learning through the built environment

Backpack Environments, House of Cards, and Bricks

2011-12-03T18:03:00.000-06:00

This week we did several different things. On Tuesday we worked on backpack environments. The backpack environment project was fun for me! I made a functional thing that would be useful for me, which was awesome. I made a bag that would be useful to artists like myself, carrying their supplies they use to draw, sketch, or paint their thoughts. I would love to continue making it a real, functional things so that I can have one for myself!

The card structure was so simple that it was hard. My group was a bit low at creativity on that day but it was fun to do all the same. Other groups were doing really great card structures and we all voted for groups 2 and 4 to win. Maybe next time we can use a different way to hold up and to make a structure. All in all it was funny.

Making bricks out of cardboard was hard to make using glue but I found a stickier glue to hold the pieces together and was able to make something out of it.

Building our Dream Houses and Going to the Corner Farm

2011-11-12T13:40:00.001-06:00

This week we were supposed to continue our service project at Monroe Elementary but ended up not being able to because it was raining on both days. Instead, we finished building our dream houses and at the end of the day on Wednesday, presented them to the rest of the class. It was a lot of fun to finish making them!

Today we went out to the Diversey/Milwaukee intersection to sketch facades of the buildings. We spent about 30 minutes just sketching the historic buildings in that area. After that we went to the Corner Farm in Logan Square and helped out by laying straw on the beds to help protect them for the winter. We also planted garlic, collected dried leaves for the compost, and pulled out all the plants that needed to be weeded. It was a beautiful day to be outside. It was a pretty long week but it was also FUN!

Service Learning and Field Trip - Part 1

2011-11-05T13:48:00.001-05:00

This week we went to Monroe Elementary School to sand the benches that they have in the garden and protect the wood with varnish. We are trying to protect them for the upcoming winter against the harsh elements. We are going to continue doing this for two weeks.

Today we went on a field trip to the Chicago Architecture Foundation and we saw a huge model of Chicago. It's the only up-to-date, accurate model of Chicago's downtown, and it has over 1,000 buildings. We also saw some interesting projects about Chicago neighborhoods. After that we went to Millennium Park to eat lunch and see more interesting architecture like the Modern Wing of the Art Institute. It was a great day, and we were lucky to have beautiful weather!

New Friends and Built Things

2011-10-29T13:51:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday we had a blast with the new teens. We moved to a new room and had a little party. That's where we met our, soon to be, friends. Many people joined, we felt really happy. On Wednesday we built our dream house out of balsa wood, the way we thought was perfect for us. We first made a list of what we wanted in the house and then we built our structure. My team built a 2 story house. On Saturday we built a geodesic dome. It was really cool! We worked step by step to make it. So the day has ended for today. We'll be going on field trips next week so stay tuned until then!

Floating Writing Surface

2011-10-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

Today what we did in architecture was a Floating Writing Surface. This will act as a chalkboard in a classroom. This is like a balloon made out of plastic. First we measured the size and shape that we want it to be. Then, we iron the plastic. So it wont melt we use a piece of aluminum then we iron it making sure to not melt the plastic. In this activity we compare a bored with it. A board is more likely to be in one section of a room or class but this Floating Writing Surface is more likely to be moved in any place. This was a fun and entertaining project and we encourage people to try it out for fun!

2011-10-22T13:24:00.001-05:00

mobilizing the healthy food project

2011-08-15T21:59:00.005-05:00

Great news!!
We found a local artist to utilize the vendor cart we built back in Spring 2010. Check out our first test run of the cart here where Norman Teague and I took the cart to the streets and sold my version of tamales at last years Silver Room Block party.
The vendor is Daniel Evans of The Indoor Beach. A local artist and up and coming fresh fruit vendor. We find him to be a perfect candidate. Here's his letter of intent. More photos of how he supes up the cart soon!

Daniel Evans
the indoor beachhttp://bodywallet.net

To the participants of Archi-ASM:
Recently I became interested in slinging organic and local fruits on the city streets. I was referred to your project through a friend and it was quite a pleasure to see that there is this beautiful cart already made up!
I was granted a fruitsellers permit so I am good to push fruit until August of 2013. I will also be selling cassette tapes of local bands, some apparel that is made in Chicago and some other cool stuff.
The foodcart will be promoted via The Indoor Beach, a Chicago street photography and activism blog. This cart will see a lot of miles and a lot of hype!
There are three food producers / distributors that I am speaking with already that are supportive of the project. Goodness Greenness, Edible Alchemy and The Plant Chicago--as well as a handful of local and regional producers directly.
I have extensive experience in the natural / healthy foods business, having run a health food store in Indiana which stocked the produce of area farmers. The food on this cart will either be local or domestic organic.
It would be a great honor to serve the city healthful fruits and vegetables from this finely made cart. Looked over the pictures of the build process. Inspiring!
Best,
Daniel Evans

* special thanks to the food cart team: Ernesto, Jeanette, Alan, Adrian, Benjamin, Josue, and Diana

Architecture & Design, Summer 2011

2011-07-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

We've been doing lots of interesting activities and exercises here at the Summer 2011 program! Last friday we took a trip down to the Lincoln Park Conservatory. We saw a lot of different types of plants and the way they were planted. We also saw the Lily Pond were we learned how the architect Alfred Caldwell designed the pond to look like it was planted naturally. It's an oasis in the middle of the city. As we were there we also saw several kinds of lily pads and a couple of turtles. There were many rocks where we were able to climb and have a view of the scenery. After observing the lily pond area, we walked to the Lincoln Park Conservatory and saw many unique, yet interesting plants. It smelled like nature and fruity. We found a spot next to the seal house to take a break from the heat and have lunch. After lunch, we were allowed to go our own way and see the different animals and explore the rest of the zoo. Once it reached time we all met at the front of the conservetory and we returned back to Monroe Elementrary.

