P3 Eichelberger

AMERICAN DIVERSITY AND DESIGN ONLINE
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
ARC 211 - SPRING SEMESTER 2017
UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO - STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
NICHOLAS EICHELBERGER

INTRODUCTION
This thread provides you with an opportunity to “meet” each other and initiate a
connection with participants in your group. In responding to this discussion thread, please
introduce yourself and provide us with one interesting fact about yourself. After posting your
introduction, take a look through and reply to some of the others. The purpose of this exercise
is to develop a sense of community. You might find that you share similar experiences and can
help each other in many ways throughout the semester.  

Hello,
My name is Nick Eichelberger and I am a freshman architecture major. I enjoy a huge
range of activities, from watching movies to playing volleyball, but my favorite hobby by far is
photography. I also love learning in general, but I especially love history of any form.

American Diversity and Design has changed me a lot as a person. It showed me how
even the littlest of design choices can have an impact on everyone, and it is only upon further
contemplation of a particular design, can we make something inclusive. This class truly made me
look at everything around me and question, “Could this be designed better?” As some who is going
to school to be an architect, certain design standards are obvious things to include like ADA and
LEED requirements, but this class brought to light, the idea that going above and beyond these
standards, really looking at your clients or the people who will be using the building and taking that
into account is how good design is made. For example, before taking this class I never thought about
designing for children and how that could really affect the way things could be designed, for a much
simpler experience. These are useful skills and ideas for anyone, let alone a want-to-be architect and
I am glad that I have them.

The following pages document my responses to the online discussion questions in the
Spring 2017 version of ARC 211 American Diversity and Design at the University at Buffalo – State
University of New York.
https://www.flickr.com/pho-
tos/136683137@N07/31245005765/in/al-
bum-72157676980226506/

Response to “What is design?” from Hello World

On “What is design?” from Hello World: Where Design Meets Life by Alice Rawsthron
The author opened her chapter with the example of Ying Zheng, the ruler of the Qin empire, one
of the most powerful and enduring empires I the history of China. She explained how design
innovation contributed to Ying Zheng’s success. For example, in the development of weaponry,
he resolved many problems by standardizing parts, and this single innovation gave his armies
great advantage over other armies.
For this discussion, let’s move away from 246 B.C. China, and into the U.S. Describe an
innovation or invention (can be current or historical) that gave advantage to a group of people
in the U.S. or to the population as a whole. What were the social impacts of this innovation?
Were any groups negatively impacted by this innovation? For example, the telegraph,developed
and patented in the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse, permitted people and commerce to
transmit messages across both continents and oceans almost instantly, with widespread social
and economic impacts. This heightened communication speed allowed business persons to
make decisions with up-to-date information, often resulting in big profits. Those without access
had to rely on out-dated information, which put them at a disadvantage.
One of the inventions that had the most direct impact on a large group of people in the US
was the Cotton Gin. Invented by Eli Whitney in 1792, this machine would pick the seeds out of the
cotton fibers speeding up a process that would normally take someone an entire day to do. While it
was great for the cotton trade, it would really popularize and cemented the institution of slavery in
the south. This is due to the fact that people were needed to run the machines and there was now
plenty of money in the south to purchase slaves. The cementing of this horrid institution through
the cotton gin started causing political issues as the question arose whether to admit new states
into the US as slave or free states. This battle got so heated that war broke out. The cotton gin was
more of a curse than a blessing. While it did bring great wealth to a region, that arguably, hasn’t seen
success of that level since that time; it popularized the cruelest, dehumanizing system in the world
and brought upon political unrest and war1
.

1. “Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney” History.com accessed January 31, 2017. http://www.history.
com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney
https://www.emaze.com/@AOCLZOIL/Cot-
ton-Gin

Response to “Introduction” from Diversity and Design
On “Introduction” from Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences
The editors state that “diverse participation in the design process, from both professionals
and public citizens alike, yields more equitable results.” This makes sense, but typically has
not been the case. Nonetheless, many marginalized groups have impacted design in ways that
have changed our visual and physical worlds as well as our systems, policies, and institutions.
For example, in the 1960s, disability rights advocates designed media events to raise awareness
about barriers in the physical environment. They persisted with their efforts for decades, and,
finally, in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. It mandated accessibility in
public accommodations such as restaurants and stores, public transportation, communication,
and other areas of public life. This dramatically changed our physical environment (from curb
cuts to ramps to automatic doors) and the results made public life more equitable.
Now it’s your turn. Describe a design that was impacted by a diversity group. How and
why did it change form and/or circumstances? (Note that a design can be anything requiring
planning and development prior to the production of an action, system, visual, material
object, or environment. Also, keep in mind that, for our purposes, a diversity group is a group
of individuals who are underrepresented in society in some way—children, older adults, the
economically disadvantaged, those with cognitive disabilities, etc.)
People of the LGBTQ community have been fighting for their rights for many years. The
beginning of the fight started in 1969 in a club in New York City called the Stonewall. Police raided
the club for a variety of reasons including things such as serving liquor without a license. However
when attendees of the club were arrested riots and protests started. While thoughts on gay marriage
were largely negative at the start, things started to change. After the LGBTQ rights movement
started, stemming from the Stonewall Riots, LGBTQ characters started popping up in our media.
We see this in movies such as Brokeback Mountain and Philadelphia or TV shows such as Modern
Family and Will and Grace. This change in design of the traditional character only helped the
cause, as seeing LGBTQ characters living their daily lives helped show audiences that gay people in
particular are no different than anyone else, going through the same daily struggles as everyone. As
time went on and demonization became acceptance this movement aided by the media eventually
lead to the legalization of gay marriage in 2015.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/
lgbt-activists-remember-stonewall-ri-
ots-gay-rights-movement/

