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__Thesis Brief - Infill Singles Option__ This project is a series of infill housing units, single- and two-family, dispersed throughout the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. These houses are an exercise in total design - although they will be small, they will be designed and furnished with input from client families who will eventually live in them. "Total design" in this case refers to the structure itself, environmentally-friendly and city-appropriate heating and cooling systems, furnishings, and landscaping (including provisions for vegetable gardening, if wanted). While some projects aim to directly transform their surroundings through design, the aim of these houses is to improve the life of one family at a time. Large-scale change in this neighborhood is an ongoing struggle, and realistically, one outsider architect is probably not going to be the catalyst that changes 1000 lives. The architect may, however, change 1 or 2 or 10 families' lives. This is a project based on small steps - improve the area in bite-size pieces and let the community slowly and naturally rebuild itself. This is intended as an insertion into the pre-existing urban fabric, not as a teardown-and-rebuild. Therefore, I will only build on existing (as of Oct. 2011) vacant lots or condemned properties. While Englewood is flush with vacant lots, I plan to center my housing units around the planned Montessori School of Englewood located at 71st and Honore St. Ideally I would have 5-7 units located a short walk (no more than 1/2 mile) from the School.

__Thesis Brief - Master Plan Option__ This project is a "compound" of housing and education spaces intended to create an oasis of safety and healthy living in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. The compound will be a combination (or insertion) of single- and multi-family homes and a multipurpose building that acts as an elementary school, public arts space, and adult education center. The "school" may also provide space for anti-gang early intervention programs for older elementary-schoolers. For reasons of economy the individual units will be designed with budget in mind; housing units may be prefabricated. For reasons of community well-being and environmentalism the units will be connected by landscaped spaces that will provide needed texture to the neighborhood and hopefully become a source of pride for the residents. The "compound" may include a small urban farm or allocations for vegetable gardens if community interest is present. In order to combat the perception of Englewood as a neighborhood in a state of possibly-terminal decline, I want to work with the neighborhood's activist groups to determine buildable solutions to social problems. For over a century, architects have attempted to build livable cities that address the housing needs of the masses or the urban poor. Sadly, most of these attempts do not succeed. I feel that by looking at the needs of an established community already served by strong activists, I can attempt to build not a model livable city for all people but a solution for the residents of one area. Because cities and situations are not identical, I do not feel that the solution for Englewood would necessarily fit, say, Detroit. Nor do I feel that a carbon copy of Riverside, IL would necessarily fit Englewood. I think that, as a unique community, Englewood deserves a solution designed specifically for it. Some of the main issues I hope to address and combat through this master plan are gang recruitment, violent crime, and population decline. Through educating children and providing safe spaces for them, and through exposing them to Truth (high-quality education) and Beauty (evidence-based, life-affirming design), I hope to help steer the area's youth towards higher pursuits. Through encouraging a more connected, village-like experience, I hope to help the neighborhood put an end to the random acts of cruelty and vandalism. And over time, hopefully the people who fled the violence that plagues Englewood can return to a safe, sane, and healthy community.

__Thesis Brief - Walled City Option__ This project is a compound consisting of single- and multi-family housing and public-use buildings which will create a community-within-a-community inside the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. As a community plagued by violence, including the accidental shootings of children and teenagers, Englewood is not a safe place. As residents of one of the world's greatest cities, peaceful Englewood residents deserve safe and healthy homes and neighborhoods. I propose to designate a section of Englewood containing homes, a multipurpose educational building, and a small park (possibly with playfields) as a "walled city" - a safe space for healthy living, separate from the more disruptive aspects of the neighborhood. The "city" may be separated by either physical walls or an intangible barrier - the key concept is the boundary. In order to ameliorate the disruption to the neighborhood that this plan may cause, I intend to leave existing homes as-is, and primarily use vacant land (as of Oct. 2011) for the community buildings. What is essential for this plan is that **Englewood residents** live in and maintain the "walled city" - this cannot be the work of an outsider. The neighborhood must **want** to transform itself, change cannot be dictated by those who don't live there.
 * The ultimate goal of this project will be for the walls to come down.** This is not about creating an exclusive club or ignoring the problems of the rest of Englewood, this is about creating a seed-space. The community within will be a drug-free, gang-free space for people who love Englewood but hate the violence which isolates them from the rest of Chicago. As time passes and quality of life in the "walled city" improves, other families will want to join and the "city" will grow and expand. Over time, this inner community will change Englewood from the inside, reducing gang activity, drug sales, and violence; and hopefully encouraging new residents to move to this rejuvenated community.

NOTES: I'm definitely in favor of the second option (Master Plan), the first I think is too simplistic and the third gets into problematic territory. I think all of them as-written are too concerned with non-architectural problems - my primary interest is to design things.

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