activist arch+chicago freedom school?

wow. this is totally ridiculous. this long and not posting. i don't really have a great excuse besides being totally consumed by life and barely able to process it as its coming at me! i've been balancing the intensity of my job, with my internal wrestling match over how to survive from a fiscal standpoint but also not lose my practical and theoretical architectural dreams. one thing i've just decided, and i'm not sure how i'm going to do this with my "9-5" but, i'm going to apply to teach a class through the chicago freedom school this summer. i'm going to base it on my 'activist architecture' thesis and make it a hands-on work shop on where architecture and activism intersect and action based research on how to make it work! we'll see what comes of it.

new role

so, in the way of updates, I should mention that Monday I am beginning a new position, managing all of the architecture, construction, and agriculture education programs in the chicago public schools office of high school programs education to careers department. I am pretty bummed about leaving the classroom because of my rockstar students. However, I am pretty friggin ecstatic about being able to impact all of the programs city-wide.

All high school design competition

Project Osmosis Design competition more here: Osmosis Mentoring Initiative

looking for architectural educators

ATTENTION:

The Chicago Public School System is trying to identify candidates for teaching positions at the high school level. If you or anyone you know is interested, please contact me by email (yamanihernandez@yahoo.com) with a resume (so I can pass it on), or questions about salary and other details. Some of which include a 6.5 hour work day, competitive benefits (including pension),summers off, and of course school holidays in addition to sick and personal days + an exciting curriculum which is getting national recognition. It is important to find people with architectural education and work experience. These positions are especially critical in reaching students of color and inspiring them to pursue architectural education at the post-secondary level and eventually the profession....and closing the gap of representation in the field. i look forward to hearing from you. candidates must have 2000hrs of relevant work experience to qualify for the the required type 34 provisional certification.

a few things

grant opportunity for architecture education. more here:American Architectural Foundation

jane jacobs fellowship which has been well circulated but still...Jane Jacobs Fellowship opportunity in New Orleans:

Inaugural fellowship will place a young architect within a non-profit agency to assist community residents. The Center for the Living City at Purchase College, in collaboration with ACORN Housing Corporation, Deutsche Bank, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Economic Development, Pratt Institute School of Architecture and The Center for Architecture Foundation, is seeking applicants for a one-year architectural fellowship in New Orleans. The fellowship is the first in an ongoing Jane Jacobs Fellowship Program of the Center. Fellowships will be created for individuals to engage city building processes of critical importance in maintaining or regaining the strength of cities. Fellowships will occur across disciplines and will address the complex, interconnected problems facing cities around the world. Established in 2005 in collaboration with the late Jane Jacobs, the Center for the Living City develops symposia, exhibitions, training programs, fellowships, internships, workshops and publications that approach city building issues using thoughtful, collaborative, participatory and transdisciplinary processes. Interested applicants must be graduates of an accredited architecture program and possess at minimum a professional degree in Architecture.If not already a resident, the successful applicant will need to relocate to New Orleans for a minimum of one year and be prepared to begin the fellowship within 30 days of selection.

The fellowship provides a salary of $40,000, plus benefits. Applications are due November 13, 2006. For further information and to request an application, please send an e-mail to Stephen Goldsmith at stgoldsmith@gmail.com.

this weekend

i attempt to emerge from under my rock...

-Place Matters conference in Seattle (exhibiting thesis work)

-Critical Practices in a Globalizing World (also in seattle) David Adjaye's on the ticket so i'm guessing its gonna be good.

frantically cramming to get in my app. for a 50K grant from the Education to Careers Department at Chicago Public Schools for a project my principal suggested...Redesigning the school library. I'm hoping to have my 'advanced' students work on this and get employed this summer doing the build out of the space.

more about my rock:
97 students (5 classes), most quite delightful, i am always stricken by the depth of some of their personal issues and wish i had more than my 40 minutes of class time per day. the beauracracy of the public system is crazy but the curriculum is exciting, and there is a lot of hope. we've got a great principal. he raised the issue of redesigning the library. this would be an awesome opportunity to involve students in a real-life project. i hope to get them paid this summer to help with the build out of the space. i also got wind of this fairchild challenge thing through the chicago botanic gardens...there is a challenge to redesign cafeteria based on LEED standards...which seems like yet another way to make design relevant to their everyday experience. my classes are underenrolled so, i've got to find as many opportunities as possible to attract students to the program.

critical art ensemble

interesting org...

...and can the choir say amen!

a new architecture department website for UW

1 week down...

so week 2 of teaching is almost over. i've got 5 classes. i thought they would be in nice neat packages...like sophomores in architecture 1, juniors in architecture 2 and seniors in architecture 3. but i've got only one architecture 1 class and it has students from 9-12 in it. then i've got three drafting orientation which is the precursor to architecture 1 and i am told should be used as a selling tool to get students interested in taking the entire sequence of architecture courses. then i have 8 advanced architecture students 3 of which are in a class alone. the other 5 are stuffed into my architecture 1 and drafting orientation classes. bummer for them, i'm trying to get this changed. its interesting, most of the drafting orientation students are itching to get on the computer, but i'm making them start by hand. the CAF curriculum for the arch 1 students encourages use of CAD, and i figure if they are going to spend 3years using CAD, what's the harm in starting to learn by hand? i feel like they can appreciate the benefit of the computer better by seeing what it is like by hand. also it seems there is more of a connection to what they are drawing.