Response to Media/Society Chapter and TED Talk on
Photographs
Where would you place the images shown in Photos That Changed the World into
Croteau and Hoynes’ diagram entitled “Model of Media and the Social World”? Identify a mass
media photograph taken in your own lifetime that has served as an icon of an event. (Feel free to
add an attachment.) What roles does this photo play in the communication of the event?
I feel that images in general, but specifically those shown in the TED talk fit in the media
message or product bubble. Photography is an art that is heavily reliant on the emotion taken away.
While many pictures may look “good” there is such a barrage of images we consume whether it
is through social media sites, like Instagram and Snapchat, or through ads on something such
as a billboard, that we are likely to forget them in a second. Only those that invoke emotion are
remembered. Photography is one of the hardest art mediums to invoke emotion. This is because
someone may only see it for a split second before they scroll or drive past it. In painting, one is
usually viewing the art in a gallery. They are specifically there to see and appreciate the art. In
cinematography you are combining art mediums to build up emotion; engaging the viewer for
a specified amount of time. It is the goal of every photographer to get an emotional reaction out
of their work. However, the technique used to produce images can contribute to the emotional
effectiveness of a piece. I chose the image The Vulture and the Little Girl. This image is a photo of a
starving Sudanese child with a vulture in the background looking at the girl. The image is disturbing
in a way that few images are. It really brought to light the desperation and severity of the troubles in
Africa. In fact when this image was posted in the newspaper, people were calling in to see in the girl
was safe. The trauma experienced by the photographer while in Africa contributed to him taking
his own life2
. However the photographer properly used two photographic techniques that really help
bring out the emotion. He used the rule of the thirds to properly frame the child and the vulture
that brings attention to the two subjects. He also used the proper aperture setting (f-stop or f/) for a
photo like this. The aperture affects how blurred the background is. If he used the incorrect aperture
setting it would have distracted the viewer by having the background too clear or too blurred,
obscuring the vulture. This combo of correct technique and an emotional subject chosen by the
photographer created one of the most emotional photographs of all time; in turn bringing attention
to the problems in Africa .

2. Tony and Chelsea Northrup Picture This: Stories Behind Famous Photos. Picture This
Podcast. 31:33 accessed Februrary 2, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
nDOmO8DtdI&index=3&list=PLwIVS3_dKVpsIirtInIxXGJEE-wX1ecEH
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-lit-
tle-girl/

Response to Articles on Hats as Communication Design
Typically, we do not think of hats as elements of mass media or social media. However,
the two hats (red and pink) discussed in the articles certainly have taken on that role. Why
are the two hats (red and pink) mentioned in the articles vehicles of communication design?
What meanings do each of the two hats carry? In terms of communication design, how are they
similar? And how are they different from one another?
The 2016 election saw the rise of hats to display political views of the wearers. Donald
Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hat and the Women’s March “Pussyhat” resonated with their
intended audience through effective design. Though not the most elegant of designs, Trump’s hat
embodied his audience in every which way. The very plain design of the red background with plain
white text appealed to the “Joe Schmoes” that supported him. In comparison to his competition, the
simplicity stood out. The fact that it was a trucker hat also appealed to his base as it was something
that they would normally wear and to see their preferred candidate wearing one made them feel as
though he is just one of them. The Women’s March hat represents the nature of the march itself. The
hat was crowd sourced, a grassroots project, just as the march was. However these two hats share
more in common than they differ. Both of the hats colors represent the respective movements, pink
for feminism and red for the Republican Party. Both hats used phrasing that referenced something
that movement stood for or against. Trump’s hat called back to the Reagan administration, the ideal
government for many conservatives. The Women’s March hat’s name called back to the leaked tape
of Donald Trump objectifying women by using offensive terminology, something the movement
stood firmly against. Both hats also fit the season for which they were released in, Trump’s being
summer and the March’s being the winter. Both hats clearly demonstrate effective communicative
design; appealing to their base using things such as color and phrasing to convey a message.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/ar-
chive/2017/01/womens-march-protest-trump-
russia/514064/

Response to “Industrial Design” by John Heskett and “The
Incredible Inventions of Intuitive AI” by Maurice Conti
In his chapter on industrial design (written in 1987), historian John Heskett claims that
the methods of mass production introduced by Henry Ford in the U.S. involved new concepts of
the standardization and integration of the production line that were adopted across the world.
With Ford’s method, work could be completed by relatively unskilled workers; it was more
efficient and with this method, products were made more quickly and cheaply than previously
possible. What were some of the social consequences of Ford’s production line? In other words,
how did this system change our U.S. society? Do any of those changes remain with us today?
Now consider Maurice Conti’s TED Talk, and the predictions he makes about production. How
do you think manufacturing processes will change in the next twenty years? How do you think
these changes will affect our U.S. society?
Ford’s production line caused a stigma to sweep across the nation little by little. Due to the
relative lack of skill required to work in an assembly line, the belief started to develop that those who
worked in the factories are “dumb” or “simpletons”. This belief was only furthered by the negative
status of unions and strikes around the turn of the century. Those working in the factories were
seen as “troublemakers” and therefore written off as not being capable of doing anything more than
what were doing in the factory. At the same time education was starting to rise and throughout the
20th century, the increase in college attendance started to occur. This increase in college educated
people furthered the divide between factory workers and rest of the public. This is when belief that
everyone has to go to college started. This not only hurts those who don’t feel college is the right fit,
but also hurts colleges as it changes the student’s mind to ‘I have to be here” instead of “I want to be
here”. This even blends into politics as the debate over trade deals (TPP, NAFTA) always comes back
to whether we are shipping American factory jobs to other countries. Those for the deals argue that
we have progressed to a point where we don’t need to have the factory jobs anymore. Those against
these deals argue that these jobs are the backbone of the country and need to stay here. Clearly the
stigma instilled with the assembly line process has had a long life, changing the countries view on
higher education and even affecting our politics.
http://www.limitstogrowth.org/arti-
cles/2015/02/10/report-factory-robots-will-in-
crease-in-near-future/

This being said, I think manufacturing will only become more and more automated as time
goes on until humans are not needed in the process any longer. I also think things trade occupations
such as plumbers and electricians will become more specialized as time goes on. I fully believe that
the tools at the disposal of these tradespeople will become more advanced than a regular person
could afford; requiring people to hire tradespeople. We can already see this start to occur with cars,
as the computer systems in cars makes it harder to work on at home. I think that by the nature of
economics, machines will eventually push anyone out of jobs that can be automated. This doesn’t
exclude “white collar” workers either This will require a large shift in politics changing how we help
those who will never be able to find work because everything they are qualified for is automated.
While a total mechanical revolution will likely not happen in the next 20 years it would be helpful to
start talking about it now to get a jump start on the issue before it gets too big.

