Splash Biography

This class will focus on places, their character, and why thinking about place matters. We'll talk about observing places, the role of time in changing our relationship to place, ways of expressing our relationships to place (art, photography, music, poetry, etc.), and the methods and challenges of actually shaping places and cultures. This will be a very interactive class, with a lot of images and sounds to help us work through the ideas. No prior knowledge of any topic is necessary, but students will be encouraged to participate in the conversation. You'll probably like this class if you're interested in cities, Chicago, architecture or just ideas. (If you're interested in this class, check out Urban Design II, a chance to put some of these ideas into practice, as well!)

We will build on the ideas about place that we talked about in Urban Design I with an eye toward a specific project: reimagining the Midway Plaisance. First, as we walk along the Midway, we'll brainstorm a set of issues we want our redesign to engage, confront or challenge; then we'll split into teams and get to work. Finally, at the end of the class, we'll present our projects and also look at other moments in the history of the Midway, both real and imagined. As this class is a group project, it will require every student to come ready to think quickly and creatively, and collaborate with other students.

Sometimes the cover of a song is better than the original. A good cover takes a good song and twists it around til it's something else. A great cover manages to do all that, and make the original seem even better too. This process is hardly limited to music. Artists pay homage to other artists, poets to other poets, architects to other architects, etc. And sometimes artists take from musicians, muscians from architects, architects from athletes, and so on. In this class, we'll think about "covering" in the broadest sense: taking ideas from all over the map and putting them toward art that honors its source and breaks new ground at the same time. I'll give plenty of examples to get us going, but everyone in the class should be ready to bring something to the table too.... This is a studio class, so you'll have a chance to work out your own ideas, and get feedback from others.

Chances are you live in an apartment or a house. Most of us do. And so have most people for years and years. Somebody's gotta design the places we live, and there have been tons of interesting ideas about how to do so, over the years. This class will go over some ideas and debates about how homes ought to look, feel and work. We'll look at tons of examples of homes--normal and strange, beautiful and ugly, big and small--and discuss some interesting questions that have arisen when people think a little differently about homes than you might expect.

This class will be a breakneck tour of tons of buildings and other architectural projects, based loosely around a series of themes and debates in the field. Be ready to see a whole lot of work, and weigh in on what you like, what you don't like, and what just confuses the heck out of you. Although this will not be a class that formally teaches you *how* to design buildings, we will try our hand at doing a little bit of design, as we plow through the work of others, just to get a sense of what's involved.

At night, why do lights in skyscrapers tend to turn on or off in horizontal bands? Why do some skyscrapers get narrower near the top? Why do the skyscrapers in Chicago look different from the skyscrapers in New York? Basic questions and observations can unravel much of the history of the architectural and historical development of skyscrapers. We'll start with the questions above, and any similar questions you bring to the class, and learn about some of the innovations that have propelled buildings higher and higher... and all the factors that have contributed to what these tall buildings look like and make their cities feel like. We'll also talk briefly about the psychological impact of really tall buildings on residents of modern cities.

This class will be the first of a three-part introduction to graphic design, with an emphasis on the thought process that goes into making something look great, rather than the technical skills required to carry a good design out (which will come in the second part). We will go over things like balance, choice of typeface, use of color, stylistic decisions, fitting the design to the content, seeking out originality, and other choices that a graphic designer must consider over the course of any project. You must take this class to take Graphic Design II: The Skills, and Graphic Design III: The Project. You can take this class and not the other two if you choose.

This class is the second part of a three-part introduction to graphic design. You must take Graphic Design I: The Thinking if you want to take this class. In this hour, we'll go over some basic skills in the repertoire of the graphic designer, both in digital and non-digital media. We'll do various things by hand, then briefly go over the Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign programs in the Adobe Creative Suite, and talk about how the particular medium you choose informs the actual content of the work you make, as well as the process. If you want to take Graphic Design III: The Project, you must take both this class and Graphic Design I: The Thinking.

This is the third part of a three-part introduction to graphic design. You must take the first two parts to take this class. In this hour, you will be able, using whatever medium you choose, to work on a graphic design project suggested by the instructor, or one of your choice. You will use the ideas and skills discussed in the first two hours as you make decisions and come up with a finished project.

In this class, we'll make our very own pizza from scratch. In the morning, we'll make dough, and decide what kinds of toppings we'd like on the pizza. Then, we'll come back in the afternoon, make the toppings, finish the pizzas, and eat them. Come to this class ready to make some of the best pizza you've ever tried... and eat it too! (Note: this class meets from 10 to 11 in the morning, and again from 4 to 5. You should come to both parts.)

You all live in, or at least in the vicinity of the city of Chicago. But each of you know your city from a different perspective, and in a different way. This class will be about the city of Chicago, and also more broadly about cities, how they're designed, how they work, and how they change. It'll be a mix of history, art, architecture and design, drawing, telling stories, and conversation. Some topics we may discuss are: Daniel Burnham's original plan for the city of Chicago, the Chicago grid system, neighborhoods/wards of the city and how they're defined, architecture of the city, especially recent architecture, and the potential Chicago 2016 Olympics. We only have two hours, though, so we probably won't cover everything on this list, but we'll try our best and talk about what seems most interesting to everyone. Be ready to talk a lot in this class, especially about your own experience of Chicago, and feel free to come with questions or ideas. Also be ready to draw; pens and paper will be provided.

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