...not content with the way things are... ActivistAffect change in the established way of doing things. Architecture Philosophy & Practice of the Community Design Center Edited by: Dan Pitera & Craig L. Wilkins ActReflect ii Book Editors: Craig L. Wilkins, Ph.D., AIA, NOMA, ARA Instructor, University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning Former Director, Detroit Community Design Center Dan Pitera, FAIA, ACD Professor, University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture Executive Director, Detroit Collaborative Design Center Book Design: Dan Pitera, FAIA, ACD Cover Image: DCDC Workshop Process with The Alley Project, Southwest Detroit ISBN: 978-0-9904595-3-8 © 2015 Detroit Collaborative Design Center, University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture iii Thank You ...to all those who help expand the nature of all practices to include more people, more programs and more geographies. iv Preface You are not a profession that has distinguished itself by your social and civic contributions to the cause of civil rights. You are most distinguished by your thunderous silence and your complete irrelevance….You are employers, you are key people in the planning of our cities today. You share the responsibility for the mess we are in, in terms of the white noose around the central city. It didn’t just happen. We didn’t just suddenly get this situation. It was carefully planned….It took a great deal of skill and creativity and imagination to build the kind of situation we have, and it is going to take skill and imagination and creativity to change it. We are going to have to have people as committed to doing the right thing, to “inclusiveness,” as we have in the past to exclusiveness. Whitney M. Young, Jr., Executive Director of the National Urban League 1 See Appendix 1 of this book for the Keynote address delivered at the1968 AIA national convention.1 complete keynote address. v Contents 01 : Dan Pitera, FAIA 01 : Introduction: More People, More Programs, More Geographies Underpinnings Underpinnings 0Gilad Meron & Mia Scharphie 02 : The Context of Community Design Practice 01 : Craig L. Wilkins 03 : The Soul Practitioner… 01 : Raphael Sperry 04 : Health Safety and Welfare for All Actions Actions 01 : Sheri Blake 05 : Defning Community Design: A History of Community Design Centers 01 : Stephen Vogel, FAIA 06 : The Foundations of Community Design Centers 01 : Dan Pitera, FAIA 07 : The Activity of Activism: A Field Guide for Establishing a Design Center 01 : Frank Russell 08 : [Insert Practitioner Here] Volunteer Models of Community Design Centers 01 : Charles Bohl 09 : Community Outreach as a Pedagogic Tool for Both Students & Professionals 01 : Kathy Dorgan 10 : The Community Design Movement’s Early Relationship with the AIA 01 :Anthony Costello, FAIA 11 : Community Design Writ Large: AIA 150—Blueprint for America 01 :Stephen Vogel, FAIA Response: After 150: What Is AIA Up to Now? 01 :Doug Kelbaugh, FAIA 12 : The Seattle and Detroit Design Charrettes 01 : Stephen Luoni 13 : An Ecology of Nonproft Design Practices Refections Refections 01 : Jana Cephas 14 : The Infuence of Community Design Centers on Society 01 : Katie Swenson 15 : An Evolving Role for Community Design in Affordable Housing 01 : Tom Dutton 16 : Engaging the School of Social Life: A Pedagogy Against Oppression 01 : Tom Fisher 17 : The Architecture of Social Capital 01 : Craig L. Wilkins 18 : Conclusion: This is not your Father’s Practice Appendixes Biographies vi Acknowledgements Craig Wilkins As always, I want to thank my parents, Velma and George, for giving me a confdence that far exceeds my abilities; my friends and professorial mentors John Archer, William Morrish, and Bruce Kimball for continuing the deception; my late Uncle Mickey for not; the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning under the guidance of then Dean Douglas Kelbaugh, for his foresight in establishing the Detroit Community Design Center, and former chair Tom Buresh, whose patience and support allowed us to grow and serve the people of Detroit for years; colleague and co-collaborator Eric Deuweke for his thoughtfulness, connections, and boundless efforts on behalf of both the Center and Detroit; research associates Kasey Vilet, Josh Anderson, Nate Gray, Turquoise Archie, Brittany Trapp, and especially Damon K. Dickerson, whose great enthusiasm for our mission helped produce our initial work. To the students at the universities of Southern, Minnesota, and Michigan too numerous to mention, who’ve placed some portion of their education in my hands and from whom I have received an education as well, I thank you all for your earnest support. To Lisa Schamess and Kat Tanaka Okopnik for their critical work in editing and connecting the ideas throughout this volume giving it the fnal touches it so desperately required. And fnally, to my co-editor Dan Pitera, I offer much thanks and appreciation for agreeing taking on this endeavor with me when it was little more than a notion, and for enriching my understanding of true collaboration