Response IDEA Awards and Cradle-to-Cradle Video
Which of the 2016 IDEA Gold Award products seems to defy the Cradle-to-Cradle
concept developed by architect William McDonough and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart?
How does this product resist or disregard the concept? Provide an example of any product that
embraces Cradle-to-Cradle design. Please describe and site sources.
The Cradle to Cradle design method is a theory of design that focuses on the reuse of pieces
that already exist to limit or eliminate the need to harvest more resources from the earth. I think
the HTC Vive is the product that most defies the idea of cradle to cradle design. The Vive is a very
specific piece of hardware that if broken down into its parts can really only be used to make a VR
headset. The tech inside isn’t just normal things we come across in our everyday lives. The screens
are made specifically to reduce the motion sickness effect many people feel when using the headset.
The motion sensors can only track up to a certain distance. This very specific design limits what the
parts, if disassembled, could be used for. Compare the headset to the Swater, another gold design
winner. This faucet not only promotes water saving techniques through its design but also promotes
the base of Cradle to Cradle design. One of focuses for the product was to simplify the production
process by simplifying the components that make it up. This simplification of components makes
the design more universal, making it easier for the pieces to be used in other products.
http://www.idsa.org/awards/idea/commercial-
industrial-products/swater

Response to All Module 4 Materials
Your readings and viewings this week present different ways of thinking about
architecture. Mies Van der Rohe describes architecture as “The will of the epoch translated
into space.” Andrew Ballantyne describes architecture as the background for life. Jeanne Gang
describes it as the act of building relationships. All agree that architecture can change based on
context and culture. Choose two works of architecture from any of your materials this week—
one with sensibilities about the past and one with sensibilities about the present and/or future.
How do each of these buildings either reflect or challenge their cultural contexts? (Use the SEE-
IT method to respond to this question.)
Both The Virginia state capitol building and the Dulles international airport respond to
things that were happening in the architecture world at the time they were built. However, they
approached their responses differently, as the Virginia state capitol referred to history to make its
statement and the Dulles airport redefined what it meant to be an airport at the time.
The Virginia state capitol building by Thomas Jefferson was a political statement and helped
set a precedent that we carry today. At the time it was built, Georgian/Colonial architecture was
very popular, as it was simply a hold over from the colonists time in England. Jefferson hated it as
it represented English society and politics, which he and the other founding fathers were actively
fighting at the time. After spending time in France, Jefferson redesigned the structure to mimic a
Roman temple. This was a huge political statement as Jefferson was trying to make it seem as though
what he and the other founding fathers were trying to do, was recreate the republic of the Roman
Empire. This influenced the rest of American architecture as many public buildings and styles of
American architecture that developed later on used these same Greco-Roman designs.
The Dulles international airport by Eero Saarinen helped to redesigned airports in general,
but also helped define the nature of a newly popular mode of transportation. The airport took a page
out of Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut, by creating a very sculptural concrete roof look light as a
feather. This along with the glass walls gives a sense of airiness to the building not seen before in an
airport. Saarinen also helped the spread the use of larger aircraft, as he removed the tendril terminal
system in favor of one horizontal terminal. This, along with the new technology of the telescopic
gangway, allowed larger planes to board at the airport. He also pushed the feel of luxurious flying of
the time through the moving lounge system. This system would have people walk a short distance to
get onto a vehicle outfitted with a lounge to take you to your gate. The beauty and simplicity of the
airport itself also created the idea that airports are the first location any visitors will see of that city,
so it should be welcoming and inviting. All of these futuristic and progressive ideas helped set the
standard for airports and air travel.
http://www.som.com/projects/washington_
dulles_international_airport__main_termi-
nal_expansion

Response to Ballantyne and Zumthor Articles
Andrew Ballantyne and Peter Zumthor present ideas about architecture that seem
to value the sensorial and material elements of life. How are Ballantyne’s and Zumthor’s
viewpoints on architecture alike? More importantly, how do they differ? (Use the SEE-IT
method to respond to this question.)
Andrew Ballantyne and Peter Zumthor have the classic debate on form vs function. Peter
Zumthor argues that the emotional experience is the most important part of a building and to tap
into those emotions we need to refer to our own personal experiences. Andrew Ballantyne argues
quite the opposite. He states that the true purpose of a building is to conform to our habits and our
habitation in it.
Zumthor argues that the architecture that is memorable is the one that appeals to various
senses, especially when it draws upon past experiences. He brings up his memories of his aunt’s
house, the specific feel of the floor tiles and door handle. This is important to Zumthor as he argues
that it truly connects us to the structures that we build. He suggests that we can refer to our own
personal experiences through things such as the materials we use and the language that we use to
describe the ideas or proposals we have.
Ballantyne argues the point that habit and instinct need to drive our design. He states that
for everyday use, the sensory experiences are unimportant and what is physically going on inside
of the building is more important. Ballantyne takes the approach that houses and buildings are just
boxes for life to happen inside. He argues that the structure should almost adapt itself to our own
habits. He also states that the hardest part of moving is having to leave our familiar old habits to set
new habits in a new house.
Clearly, both would argue against each other’s design all day long. Zumthor may add a wall
that forces your view to a certain location out a window, but it may block a walkway. Ballantyne
would tear that wall right down. Ballantyne would focus on the work triangle in a kitchen and
how to make it as unobtrusive as possible. Zumthor would argue that Ballantyne is taking any
uniqueness of the space away; making the space forgettable.

