Studio2: 25 Questions

  1. Who uses this space regularly?
  2. On average how long does a person normally stay here?
  3. What do people do when they are in the hub?
  4. Who runs this daily?
  5. How often are the rooms inside the hub booked?
  6. What makes this space different from that of the library besides the fact that you are able to talk?
  7. For the people that go there, is it a comfortable safe place?
  8. Do people go there for just another place to study?
  9. Do people that visit there often know the story behind the hub?
  10. Is there enough information to inform people what the social justice hub is all about?
  11. What are some of the student run events held here?
  12. Does the design of the hub have any significance to the people that use it.
  13. Does the white floors and white walls make it feel unwelcoming?
  14. If so, would it feel more comfortable with colored walls or artwork hung up everywhere?
  15. How can we make students come together and communicate more in the hub?
  16. How often are there events for students in the social justice hub?
  17. How can people learn about the social justice hub without doing their own online research?
  18. Do the professors know about the social justice hub?
  19. And do they tell their students about it?
  20. Does the set up of the hub give a library kind of setting? If so is it good or bad?
  21. What are the type of conversations that are talked about in the hub?
  22. Is the social justice hub ever filled up completely with students?
  23. What was the creator’s vision for what the social justice hub look like today?
  24. How can we personalize this space better for students?
  25. If the creator saw what it looked like today what would they change differently?

Social Justice Hub Info Graph

I sat in the Baldwin-Rivera-Boggs Social Justice Hub for over an hour and observed and talked with students who actively use this space to do homework and interact with fellow student. This space in located on the 5th floor of the university center and it was created by The New School and Brianna Duck who talked with committees to create her idea of this social justice space. She wanted to create this space “for all students, especially those who are often left out because of their race, gender expression, sexual orientation and/or socio-economic status.”

In addition to socializing and doing homework, there are many events held in the rooms located on this floor including the Antithesis (an E-newspaper type of club), New School Social Justice club, Students of Color Meet Up, Lang Civic Engagement Social Justice, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Dream Team Meeting (immigrant rights and safe space).

I made many decision in making this infographic. Keeping the color pallet simple I only used the colors black, orange, and purple because infographics with less color everywhere are easier to read. I wanted to include the color orange because the Social Justice Hub is written on the wall in orange on every corner of the hub. I included icons such as a person reading a book and a couple at table talking to each other. I wanted to keep the design simple but still informative so included important facts about the hub and the creation of it.

Cooper-Hewitt: By the people: Designing a better America

Empowering System: Graffiti pendants.

On the left are paint chips that fell from graffiti walls of Detroit, Michigan. These paint chips are compressed and made into earrings and necklaces which are  designed and made by woman transitioning from a shelter to an independent life. The Rebel Neil team hires woman from homeless shelters as creative designers to create the jewelry above with a goal to restore their confidence. This is extremely empowering system that helps woman in need while giving graffiti art a second life in the form of jewelry.

Ineffective system: Culticycle prototype

This is a pedal powered tractor designed for removing weeds from crop fields. For me, this is an ineffective system because in a time where technological advanced machinery doing all the chores that we don’t want to do for us. When we look at new inventions we tend to look for something that sets the bar high for all other machines, but in this case it doesn’t seem like it’s that much of an advancement. The large size and awkwardness of the machine isn’t like the slick powerful machines that rule our world today, and some may say that this might be a step back in the world of technology for farming.

Cooper-Hewitt Process Lab

Chosen value: Family.

Question: How might we restore housing after natural disasters?

Two design tactics: Micro housing, Fire Station (first responders)

My idea was to allow people whose homes were destroyed in natural disasters to stay in micro housing. Unconventional housing can accommodate people in need while keeping families together. First responders and construction workers could repair homes that aren’t fully destroyed. What we would need is people that could restore the once destroyed housing in order for families to move back in. Families would be able to have a roof over their head and each other to hold while workers work to restore what was destroyed for them.

S2 Bibliography

Hymes, Dell. “: How to Do Things with Words . John L. Austin.” American Anthropologist 67, no. 2 (April 1965): 587–88. 

Searle, John. What Is a Speech Act? n.p.: ProQuest, 2009.

Bollas, Christopher. “Wording and Telling Sexuality.” The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis January 01, 1997,: 363–66

Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” Theatre Journal 40, no. 4 (December 1988)