Gardens and Wood

2011-03-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

Here at Architecture & Design, we have been learning about wood and how to use it. During our intro to wood we learned the proper way to use it and different ways to come at the wood. Like drilling holes before screwing and any other insertion to wood. Last week we went to a wood shop (Greater West Town Projects) where we got taught the fundamentals of wood and the different machines used to carve wood and the steps to make it smaller in length. After the wood shop, we went to the Chicago Center for Green Technology, where we saw different ways to harness energy from many different sources.

During our trip we saw a house that used efficient energy like solar panels and efficient heating techniques. over all everything was fun, entertaining and pretty cool. We were really cold outside and it was snowing but still fun to run in. We did push ups, while we were waiting for the bus. Later in the bus, we did pull ups. Just letting you know we did it for fun and nobody told us to do it. At the end a girl named Emily from Bickerdike came because she wanted ASM to help some parks in the hood to get benches and trellises to help the gardens out. We noticed the the gardens looked really worn out and abused. Which made us think we should put barbed wires around the garden but that would ruin the beauty of it.

Today in a team of four we made benches that tested our knowledge of wood and how to do pre-drill holes. Some were really bad and unstable but one was really good and strong and we are sitting on it now. Today was really fun and was the funnest day ever. Today was the first time we every actually made something useful out of wood. Can't wait for wednesday.

2011-02-23T18:59:00.000-06:00

The first three weeks of the program we did a lot of very fun and interesting things. For example the first week we took to get to know each other and learn about the program and what we were going to be doing in the course of the semester. We also learned the basics of the “unicorn view finder” which took a very long time to make and a lot of patience that many of us didn’t have, but either way at the end they were really fun to see through and everyone looked funny looking like “unicorns”. In the second week is when the fun really started. We took a field trip to an Architect firm and learned about how Architects create models and always keep a lot of sketch books of what they see. After that we took our lunch at State Street and went on our way to the museum of Contemporary Art to go see the exhibits and saw the famous “condom pants” that everyone was talking about from the Urban Chinese Time.

In the 3^rd week we had a speaker come in from Bickerdike Development and talk to us about gardens and flowers and how people come and use the garden, and she came to us for ideas on how to improve it. Now we are building models and thinking of designs that we can create to add to the garden, that are similar to the things she requested from us.

Marco's Belmont Cragin

2010-12-11T16:29:00.000-06:00

(insert intro)

(insert flag)

By Marco

Bernice's Humboldt Park

2010-12-11T16:26:00.000-06:00

My flag is about my Humboldt Park neighborhood. The park is the heart of the neighborhood.

The summer is the best time to see the diversity, entertainment and other exciting things. You see all types of people and events and can have a good time just walking around. There is a beautiful pond you can sit at for hours.

These are the images I chose to put in my flag:

The ice cream represents the summer time because everyone has I cream in their hand. The car represents everybody that wants a car so bad they'll drive anything. The sun is a basketball because all the boys put on their shorts and head to the court. I have a picture of a grandma with a pie because everyone has a grandma that cooks. Lastly, I have an entrance that represents the carnival which is very popular in the neighborhood and people come every year.

By Bernice

Josue's Belmont Cragin

2010-12-11T15:49:00.000-06:00

My neighborhood is Belmont Cragin. It is located on the Northwest side of Chicago. It was founded by a railroad company called Cragin in the 1930s. It brought jobs to everyone in the club. I live by Belmont and Central in a bungalow. The busiest intersection is diversey and laramie. There are tons of activities to do in my neighborhood such as going to the movies, two night clubs, various parks, and numerous food places.
The heart of my neighborhood is Riis Park. My favorite place in my neighborhood has to be Riis Park for the reason that it is where I matured not only as a person but as an athlete.

My flag is in the shape of my neighborhood. The brown represents the number of Hispanics and the white represents the Caucasians. I was surprised the learn the ratio of the two. The black represents the African Americans in the area and the yellow represents the Asian Community.

I would like my neighborhood to be more eloquent and have the spirit of California. We need more athletic fields.

