Field Site Study FIVE will occur at the Chicano Park in the Barrio Logan Neighbo

Field Site Study FIVE will occur at the Chicano Park in the Barrio Logan Neighborhood in San Diego,
California. Citizen activism and protests are powerful political tools for change – from the March on Washington in 1963, the Arab Spring in the early 2000s to recent Black Lives Matter, Me Too/2019 Woman’s March and Climate Change Movements – these events are altering the world. In current times like these, while people still need to take their issues to the streets to be heard and seen, public spaces have resurfaced as a topic of discussion. Not limited to its definition, public spaces have always been considered as a place of exchange since the Greek Agoras and the Roman Forums, where citizens came together and discussed matters of the state. In fact, the concept comes from our need to be connected to others. It’s a place of encounters, translating how we practice space in relation to others. It ignites the idea that we are part of a collective effort, that we belong to this world… that we exist.
A public space is a form (and agent) of democracy. It is a space of freedom of movement, expression, and most importantly, it is our first contact with a city. A mere reflection of the urban fabric, it reveals cultural, economic, and political influences. Diverse, by definition, public space gives us the chance to be exposed to all types of people, especially in urban areas.
In general, in order to discover the behavior of a neighborhood, a district, or a city, we often turn to these spaces. When animated, these meeting places can even change a city’s image temporarily with the implementation of markets, parades, and festivities, or permanently through the introduction of new programs. They can range from planned streets, intersections, plazas, boulevards, parks and squares, to informal sidewalk settings, interstitial spaces and an overflow of private spaces onto the public domain. This assignment explores human activism in public spaces in cities, and the commonalities and differences in past and present human interaction within urban public spaces.
ASSIGNMENT DELIVERABLE
Each photo (two (2) photos) should be trimmed/cropped to 6” x 6” square.
The photos can be black and white OR color, but have a reason why.
Format these two photos on to an 11” x 17” white page background, portrait orientation (see sample diagram on the assignment description document).
If an analog composed page, please scan your work and submit the assignment as a JPEG or PDF digital file. (there are a number of free scanning applications that you can install free on your phone – Turboscan is a good one and recommended).
If a digital composed sheet, submit a JPEG or PDF digital file. NO PRINTED DELIVERABLE IS REQUIRED.
TOPIC: The Activist and The City/scape
The notion of “true” public space, in cities, suggests that this type of space does not belong to anyone in particular, but is open, free, accessible to all, and financed by public money. These spaces are not only the results of planning, but the consequences of the public practices they hold. People define how public space is used and what it means.
Citizen activism and protests are powerful political tools for change ‐ from the March on Washington in 1963, the Arab Spring in the early 2000s to recent Black Lives Matter, Me Too/2019 Woman’s March and Climate Change Movements ‐ these events are altering the world. In current times like these, while people still need to take their issues to the streets to be heard and seen, public spaces have resurfaced as a topic of discussion.
A public space is a form (and agent) of democracy. It is a space of freedom of movement, expression, and most importantly, it is our first contact with a city. A mere reflection of the urban fabric, it reveals cultural, economic, and political influences. Diverse, by definition, public space gives us the chance to be exposed to all types of people, especially in urban areas.
In general, in order to discover the behavior of a neighborhood, a district, or a city, we often turn to these spaces. When animated, these meeting places can even change a city’s image temporarily with the implementation of markets, parades, and festivities, or permanently through the introduction of new programs. They can range from planned streets, intersections, plazas, boulevards, parks and squares, to informal sidewalk settings, interstitial spaces and an overflow of private spaces onto the public domain. This assignment explores human activism in public spaces in cities, and the commonalities and differences in past and present human interaction within urban public spaces.
Site Description: Field Study Trip to Chicano Park: Barrio Logan, San Diego California
Chicano Park is the geographic and emotional heart of Barrio Logan, located in Logan Heights, San Diego’s oldest Mexican American neighborhood. The park is home to the largest concentration of Chicano murals in the world with more than 80 paintings on seven acres. Throughout the year, it hosts festivals of music and Aztec dance, the biggest being Chicano Park Day held each April. In the early 20th century, the area had been a sturdy middle‐class neighborhood, a place where families gathered for parties and children played at the beach. Things changed when World War II broke out, and the neighborhood lost its beach to the Navy and defense industries. In the 1960s, the California Department of Transportation built the I‐5 freeway through the area, demolishing homes and splitting the neighborhood in two. To compensate, residents were promised that the land under the Coronado Bridge would be turned into a park, something the community had wanted for years. More time went by, but no park appeared. Residents, led by the Chicano Park Steering Committee, kept up pressure. The artist Salvador Torres proposed to transform the bridge’s massive concrete pylons into a towering canvas for expression in the spirit of the Mexican Mural Movement.