http://hesamkhoshcheshmi.blogspot.
ca/2010/07/architecture-of-seven-senses.html

However, no matter how different their design styles are they both have foundations on
one thing, the human. Zumthor is trying to make people feel something. He wants people to
have some sort of meaningful experience in his buildings. Ballantyne states at one point, “what is
the purpose of taking photos of empty buildings?”. Both of these architects care deeply about the
human experience, which is above all else, is the most important aspect of architecture. Zumthor
simply believes that it is the experiences we have with a structure that gives it importance; that our
memories are so dependent on our surroundings that it is of the up most importance that we design
to make memories, to create an architecture that influences us. Ballantyne’s focus on the human is
one that tries to make life as simple as possible, removing any barriers between humans. Ballantyne
focuses on the life happening inside the building and how to improve that. While they are different,
both clearly care about the human experience and it is this human connection between the two that
is important, as it is the key on how to blend the two styles into something that is meaningful, but
efficient and unobtrusive.

Response to Levy Article
John Levy’s article, “An Overview: The Need for Planning,” discussed ways in which
planning can determine the characteristics of a place. For example, some smaller towns restrict
the heights of buildings to maintain a certain scale. How did planning define the character of
the place in which you grew up?
I grew up and still live in West Seneca, NY, a suburb of Buffalo. It is a very typical suburb,
endless rows of cookie cutter houses connected by major streets with commercial space in between.
I live in a typical ranch, about as generic suburban life you can have. I want to focus on one huge
gripe that I have with my town, more specifically my neighborhood, and that is the walk-ability.
Where I am from, it is rare to see people walking. Sure, you would see people walking their dogs
and kids riding their bikes in their neighborhood, but that is just to get outside on a nice day. No
one would walk to somewhere they had to go. My street is a dead-end. There was supposed to be
a connection to the street that ran behind ours, connecting us directly to a park. However, that
connection fell through and is just a dead end with a small path through some brush between two
pieces of private property. When I was younger the only place I would walk or even bike to, was the
park and subsequently the Dairy Queen on the other side of the park. Besides that, the only other
walking I would do was visit my friend who happened to live on my street. There were some reasons
for that involving the planning my suburb. The only entrance to my street is off of Clinton St., a
major roadway where the speed limit is 45, but is not uncommon to see people going 55+ mph. It
was simply unsafe for a child to be walking down that road. However, the safety isn’t the only issue;
there is simply nothing to do in a relatively short walking distance. It is at least a 30 minute walk to
get to the next main street of the town, Union Rd. This supposed “main street” poorly services the
residents, as it is filled with businesses that in my 18 years have never been to, industrial parks, and
the town hall/park. There is really no reason to walk down our main street. On top of all of this,
the walk is incredibly boring as there is nothing to look at. The buildings are all generic and there is
nothing special in the landscape. The limitations on my street, being the dead end and Clinton St,
really confined me when I was younger. My two best friends are people who lived on my street. In
the summer I was pretty much stuck at my house because I couldn’t leave my neighborhood. I had
to take the bus to school even though the school was one street over because it meant I had to walk
on Clinton. Had that connection between the streets been made or a more pedestrian friendly street
been made outside of my neighborhood, it would have opened up my childhood. It would have
allowed me to explore more, meet new people, and do more interesting things.http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/01/gm-and-
uber-unite-to-give-new-drivers-special-financ-
ing-deals/

Response to Pruitt Igoe Project, Talen, and Larson

Here is your discussion question on the Pruitt Igoe project, the Talen article, and
the Larson lecture. article. Please post your own response, and respond to at least two other
students’ responses.
Imagine that you are part of a urban planning and design firm working with Emily Talen
(author of “Design That Enables Diversity”) and Kent Larson (who gave the TED Talk “Brilliant
Designs to Fit More People In Every City” The thee of you have been tasked with developing a
plan to rebuild Pruitt Igoe in St. Louis. City officials told the three of you that that they want to
do it right this time. Identify three strategies for rebuilding Pruitt Igoe in ways that promise to
be more successful. What would Talen do? What would Larson do? What would you do? How
would your strategies differ from those of the original urban planners/designers of the project?
Why would your strategies be more effective?
Pruitt Igoe is an unfortunate story. It failed in many ways, some due to their time in history,
others would and do still happen today. However, the lack of funds is what helped Pruitt Igoe
start its downward spiral. Many people have different ideas on how to fix the issues of the housing
complex, but in the end we would need to combine our ideas to fixes public housing in general.
Talon focuses how we should naturally integrate and diversify. Forcing diversity has only
lead to conflict and problems. This desire, would lead her to focus on how to naturally diversify
the project, not just racially, but economically as well. I think her first instinct would be to see how
we can draw people who have money, into living in the housing project. It would have to provide
amenities and affordability to draw in the rich, middle and lower class and a mix of races naturally.
She would focus on getting rid of the social stigma against public housing, saying that it can be for
anyone not just the poor. If we designed the apartments to be efficient and affordable and include
things such as shopping, restaurants, parks and safe public space it would draw in more than just
the poor. The extra money brought in through the renting of commercial space would help pay for
the upkeep and updating that would be required for higher class people to stay there. Ideally these
would be profitable spaces allowing for multiple complexes to be built so that everyone who would
need public housing could have access to it as well as those who were simply drawn into the space.
It would also help to naturally diversify if you were to put it in a gentrified area. If you look at San
Francisco for example, the entire city is gentrified to a point that it even keeps middle and upper
middle income families out of the city. If the government were to offer an option at a lower cost than
the apartments are going for around it, the middle class could finally rejoin the city. If this project
succeeded it would force landlords around the city to lower their prices, essentially “de-gentrifying”
the entire area.
https://twitter.com/pruittigoe