By Hoho

Miracle's Palmer Square

2010-12-11T15:26:00.000-06:00

I made a flag about the Logan Square area. There are different places you can eat in Logan Square. I love the pizza and cheese burgers. What i don't like about Logan Square are the men standing on the comer with their hands in their pockets. It's funny because they all look alike . There are also a lot of cats that run around. There are also lots of children that run around playing tag all day and screaming and having fun. There are a lot of motorcycles around my house. I know there is a motorcycle place next door to my favorite pizza place Fiesta. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans in Logan Square. I thought there were a lot of Mexicans but there aren't. Everyone goes to Mozart Park to play basketball. The nasty thing I don't like is that there's always gum stuck everywhere, I have stuck my finger in some gum before that was on a gate. Last but not least there are always beer bottles sitting on corners randomly. Over all I still love Logan Square even though weird things happen there. I made this flag to show the good, the bad, and the weird things in Logan square.

I made a collage that represents how I see my neighborhood and how I want my neighborhood to be. On the left of my collage I tried to represent the building next to my house that looks like the projects. Most of the houses look like the ones on the bottom left side of my flag. There is a garden across the street of my house that has planter boxes. Mozart park is also near my house. There is a cuban restaurant down the street from my house where I i like to get cheese burgers.

I would like my neighborhood to look more up to date. I would like to live in these kinds of houses. I want the streets to be more open wide because when a truck turns it looks like its going to crash. These buildings look really pretty.

By Miracle

Jabril's Justice

2010-12-11T15:16:00.000-06:00

(insert flag)
The three stars on my flag represents the three parts of Justice, Illinois. The plane on my flag represents the airport called Midway Airport. the first star is connected to a house because there are many big houses in my neighborhood. The biggest star represents the heart of the neighbor which is Ford City Mall. This is why the biggest star is red. The third star is representing all of the plazas and stores in my neighborhood. The birds represent the many birds that can be found by the pond. The green patch represents the land in the yards of my neighborhood. All of it together represents the Flag of Justice Illinois.

By Jabril

arnoldo & aldo's north center

2010-12-11T14:20:00.001-06:00

Introduction:

Our neighborhood is North Center, it is both a community area and a neighborhood located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois. North Center has grown since the 1870's when the area only accessible by the Chicago River and Little Fort Road (now known as Lincoln Avenue.)

North Center's history is deeply routed in in European cultural influences, and that history can be seen in the architectural charm of the homes and buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. North Center is named based on its location since it is located in the North Side of Chicago and because of its central position in this area. It is a simple way to describe and find North Center.

North Center:

Our neighborhood is very special for us because of the various things that make in it. North Center is a secure neighborhood and we like that the most.. We moved two years ago to this country so we only know a few things about our neighborhood. But for us it is definitely the safety that we like the best about our community.

It has many recreation places as well as educational and entertainment. Something unique that makes North Center stable and safe is there is an active Neighborhood Club. There is a sense that everybody works together to keep the community safe by informing the police about any suspicious or dangerous situations. Some of the recreation places are Fellgar Park, Revere Park, California Park, Horner Park, and the Clark Play Lot. The educational places are Lane Tech High School, DeVry Institute of Technology, and Bell Elementary School. There are many entertainment places in North Center such as Pete's Pizza, Crabby Kim's, Car Gallery, Champion Cycle Center, and The Riverview Plaza Shopping Center.

Overall it is a great place to live.

by arno & aldo

cesar's humboldt park

2010-12-11T14:16:00.001-06:00

Humboldt Park:

My neighborhood is Humboldt park and the streets that border my neighborhood are Armitage, Chicago, Pulaski, and Western. My neighborhood is on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Humboldt Park, in Humboldt Park, is a 207 acre park and it was named after a German Naturalist called Alexander Von Humboldt in 1869. Although Von Humbodlt never visited Chicago the park was somehow named after him.

What I believe is the heart of my neighborhood is, of course, Humboldt Park.

My house is on Augusta and Kedszie and our busiest intersection is, I believe, on North and Kedzie. Our neighborhood became a neighborhood in 1869 when Chicago extended to that area. back then the main race was white, mostly Germans and Scandinavians, but during 1950 to 1965 a huge migration of Puerto Ricans to Chicago hapened and they became the dominate race in the neighborhood. The population of my neighborhood is currently 65, 523 people and counting. It has a 4.792 square mile area and the density is 13,673 and counting people per square mile. To me it is a great neighborhood to live in and it is where I have lived for most of my life, and hopefully will continue to live in.

By Ceasar

Fay's Ashburn

2010-12-11T14:08:00.001-06:00

The neighborhood that I researched was Ashburn, it is located on the southwest side of Chicago. Ashburn got its name because it was the location in which companies used to dump ashes because the land couldn't be used for agriculture or building at the time. It was predominately composed of Dutch, Swedish, and Irish people when it was established in about 1893. In the 1930's over 92% of the population was white, but over the years it has slowly become more diverse and now it has a good balance or white, black, Hispanic, and Asian families. Ashburn also held Chicago's very first airport back in 1916 during World War I. The land was used for military purposes and held a high population, but after the airport fields were moved further north west and renamed Midway airport, the population diminished.

I only lived in Ashburn for a very short time and I have to say the experience there was not good, compared to my old neighborhood, which was Gage Park. As far as safety and cleanliness and order are concerned Ashburn is definitely better, but when human interaction is involved its really bad. Most people in Ashburn have everything concerning entertainment and relaxation in their homes, so they don't come outside much except to manicure their lawns and to put the trash out in the front yard. In my old neighborhood almost everyone knew everyone else, children played outside and there was constant movement and close interaction.

