final papers due

Symposium
Time: 1 pm – 4pm Rotunda, Slocum Hall

Community Design Center Workshop
ARC 500-13
David Gamble
Monday 6:00pm – 9:00pm, 320 Slocum Hall
Permission by instructor
TBA

The Community Design Center Workshop is an interdisciplinary, collaborative seminar between Syracuse University and the City of Syracuse. The course is composed of "real-world" projects that involve local residents, non-profit agencies, professional organizations, community leaders and public officials in the participation of design, development, public policy and planning proposals.

Students will engage in one of the following three learn-based workshops:

I. Pioneer Homes/Wilson Park Community Center
Three phase proposal for a new community space, playground and recreation complex – in collaboration with Pioneer Homes residents and students and faculty from the Maxwell School

Il. ENACT Center-
(Eastside Neighborhood Art, Culture and Technology) at 2004 E. Genesee St.:
development of interior and exterior additions – in collaboration with faculty and students from SUNY ESF, VPA interior design and the Newhouse School of Communications

III. Chase Community Development GMC Competition:
$25,000 design/real estate competition based on CDC Fall 1999 workshop: "Jowonio – a new inclusive school" – in collaboration with students and Faculty from the School of Management and the Maxwell School.

Title: Community Design Center Workshop Course:
ARC 500-13
Instructor: David Gamble
Permission of Instructor
Reference Number.
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Description: The Community Design Center Workshop is an interdisciplinary, collaborative seminar between Syracuse University and the City of Syracuse. This course is composed of "real-world" projects, which involve local residents, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, professional organizations and public officials in the participation of design, development, public policy and planning proposals. One semester long investigation will be complimented with two charrettes that will focus on issues of community development and revitalization. The semester will culminate in a series of public presentations and a publication which documents the process and project.

Questions:

1. What is your motivation for participating in the design seminar?

2. What skills or experiences do you have that might help you contribute to the proposed project?

3. Is there anything else you would like us to know in considering your request to participate in this course?

Student Signature:_________________________________________

Course 500-13 Instructor Signature:____________________________

Interview required with course instructor or Center for Public and Community Service Director

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