I think Larson would go about it much the same way that Talon would, but focus on the
commercial areas and the idea of having multiple structures that fulfill our needs. I think that he
would focus on spreading the commercial areas throughout multiple public housing projects in the
city. He would want to do this for two main reasons. The first and most important is that it would
force people to explore the city. If for example your complex doesn’t have a good Italian restaurant,
but the one 3 blocks over does, it would encourage you to visit other complexes. If each housing
project had everything someone could want, people would never leave. He would then focus on the
best way to get people between these complexes, which is where some of his ideas would come into
play such as the folding car. I think Larson would also focus on how to make the ideal pedestrian
experience, creating things like parkways where people could walk and maybe even have small
stands or activity areas throughout to further push the spreading of people and services.
My focus would be on safety. We could have everything else working perfectly fine, but it
will all fail if no one feels safe. A loss in safety would make those who could afford other options
leave, killing the backbone of the plan. Everything would be lit up and clean to promote safe
feelings. I would also push for an active nightlife through clubs, bars, and small sporting events in
the green space. Leaving large areas empty only helps crime grow, as you could see in Pruitt Igoe
when drug kingpins started taking over the empty buildings. By having people out and about during
the night, crime will have a hard time growing. I would also push for guards of some sort or regular
staff working in the structures to allow for residents to have someone to turn to if something bad
was happening.
Pruitt Igoe’s major failure was lack of money and other resources. This allowed for all of
the other problems to arise as things started to collapse. This plan fixes that by making public
housing a destination. It would be affordable for any class and the commercial space and public
areas connecting them would help bring people of all economic standards in. It would also act as a
hot spot for non residents to visit for a night out a shopping spree. This influx of commercial traffic
would help lead to funds to help maintain and update the structures, a major missing component
of Pruitt Igoe. By keeping the nightlife alive and maintaining cleanliness, it would also keep those
residents who could afford to live somewhere else in the complex. This combination of ideas for the
structure address the major flaws of Pruitt Igoe and help change the face of public housing and the
government in general.

Response to F.L. Olmsted
Displaying his plan at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Frederick Law
Olmsted stated that “Buffalo is the best planned city, as to its streets, public places, and grounds,
in the United States, if not in the world.” What was the basis for this claim? Would Olmsted still
make that claim today? Why or why not?
Olmsted created this unified park system in Buffalo that was not seen before. When he
said that Buffalo was the best designed city in the world I think he was referring to how unique
the designs of the city were and it was those unique designs that Olmsted admired. The grid based
street system is seen in most modern cities, it gives the city an organization and walk-ability that
winding streets of Europe just couldn’t do. However, the grid has flaws. It is almost clinical in design.
Nothing is different or special; there is no hierarchy of importance. While some may think that is
a good thing, it doesn’t help build a sense of community. By overlaying a radial system on the grid,
Ellicott created a center, a heart to the city, a sort of “all roads lead to Rome” feel. Not only does it
creates a hierarchy of streets, but the grid also acts as a short cut, allowing you to cut through blocks
that you would have had to go around in a grid system. While the streets brought character that may
have inspired Olmsted to create the parkways, it was Buffalo’s natural resources that he so loved.
Being situated right on a next to one of the great lakes and the just miles away from Niagara Falls,
top that off with available green space no wonder Olmsted loved Buffalo. With inspiration from the
street design, water, and green space, Olmsted created his dream, a city built in a park. It allowed
for one of Olmsted’s goals to be realized; creating a park that for every class. With the parkways
connecting the three main parks together, everyone was within walking distance to a park. This
allowed Buffalo to become the ideal city in Olmsted’s eyes, integrating nature in with the unique,
charming city and making the beauty of nature accessible to anyone. This combination is why
Olmsted thought of Buffalo as the best designed city.
If Olmsted were to see Buffalo today, I think he would be disappointed where the city
went, but hopeful for the future. With the destruction of Humboldt Parkway and the highway
passing right by Delaware Park, the city in some respects destroyed part of his design, but the
system largely still serves the same purpose. The parks still serve as a way to experience nature or
just live a healthier lifestyle. While Olmsted would have hated the buildings put in the parks, he
would appreciated that they all at least were nature related, being a natural science museum, zoo,
and botanical garden. I think that Olmsted would have lamented the highway system, but would
adore that parks were carried outside the city. Where I live in West Seneca there are endless rows
of suburban houses. However, there are also three major Olmsted-esque parks within walking
distance of my house. I think Olmsted’s biggest take away would be the public’s attitude towards
his parks and parkways. Delaware Park, in particular is still popular with the public with many of
the cities events being hosted there. I think Olmsted would love seeing that even with the ability to
go the countryside as easily as going to one of his parks and the amount of distractions that exists
nowadays, people still visit his parks.
http://www.buffaloresearch.com/maps.html

Response to Walter Hood’s Work
Identify something that should be memorialized either on UB’s campus or in your
hometown. Imagine that you are the person who will oversee this project, and that you are
using Walter Hood’s ‘triad of investigations’ as your approach to the project. What would
your landscape intervention commemorate/memorialize? How will you use Hood’s ‘triad of
investigations’ to design a new landscape intervention? What do you imagine that the design
will be? (Either written or visual descriptions are acceptable).
A short walk from my house is a park called the Burchfield Nature and Arts center. It is
named after Charles E. Burchfield, an artist who lived next to the park in the early 20th century
and whose work was directly inspired by the scenes in the park. The park has a bit of everything,
including a playground for kids, a building for public events and town offices, an amphitheater, a
gazebo, art installations, nature trails, and a creek. However the park also has a small graveyard for
the original residents and founders of the town, the Ebenezers, as well as the remnants of a dam they
built. The Ebenezers were small community of German Inspirationalists, protesting the Lutheran
church, and escaping religious prosecution. They were deeply tied to a sense of community and
working together. Across the street from the park is the original home of the leader of the group,
Christian Metz. On top of that, the land the park was created on was part of the land of the Seneca
tribe3
.