In this flag I drew a dump truck and an ash hill that represents how Ashburn got its name. I also drew an airplane as a representation of it having the first airport. There is a fire symbolizing the burn in Ashburn. The grass shows the manicured lawns all throughout the neighborhood.

In this collage I put two sides one being how I see the neighborhood and the other of how I want it to be. I see the neighborhood as an exquisite view behind glass or gates. It is a great place for people without children because of the lack of social stamina, but it is a very well organized middle class society. I would rather it to be a lose community of individuality and modern architecture. I also just like the motion activated lava floors it would be interesting to see them in peoples houses even in different colors to keep it different.

by: Fay

Kelsey's Wicker Park

2010-12-11T14:07:00.002-06:00

Wicker Park is a Chicago neighborhood northwest of the Loop, south of Bucktown, and east of the Pulaski Park. Charles and Joel Wicker purchased 80 acres of the Milwaukee avenue in 1870. The great Chicago fire of 1871 spurred the first wave of development, as homeless people in Chicago were looking for new homes.
Wicker Park near the end of the nineteenth century became the abode of Chicago, wealthy northern europeans immigrants who built large mansions along the neighborhood's choicest streets particularly Hoyne and Pierce. It was also considered a Polish downtown known as the Polish Gold Coast.
But now it is a beautiful place and is very crowded, where you can purchase great food. Milwaukee and Damen is a very active part of Chicago where you party all night at night clubs and bars and it is better known as the Party Park.

My flag describes Wicker Park as the center of Milwaukee, Damen, and North avenue. Wicker Park is a place where you can shop, walk your dogs, and get great food. It is also the middle of a great place of transportation.

My collage describes party people of Wicker Park. The people of Wicker Park are more focused on looking good, with all their make-up brushes, fly clothes, and high fashionable scarves. The people of Wicker Park would be described as the best dressed in Chicago. People with their Hunter boots and fur coats will often go out for drinks during happy hour and won't return until the next morning. People are always walking their dogs and also driving their motor bikes up and down the streets. Then you have the particular older group that goes out every noon day for a cup of tea. But most of all, when holidays come around such as Christmas Wicker Park shows the most spirit with all of their retail sales during Black Friday. Wicker Park is a very cool place to be.

Most of all Wicker Park is a wonderful place to live. It has things for all ages, all colors, all races, and all creeds. We all may look different in Wicker Park but in some weird way we are all part of a great big family. This is why I love my neighborhood.

By Kelsey

ana's logan square

2010-12-11T13:59:00.002-06:00

Logan Square is located near the northwest side of the city of Chicago. Logan square is named after General John A Logan, who served in the civil war and later in congress. When Logan square started it was mostly a Norwegian American population. The houses were inexpensive and the renting was available. This neighborhood was a famous area for immigrants and working class citizens. It had many elaborate, stylish, and expensive houses and a mansion line. Historic Logan and Kedzie boulevards where the Norske Klub used to reside but now the neighborhood has a more diverse population of Latinos, African Americans, and Eastern Europeans. Instead of more houses there are apartments that are still rentable. The Norske Klub no longer exists as well as any mansions because of the fire of 1871 which destroyed all the houses made of wood. They had to be made with bricks and rough material to prevent destruction from any other fires. Logan Square has changed so much since the 1850s.
(insert heart of neighborhood)
The heart of the neighborhood is the Contennial Monument located at the center of a traffic circle formed by the colliding streets of Kedzie, Logan Blvd, and Milwaukee Avenue. It was built in 1910 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Illinois statehood. It was designed by Henry Bacon. It is a single 70' tall marble Doric column topped by an eagle in reference to the Illinois State flag. It was payed by Benjamin Ferguson fund. The artwork surrounding the bottom was a base that depict figures of Native Americans, explorers, farmers, and laborers intended to show the changed that the state went through in the first century.
(insert big intersection)
The big intersection in Logan Square is the same three-way intersection of Kedzie, Logan Blvd, and Milwaukee Avenue. There are a lot of activity that goes on there. There are a lot of stores, pedestrians, restaurants, and theaters.

I made this collage to represent how my neighborhood is now (left side) and how I would like to see my neighborhood (right side). My neighborhood has a lot of residents that work together. There is a lot of construction going on and a lot of trees and green spaces available for relaxation or playtime. There is a lot of laughter from children. What I would like my neighborhood to be more brighter with lots of light. I would like it to be more sophisticated and complex and to be a world wide diverse community and have more colors that attract more people, like colorful buildings.

