ARCH 381: DESIGNING SUSTAINABLE FUTURES / FALL 2014

 

SYNOPSIS 

In August of 2014, Hugo Cabrera, a former KU architecture student, approached the KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning to see what interest, if any, architecture students from KU would have in assisting the Argentine Neighborhood Development Association (ANDA) in their planning efforts for the Argentine neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. With the support of Wyandotte County Commissioner Ann Brandau-Murguia, what developed was a class workshop that included site analysis, urban design research and proposals, and the creation of community engagement tools for two highway underpasses in the Argentine neighborhood.

 

PROCESS

Framed in the context of a complete streets and sustainable sites initiative, the goal of the class was to develop unique proposals for the Argentine Community that supported universal design goals of better site maintenance, drainage, and function. At the same time, the students were tasked to consider how the community might be invited into the process in order to foster designs that empowered the Argentine neighborhood residents to re-imagine public spaces in their community.

 

The students began the semester working together in three groups of four in a workshop format to research, design, and prototype concepts for how to approach the underpasses. Site visits afforded the students opportunities to meet real 'clients' while simultaneously exploring case studies of what was possible by researching examples from around the country. Rather than just organizing the designs around environmentally sustainable concepts, students were challenged to approach the project from a triple-bottom-line (environment, economic, and social) approach by understanding that the highest form of sustainability is community ownership.

 

The students employed different community engagement design methods, including the AEIOU Framework and Elito Method, to initially approach the design. They began by recording site conditions, then building physical models that represented the actual scale of the underpasses. They used their observations in an objective manner to begin synthesizing real site constraints that they could respond to through design. Once their concepts were formalized, they were asked to visually represent their proposals through artistic renderings, physical models, and an overall project narrative. These proposals were refined through iterations and reviews with KU Architecture faculty.

 

IMPACT

Following their designs, the ANDA recommended both that the Argentine Neighborhood Association and the Wyandotte County Commissioners be presented with their work. The class took that as an opportunity to meet with local residents and better understand what issues considered in their designs were most relevant to them for their communities. Through the development of Community Engagement Tools, the students were able to develop frameworks for responses to be recorded, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in order to better represent the outcomes of the semester. Finally, their work was compiled into a finished document, which presented at the Unified Government of Wyandotte County City Hall Council Chambers, where Commissioner Murguia announced that funding for a future underpass project had been approved. 

 

FUNDING

N/A

 

PROFESSOR

Matt Kleinmann

 

STUDENTS

Mohammed Alsinan, Christopher Dixon, Jordan Falley, Kevin Hundelt, Jack Joers, Ryman Kinney, Lucinda LaCour, Lateisha Lee, Yucheng Long, Jeshua Monarres, Marlee Schuld, Xingzhe Tao