Photo by Nicholas Eichelberger
tos/136683137@N07/25709032916/in/al-
bum-72157665779302016/

However I think the park could use a bit of a revamp. The only part of that history that is
represented is the tie to Burchfield himself. I would like to see a better representation of the entire
history of the park and town in general. The first thing I would do is try to obscure the outside
world as much as I could to immerse people into the park, just like Burchfield himself was. The
major change I would make would be to conceal the giant concrete walls that come from the major
road next to the park. The community building already has a faulty foundation and is closed until
further notice. I would demolish that building and move the building near the graveyard. The
Ebenezer’s had a very simplistic building design, instead focusing on what happened inside the
building. I would build in the same style as the Ebenezers, but shape the building into a long house
to remind the visitors of the Native Americans that once lived there. I would also dedicate the
entirety of the inside of the building to community space with an open floor plan to again reference
the community driven nature of both the Ebenezers and Seneca tribe. The current community
building houses local artist’s exhibits. I would dedicate most of the wall space to displaying art,
bringing it back to the Burchfield himself. I would also start deconstructing the building towards the
back, showing the framing and eventually making the back of the building glass. This would open
the structure up letting light in to best see the art and at the same time giving full view to the nature
itself. I would then make paths from the building to the graveyard and the old dam, two completely
overlooked parts of the park (so much so that I didn’t know that the dam was built by the Ebenezers
until doing a little research today). This new building design fixes an existing problem within the
park and would serve as an snapshot of the history of the community as well as provide amenities
for the residents.
3. “History Of Lots 94 & 95 In West Seneca, NY” Charles E. Burchfield Nature and Art
Center. Accessed March 10, 2017. http://www.burchfieldnac.org/history.html
Sketch by Nicholas Eichelberger

Response to the Brookes
The abolitionist poster, the Brookes, is an iconic image that often is included in exhibits
that explore issues of race and power. It was commissioned by Thomas Clarkson in 1788, and
the Committee of the Abolition of Slavery used it to inform and shock the public. While some
consider the poster as an important component of the abolitionist campaign, it recently “has
been strongly criticized by some individuals and groups of African heritage as providing
a very limited view of the history of the transatlantic slave trade, resistance and abolition
(Hudson 2007).” The lesson here is that how a viewer sees an image is dependent upon his/her
social, economic, and cultural position. Keeping this in mind, find another iconic graphic that
addresses racial issues and post it for others in your group to view.(Add it to your response
by clicking on the picture in the tools section. Do not add it as an attachment that needs to be
opened.) How do you interpret the graphic? What is its meaning? Now imagine that someone
from a racial and cultural background different than your own is looking at the same graphic.
Briefly describe this person. How might s/he interpret its meaning? How might this differ
from your interpretation? What are the possible reasons for these differences?(Consider the
three assessment principles mentioned in the article to help you: a technology of vision, an
instrument of empathy, and a symbol of control.) (NOTE: Limit your response to less than 250
words.)

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/file/histo-
ry-283-elizabeth-eckford-little-rock-corbisjpg

The picture I have included is of Elizabeth Eckford, one of the famed Little Rock Nine.
The Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students who, after the landmark case of
Brown v. The Board of Education, were allowed to attend a previously all white school. The image
is obviously a very powerful image and probably the most well known of the civil rights movement
itself. Today we see the image all the time digitally in presentations and I have even seen it on book
covers. I think the image is one of the strongest examples of an instrument of empathy as there are
three main take aways after looking at the image, all manipulating your emotions. The first is the
ferocity of the deeply embedded racism of the nation at the time. This is captured in the face of the
girl shouting behind Elizabeth, as it shows so much anger and hatred directed not only at Elizabeth,
but the idea of equality in general. This is used as a symbol of control as it only presents white
people as monsters. It doesn’t show those white people in support and helping the black community.
The second take away is how stoic Elizabeth looks, unflinching and determined. This is powerful
as it represents the strength of not just Elizabeth, but the whole movement. The movement would
not be stopped by a few nasty racists screaming at them. The third point is one that can be lost on
people who aren’t American. The image also shows how far the country has come since the 1950s.
Knowing the context of the country at the time, with things like Jim Crow laws and the violence
shown by the police allows you to see how far the country has come. While there is still a large issue
regarding unnecessary force and racism within the police, it is not nearly as prevalent as during
the civil rights movement. Someone from another country may not know this context and may not
understand just how bad it was in comparison to today.
Here is the history behind the relationship Elizabeth and the screaming girl, Hazel Bryan
David Margolick, “The Many Lives of Hazel Bryan,” Slate. Last modified October 11, 2011. http://
www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2011/10/elizabeth_and_hazel_
what_happened_to_the_two_girls_in_the_most_f.html

Response to Charles Davis and equityXdesign’s Work
Critique either the MLK Memorial or the National Museum of African American
History and Culture using equityXdesign’s core beliefs and/or design principles. (Use the beliefs
or principles that are most relevant to your critique rather than all of them.) (NOTE: Limit your
response to less than 250 words.)
I think that the National Museum of African American History and Culture is a tasteful
celebration of the history and culture of African Americans. Not only does it display equityXdesign’s
philosophy on the walls, but follows it behind the scenes as well. Architecture traditionally has been
a pretty elite field, made up of mostly old, white men. However this is changing as of recently and
the field is becoming more diversified by the day. So, to make a museum dedicated to the history
of African Americans, it only makes sense to have people of African American descent create it. By
choosing David Adjaye, the government was helping break the “status quo” of the architecture field,
adhering to equityXdesign’s first design principle, design at the margins, and second belief, radical
inclusion. By choosing someone who the museum would directly represent the government was also
bringing historical context (Belief 1) and the second design principle, start with your self, into play.
Adjaye, is able to take his unique perspective, knowledge, and passion and apply it to the project that
represents himself and the whole community as well. This really shines in the facade that he created.
I think the copper wrap is beautiful and a brilliant representation of the African American culture,
representing the hats African kings and elites would wear. Typically, I think architects inadvertently
obscure their symbols to much and end up losing the meaning as non-architects can’t see the
symbol. However, when I looked at the copper wrap, I instantly thought of the hats seen in much
of African culture. That said, I don’t think it sticks out like a sore thumb and is obtrusive, it has a
perfect balance of “readability” and blending in that is seen only in very well designed architecture.
Overall, I think that Adjaye’s hiring and design not only follows equityXdesign’s goal, but creates
beautiful architecture while they were at it.
http://inhabitat.com/national-museum-of-af-
rican-american-history-and-culture-opens-to-
day-in-washington-dc/