My flag describes Logan Square because it has the column and eagle on top which an icon for the neighborhood since it is located right in the center of Logan Square. One of the clouds I drew was made into the Chicago flag. This is pretty much all I can say about the Logan Square flag I made.

saida belmont cragin

2010-12-11T13:52:00.003-06:00

Belmont Cragin:

My neighborhood is Belmont-Craign. The neighborhood stretches south to Homer, east to Kenton, west to Neenah, and north to Fletcher. My family has been in this neighborhood for about 11 years.Since that time, from what I've seen, many businesses have came and went. Portage-Craign is 65% Hispanic. It wasn't always like that though.When it first started in 1930, there were more Polish immigrants than anyone in Craign. The Craign brothers set up a steel factory that helped employ many people who didn't have jobs.They moved here from Connecticut but after a few years they moved again from Chicago, but not without making a few changes to the cities neighborhood. They left behind a railroad on the southern side of Craign.They built many housing projects for their employees so the neighborhood name changed from Whiskey Point to Craign. After the company left many people were unemployed once again. My neighborhood is interesting because of the mix of races that it contains.We have a mixture of Hispanic in southeast, south west sides. There are Polish and Euro immigrants in the north and east side. One of the busiest intersections is Central and Fullerton. These street have alot of shops, places to eat, nail and hair salons, pet stores, schools and athletic fields. The heart of the neighborhood is the Brickyard Mall. It's an out door mall that has big stores like Target and Home Depot. It attracted many people to live by there because of the amount of business it attracted. My favorite place in my neighborhood is the park behind my old elementary school. It brings back memories and lot's of games that made up my childhood.

by Saida

diana's belmont cragin

2010-12-11T13:32:00.001-06:00

Belmont Cragin is located on the Northwest Side of Chicago Illinois. (community area 19). The area was originally named Whiskey Point. In 1862, it was a rural area until 20 years later, when the Cragin Brothers moved their company tin plate and sheet iron processing plant near Whiskey Point. The Cragin Brothers did a lot for the area; they made rail roads to help company's move their stuff. They also made more houses which allowed more people to come to the new town named Cragin. In the 1930s Cragin became known as Belmont Cragin.
With an 857 population in a four block radius, it was surprising for me to see that the majority ethnicity was Hispanics with 65% of the population. I had thought that the majority ethnicity would be white by basing it off the people I see around my block, but I was wrong. Caucasians are only 28% of the population. Since our neighborhood doesn't have has big opened areas such as big parks, our density is more likely to be pretty high rather than low like other neighborhoods like Humboldt park.

My flag is in the shape of the Belmont Cragin area. I drew a bell because it represents "bel" in Belmont. In the bell it says "Liberty" and "Peace." I feel like those two words describe my area because you could hardly find any danger in our neighborhood so it's quite peaceful, and liberty because the people in our neighborhood have to right to be free without any precautions because there is lots of security cameras around. It also says 1930 because that the year the area became known as Belmont Cragin. On the bell it says Cragin brothers because they were a big part of the making of that area and it was named after them. Lastly I put 78K because that stands for 78,000 representing the population in our neighborhood.

In my neighborhood collage on one side I put the things that remind me of my area. The trees represent the lifeless trees in my area. The yellow sign represent the safety of Belmont Cragin. The left side is basically pictures of my calm neighborhood. The right side of the page is what I would want my neighborhood to look like. I wish it had more things where more activities would occur such as a dock for fishing and mountains of snow for skiing.

By Diana

Tyrese's Dunning

2010-12-11T12:55:00.004-06:00

My neighborhood is Dunning. It is located around the Addision and Cumberland area. Not many people come out around there. Most just come to work and then go home. In 1851 the county built a poor farm and asylum for the insane. The asylum is located on Irving Park Rd and Oak Park. In 1880 the Scandinavian Lutheran Association bought 65 acres south of Dunning for a cemetery which is located on Irving Park Rd. and Oreo. In 1886 the cemetery changed its name to Mount Olive and is mostly occupied by Jewish families. In 1910 the insane asylum area that was located in Dunning was changed to the Oak Forest neighborhood. The area now left as the Dunning neighborhood is the small area between Harlem and Cumberland to the East/West and Belmont to Irving Park to the North/South. Most of the residents in Dunning area is primarily Swedish, German, and Polish descent. From my research my family is the only African American family in the neighborhood.

This is the flag I made that represents the Dunning neighborhood. I drew a tree to represent the old forest that was originally there before the area was developed. The tomb stones represent the cemeteries that occupy a large amount of the area. The graphics on the tree is a secret.

This is a collage I made that represents my neighborhood. The collage is split into two sides. The left side represents how I see my neighborhood and the right side represents how I want my neighborhood to be.

My neighborhood has a big forest, this also represents the forest that occupied the area before development. I also put a Caucasian man to show that there are mostly Caucasian people in my neighborhood. To show the things or activities I do with my friends in my neighborhood I put a picture of a man playing poker and darts because we like to play inside games like that. I also put a picture of a normal looking house because it reminds me of mine.

One the right side I put a picture of a bigger house because that's the house I would like to have in my neighborhood. One of the most relaxing things I would like in my neighborhood is this relaxing view. The last and biggest thing I would like in my neighborhood is this big nice looking building. Maybe it will bring people out of their house to enjoy the view sometime.

