Studio Gang has a passion for community infrastructure. They’ve done a variety of projects that focus on enhancing the lifestyle of the existing population in low-income neighborhoods. In Jeanne Gang's TED talk she emphasizes that idea of enhancing neighborhoods without causing gentrification. The firm's 2008 project, SOS Children's village is an excellent example of this effort. The project is located on 76th and Parnell Avenue in Chicago. The site is in Auburn-Gresham, which is an undeserved neighborhood on south side known for high levels of crime and poverty. The task was to design a community center combining social services and neighborhood amenities. SOS is an international not-for-profit agency committed to training foster parents and reuniting siblings. The building has become a central hub for a neighborhood with a growing number of foster-care families.
http://studiogang.com/project/sos-children-s-villages-lavezzorio-community-center
http://studiogang.com/project/sos-children-s-villages-lavezzorio-community-center
Gang talks about the challenges and opportunities her team faced when designing for this low-income neighborhood. A mapping exercise that she featured showed the correlation between income levels and architectural significance in Chicago. Neighborhoods with low-income levels had no notable architecture. So, the firm aimed to create an architecturally significant building to give the community something to be proud of. They began with a brick façade, but due to a low budget they decided to expose donated concrete. The multi-colored texture of the concrete resulted in a very unique look.
Daylight was a big motivator in the design of the public spaces within the building. A variety of flexible learning spaces are created throughout the building including an extra-wide stair in the lobby doubles as classroom seating and an impromptu stage for performance. On level two a large community room serves as a classroom, exercise room, and meeting space. The following video shows the flexible spaces being utilized https://vimeo.com/93668344
The concept of serving the community through architecture rather than causing gentrification is relevant when looking at our site in Lawndale. I think that the program of community center helps contribute to that effort. Certain typologies yield more difficult design solutions when attempting to avoid gentrifying a neighborhood. For our project we're adding in a number of residential towers. I think that a challenge we'll have to address is designing multi-family housing that embraces Lawndale residents rather than building an unattainable housing option. A mixed-income pricing model will help, but through architecture we are attempting to embrace the neighborhood through our façade design. By understanding the surrounding material palette we are attempting to match a similar feel at the human-scale, while attempting to create notable architecture at the higher levels. The challenge of creating architectural significance while avoiding gentrification is an interesting challenge that Studio Gang has addressed with a series of projects.
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