Response to “Landscape Stories” Chapter
First, let’s start with your own home. Describe a place in your home (indoors and/or
outdoors) that you think of as representative of your own ethnic background and discuss why
you consider this place to be ‘ethnic’. –OR-- Describe an object in your home that you think of as
representative of your ethnic background and discuss why this object is considered to be ‘ethnic’.
(If possible, add photo/s.) Is this object or place something that you will keep or continue when
you establish your own home? Why or why not?
Now let’s move into your community. In “Landscape Stories,” the authors show how
landscape architects develop a historical narrative that sifts through and interpets the culture
and material of underrepresented groups. Think about the community where you grew up.
Describe and discuss any evidence of cultural influences on the physical environment in your
community. If possible, describe evidence of the cultural influence of an underrepresented
group. (If possible, add photo/s.) Is this cultural influence being acknowledged or preserved
from future generations? Why or why not?
A) I am going to cheat a bit and use something that is in my grandmother’s house. My
grandmother is a very passionate about genealogy. She has binders and binders full of family history
in her house. She has even been in contact with distant relatives in Germany and is now trying to
write a book that covers the entire family tree. While not directly cultural, it connects my family to
our German roots. I always loved going with her to visit gravestones of various family members that
I had no idea existed. Once I have my own home, I plan on carrying the family history and possibly
trying to piggyback off the work my grandmother has done and visit and document significant
locations for the family.
B) I come from a very Polish area of Buffalo. You can see hints of it all over my hometown,
which according, to wikipedia is 39.9% Polish (The highest percentage of any area with a population
over 10,000 residents). There are a ton of Polish restaurants that thrive around all holidays. There
is the very popular Broadway market that is a staple of most Polish families around Easter only
a short drive away. There is also a Polish veteran memorial at the naval park downtown. There is
even a Polish radio station and a local Polka TV show. However the most subtle change to the built
environment from the Polish heritage is the amount of Catholic churches in the area. Where I am
from, most people are Catholic. This fact can very easily be traced back to the Polish and Irish
immigrants that built the Erie canal bringing Catholicism to the area. If the demographics were to
change drastically the amount of steeples that poke into the sky could give you a hint as to who lived
here before.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhoto-
DirectLink-g60974-d275864-i33005987-Buf-
falo_Erie_County_Naval_and_Military_
Park-Buffalo_New_York.html

Response to Article on Sports Branding
Recent controversies about sports branding focus on ethnicity. The Washington
Redskins team is just one example of the larger controversy, but it receives the most public
attention due to the name itself being defined as derogatory or insulting in modern dictionaries,
and the prominence of the team representing the nation’s capital. Should sports team branding
designers use ethnic references (Fighting Irish, Boston Celtics, Atlanta Braves, etc.)? Why? Why
not? What are some of the complexities of this issue?
I think that ethic references can be used, but in a more intelligent way than it currently
is used. Things like the Redskins or the Braves is the complete wrong way to approach the use of
ethnic backgrounds in sports teams. I think that it is requires more input from the community
instead of the franchise forcing something that they think would fit the community. If for example
at a tailgate there is a particular ethnic dish that is a group favorite, the franchise could sell it at the
games. I think that if the companies were to take the community’s input from the start, instead of
after the team becomes established, you can build a very passionate fan base that represents the
background of the fans appropriately. All of that said, I believe the teams using derogatory names
or images should change. In the article Gover says “It doesn’t feel like an honor when you do not
confront the truth of the people you claim to be honoring,” Gover says. “They never honor the
Native American truth. They are honoring their own notion of heritage, their own non-Indian
version of history.”4
The idea is to ask the people you are trying to celebrate what they want. By
asking what the population wants it gives voice to those who may be under represented and it gets
groups working together. It is important that we don’t ignore culture, which means including ethnic
backgrounds, we just need to approach it correctly.
4. Erik Brady, “The real history of Native American team names,” USA TODAY. Last
modified August 24, 2016 https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2016/08/24/real-history-native-
american-team-names/89259596/
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/wahoo.htm

Response to Bathroom Bill
Last year, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law a bill that repealed
local LGBT anti-discrimination laws, and required people to use the bathroom that
corresponded with the biological gender written on their birth certificates. This prompted
massive backlash. McCrory stated, “You know, we all have to make adjustments in life. And
we’ve had the proper etiquette situation for decades in our country, and all of a sudden through
political correctness we’re throwing away basic etiquette.” Just this past Thursday, the North
Carolina General Assembly passed a bill to repeal the law while placing a moratorium on
nondiscrimination measures.
Should people be required to use the bathroom that corresponds with the biological gender
written on their birth certificate? State why AND state why not. In other words, to receive
full credit for this question, you need to present an argument for both sides of the issue. As a
designer, how would you solve this gender dilemma? Use the SEE-IT method to respond to this
question
Currently there is a law that is being repealed in North Carolina, that brings back the
ability for people to use the bathroom that suits which gender they identify as. I completely agree
with this repeal and am very glad that North Carolina is in the process of removing the law. It
is a huge win for the transgender community, which is one often misunderstood and wrought
with issues from non-acceptance. To clarify, grouping Gay/Lesbian and Transgender as the same
thing is wrong. Someone who is transgender is someone who feels uncomfortable with the gender
assigned at birth. It has no affect on who they are attracted to. Someone who went from female to
male can still be attracted to males or someone who went from male to female can still be attracted
to females. The trans community also has not fared as well as most of the rest of the LGBTQ+
community. According to PEW research center 47% of Americans believe that trans people need to
use the bathroom they were assigned at birth5
, compare that to the 37% that still oppose same sex
marriage6
. I think this disparity comes from people not knowing much or interacting much with the
trans community. There is this belief that if trans people were allowed in the bathroom of the gender
they identified with, there would be a huge rise in sexual assault. This has been common argument
against the LGBTQ+ community for years and is simply not true. For some reason unbeknown to
me being gay is synonymous with being a sexual predator or a pedophile, neither of which have any
correlation to each other. That said, the gay community has been able to get over that with exposure
through mainstream media such as TV shows (Will and Grace, Modern Family, etc).http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgen-
der/2015/03/14/trans-folks-respond-bath-
room-bills-wejustneedtopee-selfies