By Tyrese Smith

alejandro's humboldt park

2010-12-11T12:55:00.002-06:00

My neighborhood is Humboldt Park. Humboldt Park is located between Armitage to Chicago and Pulaski to Western. It is located on the Northwest side of Chicago. The park was laid out in 1869 and was named after the naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt. It is the oldest place in the neighborhood, there is no building older than the park. The neighborhood contains 65,523 people in a 4.792 sq area. The neighborhood has a variety of races like Caucasians, African Americans, Asians, American Indians, Native Hawaiians, and Hispanics.
The heart of the neighborhood is Humboldt Park. Everybody goes there to play sports, to hang out, or attend carnivals. It is not just one race that goes to the park, everyone goes. The busiest intersection in my opinion is North Avenue and Kedzie, because every time we pass there to go to school there are a lot of traffic in cars and people.
Humboldt Park to me is just where I live, where I've been living my life, where I've been growing up, and will hopefully leave soon. I live near Kedzie and Augusta, right by the park. My home is my favorite place in the neighborhood.

My flag represents Humboldt Park. My flag has 23 stars they represent the community area number. The eight circles represent eight different types of races in my neighborhood. The green outline around Humboldt Park represents it as the heart of the neighborhood. The initials speak for themselves.

This is a collage I did that represents how I see my neighborhood (left side) and what I want in my neighborhood (right side). The way I see my neighborhood it has a lot of grass and trees with nothing going on inside. I tried to portray it as boring. I think the park used to be fun but then got boring because things started changing. It used to be safe but now is dangerous and it makes it difficult to enjoy your time there. What I would like to see in my neighborhood is fountains, nice buildings, a larger body of water where you can go farther on, a soccer stadium or at least a soccer field. I think that by adding more things to the park will calm things down and make it more enjoyable.

By Alejandro Guzman

Gilma's Belmont Cragin

2010-12-11T10:36:00.048-06:00

My flag represents my community which is Belmont Cragin. Belmont Cragin is a community built on commerce and industry. When the Cragin brothers moved their tin plate and sheet iron processing plant near Whiskey Point around 1880, they opened several job opportunities. This attracted many people to the community, and more factories were built, creating more job opportunities and a larger population.

Now, my flag represents the circle of life. How life takes more than one person to fulfill a good life. Several events have to happen in ones life in order for another thing to change. So my flag represents how life is created, and how it keeps growing. Like my community, it started off small, but eventually grew larger when big factories came into place.

My collage shows what my community is like on the left side, and on the right is what I wish my community was like. My neighborhood has mostly Hispanic and Caucasian people and is very quiet. It is made up of mostly house buildings and many cats live in the streets. But I wish my community had more dogs and some farm animals. Also, I wish somebody would build a pancake house nearby, some interesting buildings, more diversity, and we need some more bars and restaurants.

By Gilma

The day in Lincoln Park

2010-11-24T18:04:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, we arrived at the center ready for an exciting day. We began our day doing a great sketch of a Vacuum cleaner. So, then we divided into groups to pick what field trip we would be going on. Some of us would be going to the Nature Museum and Lincoln Park Zoo, and some of us would be going to the Great Chicago History Museum . I attended the trip to the Chicago History Museum where I found out where my grandmother's home use to be. So we got on the bus with our wonderful bus Transfers .... Then arrived in Lincoln Park where we would begin our journey. We broke for lunch because we were all starving. My friends and I went to Subway and Five Guys where we had the best lunch ever.. After lunch was over we all began our separate trips . We walked to the place where we met the Greatest Teacher Ever, Ms. Jen Masengarb, and after having a hard time getting tickets and our bags put away, we were off ...... My Fellow Classmates and I went up the stairs and got on the elevators.. We were in the research center trying to gain access from the "Research Keeper", where she was giving us a hard time .. I thought we were never going to get in. So, Finally we got in, then Neo's Phone Goes OFF ....LOLOL Good Going Neo! Then we had to wait again for minutes and minutes ..... until we Finally got over to the Research Side , where we learned a lot of information about our homes and discovered some parts of the city that didn't exist .WOW!!!!. So After all the Knowledge we had gained it was time to leave and depart. So after saying our goodbyes to the Greatest Teacher, Ms.Jen., We hopped on the bus and Got our Checks .... So that we could Finish our Wonderful weekend......... HELLO!!!!!

signing off
Kelmaster......

IIT exploration

2010-11-17T18:58:00.001-06:00

Last Wednesday we created a memory map of Millennium Park in order to see if we could memorize the placement of the different sections of Millennium Park. We caught up and talked about the field trip. Then we played a historical match up game where we had to match up historical buildings with their names, architect, and the interesting fact about them. Some of them were confusing, but eventually we got it. After that Charlie gave a presentation about the progression of housing developments. Then we played the chair game saying "my home is...". We were then dismissed for the day. On Saturday we had a sketching activity where we were all sitting in a circle and had to draw the items in front of us from our perspective. The sketches lasted seven minutes each. For the second sketch we had to switch seats and for the third sketch we had to do a memory sketch, because they covered up the items with a sheet so we couldn't see them. We had a documenter filming us for her project for her school, while we looked at the house hunter pictures that we had taken of place we thought were weird in our neighborhoods. The documenter also interviewed Ana and Stephanie (me) about living in Logan Square. We then ventured off to IIT where we looked at a lot of special architectural buildings. First we went to the student center to eat and explore! We walked around and looked at the cool stuff like the giant clock on the wall and the straw wall and the translucent bathrooms. We then followed the pathway to Crown Hall. It was big and open with lots of light coming in. There were a lot of tables with numerous models made from various materials and they were very tedious and detailed. There was a downstairs where there was a library and the comfy couches. After that we went to the idea shop which was really cool because it had the mini macs and a projector and the 3-D printers. Then we left and were dismissed.