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definition, public spaces have always been considered as a place of exchange since the Greek
Not limited to its
Agoras and the Roman Forums, where citizens came together and discussed matters of the
state. In fact, the concept comes from our need to be connected to others. It’s a place of
encounters, translating how we practice space in relation to others. It ignites the idea that we
are part of a collective effort, that we belong to this world…
http://www.chicanoparksandiego.com/
https://chicano‐park.com/
https://www.sandiego.org/articles/parks‐gardens/chicano‐park.aspx https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian‐institution/fifty‐years‐ago‐fed‐citys‐neglect‐san‐diego‐community‐rose‐ create‐chicano‐park‐180974764/ https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/visual‐arts/sdut‐restoring‐history‐2012jun15‐htmlstory.html
I. ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVE
A physical study model is essentially a three‐dimensional sketch, intentionally imperfect and slightly messy to reiterate design ideas. Quick study models are an iterative design tool rather than made specifically as a presentation tool. Cutting, gluing, revising and thinking with one’s hands, surfaces ideas not accessed in any other way. This process is progressive, subtractive, additive and many times relies on failing! Often many have been conditioned as a preconceived notion that the world “fail” is detrimental. Much is learned from the fails, so while engaging this assignment, do not fear going there. Give the model intention and take risks with the forms and making of it with reasons to do so. The assignment should create a physical paper model containing an inhabitable void – a conceptual public space for a group of people, where there occurs human interaction and activation within the space.
II. ASSIGNMENT PROCESS
1. Students will attend the Field Study Site Trip to Barrio Logan/San Diego at Chicano Park.
There will be a 30‐minute tour & introduction by the Chicano Park Steering Committee who
will discuss the history of the park and murals on‐site. Discussion and questions will follow.
2. The class should bring a sketchbook and camera and study/document the urban landscape.
Come to the visit with ideas that can be developed by using the site as research.
3. Each student should create or capture a graphic as sketch(s), photograph(s),
magazine/newspaper clipping(s), material(s) that is 8 1/2” x 11” in size. Utilizing spatial verbs (I.E.: scoring, cutting, folding), begin to manipulate the graphic ‐ create depth and space by scoring, cutting or folding to create walls, floor and ceiling of the space. This manipulation of the paper should create a three‐dimensional space people inhabit.
4. Engage, through a series of sketches, quick diagrams and notes how people could activate and inhabit the space you have created, by manipulating the paper and creating the conceptual, three‐dimensional model as a visual narrative of public life as protest.
5. Create a current story as the space ‐ in/on/around/under/above the space that tells a story of how the model is public space for this group of people. The collage can create one (1) scenario or as many as you would like ‐ all together the piece should inform and clearly communicate a story/narrative.
III. ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION
1. The assignment’s space + story should be drawn from a larger, comprehensive idea on how
people activate urban public space in 2021 as activism. Consider the current state of public life (IE: COVID‐19 (#publichealth), race relations (#blacklivesmatter), #MeToo, #lgbtrights, #climatechange, #foodinsecurity, #incomeequity, #Homelessness, #WiFiAccess) or also the occupation/takeover at Chicano Park ‐ technology, equity/inclusion, multi‐cultural, antiracism, gender equality, economic inequity, food justice, climate change/resilience etc.
2. Note the history of Chicano park and Barrio Logan and the resident experiences in the 1970’s and translate these to the current 21st Century context. What has changed? What has remained the same? How does the graphic you choose, and its formal manipulation, work as one idea within the void envisioned as public space? Your model should communicate and reflect these ideas/observations/experiences.
3. Examples with discussion will be provided to the class (prior to the deliverable date) on Canvas, MS OneDrive or Google Drive by the instructor and/or during class on ZOOM.
LA 1771 Fall 2021
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IV.
ASSIGNMENT CRITERIA
1. Give the model a title and explain in a sentence human activation that occurs in your model space. The title should reflect the big idea of the model. Photograph the model – two (2) views against a solid black background. Photograph the piece so that it communicates the big idea(s), rather than a visual representation of the piece. Reveal the most important idea of your space in the photograph, not solely an image of it. What can be visually communicated in the photograph that one might not see?
2. Submit a PDF file of the work including the title of the piece, and one to two (1‐2) sentence(s) explaining the big idea. Use only two (2) photos maximum in the places indicated on the issued format provided below. (see sample diagram, Fig. 2).
ASSIGNMENT DELIVERABLE
1. Each photo (two (2) photos) should be trimmed/cropped to 6” x 6” square.
2. The photos can be black and white OR color, but have a reason why.
3. Format these two photos on to an 11” x 17” white page background, portrait orientation
(see sample diagram, Fig. 2, below).
4. If an analog composed page, please scan your work and submit the assignment as a JPEG or
PDF digital file. (there are a number of free scanning applications that you can install free on
your phone – Turboscan is a good one and recommended).
5. If a digital composed sheet, submit a JPEG or PDF digital file.