Design educators and practitioners routinely assert, with remarkable assurance, that design thinking strategies can deliver the “game-changing” ideas needed to address the critical problems of our times. Frequently, it seems, we fall in love with the promise(s) of these ideas – and the god-like power their creation conveys – and are less committed to following through with the same degree of passion.

In an effort to provide a ‘proof of the pudding is in the eating’ model of design education and practice, first year students in Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art’s joint MFA in Applied Craft and Design begin the program with a pre-semester, intense 10 days to learn about collaboration and design-build. This helps them to get to know each other and it teaches them to work together, on designing and building a project for an actual client. With an emphasis on civic engagement, the projects for the program are selected for their potential to benefit an organization or group of people who do not have access to designers or cannot afford to pay for their services.

While there is a growing interest among designers in humanitarian work, many current projects tend to be located in distant countries whose cultures and contexts are often unfamiliar to them. In some case designers are drawn to foreign projects for their exotic appeal and for the opportunity to jump on the global networking bandwagon.

But complex issues like disaster relief, rapid urbanization, and healthcare are critical and demand big ideas, and need design-build approaches that stay close to home and work with the human and material resources at hand. These projects may help us understand and effectively address extraordinarily difficult problems.

This year AC+D students, led by visiting artists, Butch Anthony and Jack Sanders, addressed the often hidden problem of juvenile crime and rehabilitation. They designed and built the first phase of a literacy center in Portland’s Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center. Less than 4 miles from the AC+D studio, the facility holds 12 to 18 year old boys and girls, incarcerated for one day to two years, for crimes ranging from probation violation to murder. PNCA faculty members Barry Sanders and Arvie Smith paved the way for the project through their work teaching classes to Long Center detainees.

In July, after discussing the possibility of design-build at the Long Center with Barry - who suggested the project and played a vital role throughout – we met with Multnomah County Education Service District Supervisor Kevin Hunking.  He showed us the existing “library”, a 12 x 18 foot windowless room of concrete block walls, lined with particle board bookcases holding stacks of Japanese manga style action-adventure paperbacks. Long Center detainees typically have a few minutes a week to skim the shelves and borrow a book.

Kevin then showed us the space he hoped we would transform into a learning center, a 4,000 sq. ft., 16-cell detention unit, unoccupied due to budget cuts. Upon entering the unit, we were immediately confronted with a dismal façade of 16 cell doors.

Our meeting with Kevin made several things clear. It would be a new and unusual challenge for everyone involved to work at the Long Center. Each time we visited, we, as well as our tools, had to pass security and follow specified behavioral protocol regarding such things as which side of the corridors to walk along, refraining from eye contact with detainees, or looking into rooms along corridors.

Clearly, we needed to consider space and materials in new – and sobering – ways. Detainees were adept at making weapons of common classroom supplies such as pens, paper clips, spiral notebooks, and DVDs. We could not use screws that could be unscrewed, or color schemes that might be associated with a specific gang. We had to avoid creating blind spots as prescribed by the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or incorporating elements such as games with moveable pieces that detainees might use to send messages to each other.

The nature of the project meant we really had to deliver. In framing our unique responsibility to these clients, Barry addresses the issue of trust: “Most of these incarcerated kids - something like 97% nationally - have been sexually abused, which means they don’t trust anyone. One of the challenges for us at the (Long) Center is to rekindle a trust in those young people, so you cannot disappoint them or give up on them. If you say you’re going to do something, you must do it.”

Given this emphasis on the necessity for following through as well as the unique conditions of designing and building in the context of the juvenile justice system, we recognized this overwhelming project as an opportunity to make a difference. In the posts that will follow, first year AC+D students Meghan Morris, Kyla Mucci, and Coren Rau will describe their experiences.

Series Posts:

All Together Now: Part II

All Together Now: Part III

All Together Now: Part IV

All Together Now: Part V

All Together Now: Part VI

JP Reuer is an architect and Chair of the MFA in Applied Craft and Design, a program collaboratively developed and offered jointly by Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art. Follow JP on Twitter at @jumpyreuer.