being a new teacher is sort of like being a freshman. you don't know where to go for things and nobody tells you anything. you sort of have to learn the hard way. i know its just the first week of school but so far i like my students and for the most part they seem to like me...with a few exceptions of course =).i'm amazed that some of these students leave here and go to work for upto 6hours a day! thats as much time as they spend in school! there is a lot of bearacracy with the school system that it will take time for me to get used to....but luckily most paperwork can be submitted online.

the intuit teacher fellowship i got starts on the 30th...so i'm looking forward to that...incorporating the work of creative visionary environments, also known as obsessive places (read watts towers etc.) into my curricula is an exciting idea. i think i will have the most latitude in the drafting orientation classes for this. but i also hope to connect it to the chicago conservation club work on environmental action and art...use of recycled materials etc.

massive change opens this weekend. can't wait to check it out!

oh and my sissy started a blog about her journey through urban disaster research.

my classroom...

27 computers and 20 drafting tables...a little congested no?

urban green project

clients of john joyce architects (by whom my dh has been employed by outside of SAIC) set up this site to document the progress on their "green" home project. i especially like that they've included a blog component to more personally illustrate the day to day experience for people considering building a green home either from scratch or adapting an older building as such.

ready, set, go...

school starts next week for me...prep anyway...with students coming after labor day. as i'm trying to get my mind and materials right for the year, i am pleased that the first year of the architecture curriculum i'll be teaching is based on a case study of the F10 house, an exemplary green/environmentally sustainable residential building on the north west-side of chicago. i'm sooooo excited! also looking through how thoughtful the curriculum is...i am grateful to the architects and educators that put so much work into it. i am excited to supplement with other examples like the ehouse 2000 etc.

massive post

Sketchbook entries from the massive change teacher institute:

the massive change teacher institute at the MCA.... the show doesn't open until september but 24 teachers got together to learn about sustainability and social action in order to start after school clubs at schoool funded by the chicago conservation corps first got an overview from a person who was in the Institute without Boundaries

the economies:

i was really inspired by their manifesto in terms of design economies...

urban: we will create urban shelter for the entire world population

movement: we will enable sustainable mobility

energy: we will bring energy to the entire world

image: we will make visible the as yet invisible

information: we will build a global mind

market: we will seamlessly integrate supply and demand around the world

material: we will build intelligence into materials and liberate form from matter

military: will we shift from the service of war to the service of life? (peace?)

manufacturing: we will eliminate the need for raw material and banish all waste.

living: we will design evolution

wealth and politics: we will eradicate poverty

however they lost me with the design evolution one, the one illustrated by a featherless chicken, man! it was about using our technology totally efficiently. for instance if chicken feathers are a problem in factory farms because of disease and air conditioning needs, maybe we should just breed the feathers out. wtf? seems like an odd priority. over eliminating factory farming or promoting not eating them period since you can feed more people on a vegetarian diet than not.

some highlights from the institute were...

harvesting out lunch atCity farm and shopping for recycled materials at the creative re-use warehouse of the Resource Center

Organic Food

silk screening posters mike bancroft of coop image

a tour of the 11 landfills on the far south east side of the city...South Eastern Environmental Task Force

I had a great conversation with Josh MacPhee of radical poster art/history/documentatio organizationjust seeds about my thesis. i'm going to take his suggestion and make a little artist book of my typology and try to distribute it to quimby's or something if they'll have it.

with my C3 (Chicago Conservation Club or Conservation Changemaker Club) I hope to work with my students to design and build a rain catchment system for the school thats a little more interesting than your average plastic rain barrels. we'll see what happens =).

oh and on an unrelated note, i see that association for community design has a new website!

Civic Footprint

if you need to know your political geography and you live in cook county, check out: Civic Footprint

a 'massive' post is on its way from the massive change teacher institute i've been participating in over the past 2 weeks. sketchbook inquiries, reflection on chicago conservation corps training, revelations on sustainability, useful links etc.

Green the Ghetto!

Mad Architect just hipped me to this org in NY. i'm definitely going to support by buying a green the ghetto t-shirt!

in 2006

perhaps off blog topic but mindboggling none the less. yesterday while walking from the parking lot of an oak park sherwin williams to the store in order to get some spray paint...baby in tow and holding my other son's hand...a car of guys drove by and one yelled, "you 16yr old nigger mother!" and sped off. wow. its 2006. wtf.

blender bike tomorrow

laurie palmer is bringing the blender bike tomorrow...and then we are headed to redmoon's balloon man spectacle in millenium park. the summer art project has been a bit of a roller coaster so i'm hoping that it will be an exciting and positive start to the week...especially since i'm coming off an extremely emotional weekend in st.louis for the death of my grandfather. a man with a lot of heart who will be sorely missed.

lead pencil studio

does it again info cortesy of AB

Future AIA President Discusses Race and Architecture

check it out

Benefit

if you're looking for some good charitable events to attend here's a couple i'm headed to this week...

Wednesday July 12 Jewels in July for archi-treasures at Garfield Conservatory.6-10pm

"...amid the lush greenery of Horticultural Hall at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Sip jeweled martinis in the Monet Garden, sway to the rhythms of Le Bands Sans Fin, sample delicious fare from Chicago’s emerging chefs, and indulge in a silent auction showcasing art, dinners, theatre tickets and more. Join us as we reminisce, embrace, and look toward another ten years of [design based] community building"

Friday July 14th Osmosis Mentoring Initiative at little black pearl art and design center.