Process(ing) Transformation

AIADO 4929 001 

Faculty: Paola Aguirre Serrano

What happens to communities when schools close in their neighborhood? What could be the role of design in enabling civic participatory processes to collectively imagine new uses for these schools? How might art, design and architecture support, accelerate or amplify transformation processes of these closed schools? By addressing the unprecedented closure of 50 public schools in Chicago (2013), this course focuses on expanding alternatives for repurposing processes of these former school sites as network driven by inclusion and equity, and will use Anthony Overton Elementary School located in the mid-South Side of Chicago (Bronzeville) as a case study. Through research, documentation, ideation, and visualization, students will create a framework for a process to respond to the course questions. Students will use existing projects at Anthony Overton to further and generate collaborative models for public activations using art, design and architecture as the connective elements of these efforts. Course work with vary but typically include weekly written summaries or statements, production of visuals and graphics that integrate and document research and ideation materials. The final deliverable for this course will be a collective book that will be coordinated and assembled throughout the course development.