-stephanie

Fun Fun in the Sun (: AND Chicago

2010-11-10T18:10:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday we worked on the “advertisement” of our neighborhood. We had to make a map of our neighborhood and list all the attractions to pull people in. First we had to know what neighborhood we lived in, then once we knew that we had to make a boundary to know where to stop. We then lastly had to try to “sell” our neighborhood, with our acquaintances who were the “buyers”. Boring! More importantly we move to Saturday, the fun part of this week of class. Most of the class started off by going downtown. Already the day was starting off to be challenging, we had to sprint to catch the train! After that we stayed on till Jackson. While the “Wood Storage” group had the wonderful task of finishing their project, how fun? While they were taking the homes away from rats, we were doing a downtown scavenger hunt. We were told to find certain land marks, buildings, gardens, whatever you want to call them. Of course MY group got followed by every other group, thanks to my home girl Saida Gee. We had to go to the place and take a picture or a sketch. We had to meet up at a certain time by The Bean and we calculated the number of things we found and had to show our proves. Our next task was to sit in a circle and sketch what we saw in front of us, after completion we put our sketches next to each other to get a 360 view of where we were sitting. Shortly after finishing Charlie’s group joined us. We then broke for lunch in which we took to ling resulting in the scolding of our leaders. We then had to our final scavenger hunt. Except this time in we searched in Millennium Park. We each got divided in groups and we had to write down where we felt welcomed, where we felt un-welcomed, a place for children, and a place to read. We all met at the BP Bridge on which me and Madam Erika were taking pictures and falling asleep. We then proceeded on the wobbly shakey bridge and we began to fear for our lives. After reaching a dead end and concluding that we had wasted our time going up the Bridge for reason we returned and went to CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION. There were models of Chicago that apparently ran for millions of dollars. Alas our beautiful sunny day had come to an end and we proceeded to go home. That Saturday was a very wonderful one.

By: Marco Antonio Carreon (:

All Hallows Eve in the Windy City

2010-11-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

October 30th, 2010

The masters of the kiosks were at it again! Not to boast but even 70 mph winds can stop us. After an unusual wind storm in the windy city (how ironic) the kiosk we set up at Altgeld Sawyer Corner Farm tipped over. Even though a fence was badly bent, nothing but our feelings were hurt. Early at the start of Saturday class Erika, Kelly and I headed over to the farm to fix the kiosk while everyone else stayed behind and either prepped for the activities going on that day or put the last minute touches on the rat-free structure they designed. When we got to the farm we figured our mistake was nailing the wooden planks to the kiosk instead of screwing them for more support, so Erika and I leveled the ground and added a few more planks while Kelly screwed in the screws. The rest of the class got there about an hour later and started setting up their Halloween activities for the neighborhood children. Erika and I painted the roof of the kiosk with the signs that Diana, Marco and Vanny designed. Charlie had a group building a storage place for the wood that was used, involuntarily, as a rat home for the past few months. They did a good job making sure the storage was off the ground and was able to support the weight of the wood. Some of us painted a couple lady bugs and other scary designs while other hid candy and told fortunes with the help of our friendly pumpkins. We didn't get many children but over all the day went great. The architecture and design geniuses made this Hallows Eve extra spooktacular :)

By: Saida-Alexa <3

No Rat Zone

2010-11-03T18:37:00.001-05:00

My first week at work was cool. I was in a group called "The Rat Zone". In the Rat Zone, we talked about how we were going to build storage to keep wood in (for the Altgeld Sawyer Corner Farm). We are building this to stop the rats from having a home. The rats are hiding out under and inside the wood. So we sketched a picture of how we are going to build the storage.
On Saturday, the Rat Zone group went to the garden to see how many pieces of week we have. We laid them out on the ground and put them in order. For example, we put the long pieces with the long ones and short pieces with the short ones. After that, we measured how long the wood was. The we went to the park to see a kind of way the storage would look. So we just used some pipes and strings (to mock up our designs). All we know for now is that the storage box is going to be kind of slanted on one side. Overall, I think this is kind of cool what we are doing but kind of creepy because I'm scared of rats.

written by: Miracle Wiley 10/27/10

Altgeld/Sawyer Garden

2010-10-26T14:05:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, 10/16/10, we installed a kiosk to be used as an information stand to help educate people on goods and how to farm.

We went to the Altgeld/Sawyer Garden and we dug out a hole for the kiosk. Then we assembled it by nailing the roof and sealing the cracks on the kiosk and leveled the ground by making the ground even to to use as a base.

We also helped by trimming the dead and wilted plants, and transferred it to the compost pile and helped to transfer the compost into its different stages. We explained the kiosk to the people who worked at the garden. We learned a lot about the garden and how to put the beds to sleep and helped harvest whatever good that needed to be pulled out the beds.