and dedication. You’ve helped to make this project a joyous adventure. vii Acknowledgements Dan Pitera I also always like to begin with acknowledging my family. To my mother, Grayce…who nurtured an insight toward the world that anything is possible, but at the same time, it is far from fair. To my father, Dan…for though he died when I was very young, he is present in everything I do. To my wife, Allegra…who guarantees unconditional support and that the intensive dialogue on what we do remains continuous and honest at all times. To my 11-year old daughter, Anneka… for her very presence brings me back to what is most important. To my sister Merrie Jo…for always being a constant force and providing unwavering support. To Harry…for his constant interest in the next thing. To Steve Vogel…for his insight in envisioning the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, his trust in our approach and his support in our successes and failures. To my co-editor in this project, Craig Wilkins…for his unrelenting search for quality and critical content, and because you asked me to join you in this unpredictable journey. To Maurice Cox…for his ability to inspire me and his patience and generosity with the numerous late night/early morning phone debates. To the current staff of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, Charles Cross, Christina Heximer, Ceara O’Leary, Rebecca Willis as well as the past staff… for their persistence and passion in an offce that is more chaotic than not, and because all of the intentions and thoughts that run through this book are alive and present because of them. To my colleagues and friends, Will Wittig and Julie Kim…for their unwavering support and encouragement when it was always most needed. To Lisa Schamess and Kat Tanaka Okopnik…for their passion for this work making them more of a content partner than a content editor. Lastly, to my students from the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC), University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, University of Kansas, University of Nebraska, and of course University of Detroit Mercy…for their limitless passion, desire, and ability to question and challenge. A01 Introduction Expanding Practice More People, More Programs, More Geographies Dan Pitera, FAIA 9 Introduction More People, More Programs, More Geographies Dan Pitera, FAIA In 1991, I worked for Mark Horton Architecture in San Francisco. It was a place where energy, passion, critical dialogue, and great design lived. During this time, we met a pastor who was organizing an effort to address the living and medical conditions for children with AIDS in Romania. His specifc plan was to design and build an AIDS hospice for children. Mark and I contacted him, wondering if he needed architectural assistance. His answer stressed that architectural services were the only help he was having trouble securing. He had plenty of attorneys and a signifcant number of doctors, but not design assistance. “How does your profession distinguish itself when it comes to projects like this?” he asked. We did not know the answer to that broad question, but we ourselves readily became involved. Over the following year and with many complications, the project was designed and built. The pastor’s original dilemma caused me to refect more deeply on why the profession of architecture, unlike law or medicine, does not have a visible or clear mechanism to address diffcult social conditions. Expanding the Nature of Practice Why are museums, “Our profession needs to expand the scope of our work more expensive houses, and comprehensively.” I had this thought while working with Mark on the hospice project, with very little knowledge at the time about what design stadiums places centers were and what they did. They were not a part of my educational where great design process. This is partly because I came from an academic background where occurs, while projects design excellence was the governing agenda. In that worldview, design like nonproft offces, centers were places of technical assistance, not design excellence. Projects affordable housing, like the pastor’s were heartfelt endeavors, but they did not offer opportunity for Design—with a capital “D.” Or so I was taught to believe. and service centers The key to this point is: Why are museums, expensive houses, and stadiums are not? places where great design occurs, while projects like nonproft offces, affordable housing, and service centers are not? In short, I still believe that design More, People, More Programs, More Geographies 10 excellence and well-designed thoughtful places are an essential part of culture and society. I also believe (as I did then) that they are very important to all people. Craig Wilkins’ opening essay in this volume pairs Paul Polak’s 2005 observation that most design is focused only on serving the richest 10 percent of the world’s population, and John Gavin Dwyer’s Residential Architect article that states that architects work for only 2% of the 1.1 1.1 Among other results, Polak’s population.