Bike Lane Ahead

As SAIC students we are proposing a green bike path that will connect community and institutions and build upon ideas of community safety, environmental citizenship and social responsibility.

The Chicago Center for Green Technology and Garfield Park Conservatory have asked School of the Art Institute of Chicago students and faculty to visually and programmatically link these institutions to each other and to Mayor Daley’s city-wide green initiative.

Functions of a Green Bike Lane
Link green institutions in the Garfield Park community.
Increase bike and pedestrian travel safety by delineating green colored bike lanes and intersections
Pioneer an educational safe travel model for the city of Chicago
Install a community-based ecologically responsible system which includes storm water management and recycled materials.
Involve local developers in community revitalization.

Green bike lanes create a dramatic visual link for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. Connecting the Chicago Center for Green Technology to the Garfield Park Conservatory. Growing relationships by investing in the safety of it’s citizens we are directly playing a role in the building of community.

Willa Cather Elementary: Green Roof

We propose a green roof for Willa Cather Elementary School that will integrate community institutions and build upon ideas of environmental citizenship. The scheduled roof renovation is the perfect opportunity to strengthen educational facilities at the school while supporting Chicago Public School’s required curriculum.

A green roof is a garden that covers the majority of a roof surface as a partial solution to a building’s negative ecological impact. The design of this green roof as an outdoor classroom will reflect the needs and ambitions of Willa Cather School. This project focuses on the educational opportunities provided by a green roof. A garden is a hands-on experience, an outdoor classroom and a way for students to connect with nature and science. Living in the city, we often separate ourselves from nature and have limited green space. It is important to have a direct connection with and relationship to nature in order to see the relevance of topics taught in school.
-Kirsten Larson and Brendan Hudson

(T)here: Outdoor classroom and gathering place

Summary: Engaging school ground or developing a vacant lot into an outdoor classroom and picnic areas that utilize a photovoltaic solar energy generation system to create alternate energy sources for the site and school.

The abundance of vacant lots in the East Garfield Neighborhood (1,750 according to Open Lands) have the potential for revitalize neglected space and transform them into community invested public spaces. Open Lands and Neighbor Space has managed to secure a 16 x 75 foot plot of land located at the intersection of California and Maypole. Working in conjunction with these groups already invested in the community and the specific plot being addressed, we will be able to have greater sensibility, connections, input and resources when developing this project. The potential to use the school campus and other vacant lots will also be considered as possible sites.

There is an essential need for satellite parks in the area that serve the direct vicinity of surrounding community. We must entirely rethink the utility of parks to serve the long-term preservation of our green spaces and society. If renewable energy is not implemented and introduced to the public there may not be green space left to enjoy. We must implement clean energy that will sustain future generations. Small-scale energy addresses the fact that large-scale energy solutions continue to be an ecological, social, economic and political problem. We need to implement a decentralized system now, by using a green space and solar power generation site, as a classroom and gathering space.

Our Work Blog

This blog site is intended to document the process of projects in which I am involved, to create dialogue around the ideas presented in hopes to offer a place to discuss and mold potential projects through feedback. I hope that through establishing a platform to address the work that I am doing we can further extend to cover related projects created by others to open a discourse centered around community informed design, new genre public art, innovative landscape design, architecture, ecologic/social/politacal conscious work, education and art.