By: Bernice and Marvin

Scale and Installation

2010-10-20T18:31:00.001-05:00

Full scale to tiny (1/2 inch = 1 foot). Recreation of the self image, we traced ourselves then portrayed them in a smaller scale. Some of the scaling measures (3/4inch = 1foot) caused it to be difficult and the math involved made it complicated. Saturday consisted of the kiosk installation at the Orozco Community Academy. Our first difficulty was the placement of the kiosk because the ground wasn't level, it was on a hill. We sat down and planned different ways to fix the issue and we ended up moving the location to the center of the garden. the new location worked well because the slope of our roof will help to water the plants when it rains and matched the previously planted irrigations systems. It was a fun task and thanks MeJay, the pizza awesome.

By: Erika and Fay

The Start of Architect

2010-10-13T19:02:00.001-05:00

In the last week we began to learn all about architecture and design. We learned about the elevation and plan of a building which helped us see the building/ art in the perspective of a real architect. The activities we took part in were adventurous and allowed us to get a clear understanding of architecture itself. Saturday's scavenger hunt gave us the opportunity to meet and become more familiar with one another and the community. Coming into the program we were prepared to learn hands on training with tools and wood building. We are quite excited for what architecture and design will bring!

by: Gilma & Jessica

Neighbor Space visits

2010-02-21T23:08:00.001-06:00

Our apologies, we've been so busy we haven't posted in a while! So pardon the following blog blast in attempt to catch everyone up to speed.
In week two of the program Ben Helphand of Neighbor Space came by for a one on one presentation of the community media kiosks to be dispersed in 3 local community gardens.
The afternoon was quite amazing. First, the new students were assigned to one of the three kiosks teams. In the teams, a brainstorm of criticism, ideas, improvements, and strategies provided a solid base for the teams to give a presentation on concept, function, next steps, and installation. One of the things that amazed me the most was how fluidly the students (new and returning) jumped into the project with their feedback and proposals. Gaining a better understanding of the project's implementation that it translated into confidence in their presentation. During the presentations Ben provided much needed insight and feedback, giving us a lot of things to think and develop on. Thanks Ben! The community kiosk project is one of many projects we will be implementing this spring. With the timeline of all our projects the students will need to work on multiple projects consecutively. The benefit is that it provides the students with the experience of time and project management.

magical things

2010-02-09T01:07:00.009-06:00

Several magical things happened on saturday. Its amazing how the turn of the year brings on a new attitude or a certain level of maturity in many of our returning students. Adrian stopped putting gel in his hair and is allowing his wave to run wild. Eddie is taking initiative in the rhythm of class activities. There's a noticeable glow or ease in Benjamin's presence. Alejandro is speaking a little louder and was very willing to pose for me with his friend Alan in the above photo. Who both coincidentally wore the same outfit in contrasting colors, as if they were two halves of the brain.
This morning, Kelly started taping an outline on the floor and announced that the line represented lake michigan. Equipped with a box of wine corks and pieces of paper, everyone was to locate their home and their nearest grocery store. Assumedly, one person had to go first in order for the rest to identify the scale and their location. As the invisible grid started slowly revealing itself, the map of Chicago started unfolding and became legible through these icons of place (their home). Through some minor adjustments students began to gage the distance, orientation, and the scale of the city relative to their homes and to other fellow students.
We followed up the class with having returning students present last semester's final project, which were 3 communication kiosks to be installed in three community gardens. As a way to incorporate the new students into the project they were asked to critique the designs and offer their fresh insights. This spring, the class will make modifications to their deigns based on comments from their final presentation last semester and comments from new students. Ben Helphand from Neighborspace will be coming in next week for a review of the project and will discuss more about the community gardens these will be installed in. more on this soon..
WE MADE SKETCHBOOKS!! This process has taken us three semesters to master... yes i could say that we mastered this process. In 2 hours all 28 students including the three facilitators collaged, taped, stapled, stuffed with hodge podge salvaged paper, pocketed (a few made pockets), and personalized their sketch books. This process was seamless and engaging for the time spent.
For photos of the day >

starting the start

2010-02-05T20:31:00.004-06:00

orientation day! 28 students arrived at our door at votc. half returning / half new. today we kept it grounded with goals, familiarities, and guidelines. we were strong in our activities building on their team work skills. we started off with students making name tags for the person that walked in the door after them, drawing their favorite food as a back ground. starting the conversation of food will eventually carry us to our final project: the healthy food cart project.
we started a discussion about the program, their goals for the semester, and ground rules. This method of disclosure and expectations from them and us develops a strong group. by starting on a solid platform we find that we can only move forward. we're quite excited for the magic this spring entails.
As a final activity, students are broken into 7 teams of 4 and are equipped with 20 cards, a cup full of rock salt, scissors, and a foot of tape. there are four structural challenges to see who can hold the most weight. the more tiers used in the design the more points received.: 1) devise a structure using 20 cards (as is) 2) devise a structure using 5 cards (folding allowed) 3) devise a structure using 5 cards (cutting allowed but keeping cards intact) 4) devise a structure using 3 cards (cutting, folding, and tape allowed) as you can see in the photos , the teams were messy, challenged, frustrated, incredibly creative, loud, tall, and proud.