The trans community has not been so lucky as to draw the spotlight of the mainstream media this
in turn, has caused some devastating effects. The trans community has some of the highest suicide
rates in the country, along with a slew of other issues that causes harm within the community.
Being trans isn’t a choice, just like being gay isn’t a choice, trans people don’t change the gender they
identify with at will and certainly aren’t sexual predators. Until the public understands the daily
life of a trans person whether it be through movies and tv shows, prominent figures, or something
else we haven’t even thought of yet, laws like this will likely continue to pop up because laws don’t
change unless society changes. I am going to leave you with an image depicting what it look like in
bathrooms if the North Carolina law did stay enacted.
5. Emma Green. “Half of Americans Don’t Think Transgender People Should Be Able to Pick
Their Bathroom,” The Atlantic, last modified September 28 2106. https://www.theatlantic.
com/politics/archive/2016/09/half-of-americans-dont-think-transgender-people-
should-be-able-to-pick-their-bathroom/501947/
6. “Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage” Pew Research Center, last modified May 12, 2016.
http://www.pewforum.org/2016/05/12/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/

Response to “Visualizing Gender” Chapter
In their chapter “Communicating Gender,” Maya Ganesh and Gabi Sobliye discuss two
primary visual advocacy approaches: 1) get the idea, and 2) stories in data. Find a new example
of either of the two visual advocacy approaches to gender issues, and post it in this thread. Cite
the source.
First, identify the approach. Then explain how the designer uses the approach to
communicate a gender issue. Is the approach effective in this example? Why or why not? How
could this graphic be improved?
The image I chose, tackles gender stereotypes in so many visual ways. First off the woman
in the photo (a famous Latin actress/director, Patricia Reyes Spindola) is wearing a bandoleer
kit, a military hat, and smoking a cigar. These items are the some of the basic embodiments of
“masculinity”. The fact that the military regalia is also vintage, brings emphasis to “clash” of gender
norms, as to see a woman in modern combat uniforms is not unusual; the fact that she choose
classic gear really highlights the statement. However the fact that she is shirtless is also another
addition to point of the creator as in western society, women in advertisements are very rarely
shirtless without being sexualized. Finally the last point to the photo is the prominent scar on the
actress’ breast which is where the main point of the photo lies. Spindola had breast cancer, which
forced her to have one breast removed7
. This is tough for any woman as cancer is one of the scariest
things that can happen to a person and having to remove a breast is huge decision. In our culture
today, we look at breasts as one of the most, if not the most, sexualized body part and a symbol of
stereotypical “femininity”. By showing the scars from the surgery she is embracing breaking the
mold of the society , embracing the loss as “battle wound”; proud that she beat one of the leading
causes of death8
.
7. “Patricia Reyes Spíndola revela que tuvo cáncer de mama (VIDEO)” Huffington Post. last
modified May 30 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/patricia-reyes-spindola-cancer-
mama_n_1557126.html
8. “Five social media campaigns celebrating women across the globe” Sinergios. last modified
March 8 2016. http://www.sinergios.com/five-social-media-campaigns-celebrating-women-across-
the-globe/
http://www.sinembargo.mx/18-10-
2015/1522476

Response to Hidden Ways
Author Steven Flusty categorized five types of disciplinary architecture that perpetuate
what he calls urban spatial injustice: 1) stealthy, 2) slippery, 3) crusty, 4) prickly, and 5) jittery.
Go out into the city of Buffalo, and find/photograph two examples from the list of five. Identify
what type of space you’ve photographed and why it might discriminate against a specific
population. Identify the location where you took the photograph, and make certain that you are
in at least one of the two photographs.
My first pick is the Tifft Nature Preserve and the outer harbor area. Both of these lie on
the outskirts of the city right on the water. However the nature preserve and the Outer Harbor are
bisected by route 5. My friend and I went to take photos of both locations last summer and could
not find an easy way in. To enter Tifft in particular, you have to get off the highway circle around
and go under the highway just to get to the parking lot. This is a clear example of Slippery design,
because I heard and knew about the nature preserve for a while and was looking forward to going,
but trying to get there was a challenge. Right off the Nature Preserve’s website it says that it is an
“Urban Sanctuary”, but people who live in the city may not have a car or take the bus. These city
dwellers who the preserve is trying to attract can’t get there in an easy manner.
tos/136683137@N07/26730119344/in/al-
bum-72157669065439025/

The second pick for me is the Observation Deck of city hall. This to me falls into the Crusty
category because of a recent addition. Recently they added security gates at the entrance of city hall.
This just adds a barrier of entry to visiting and utilizing the observation deck. In fact when I went
up for the first time I just left my camera at the bottom because it was less of a hassle then to drag
it through security. This is also symbolic barrier as, of all places, city hall should be the place that
absolutely anyone can enter and by adding the security checkpoint it just separates the public from
their representatives and local officials. It also can fall into the stealthy design category as it isn’t
something that is super clearly advertised. Not only does the security limit the people who can visit,
but the observation deck requires you to climb three flights of stairs. This is the most limiting factor
of all because there are plenty of people who can’t traverse stairs for one reason for one reason or
another.
tos/136683137@N07/27562020000/in/al-
bum-72157667387255083/

Response to People Like Us
After almost two decades of public assistance, Tammy Crabtree took herself and her
family off the welfare rolls. But her job cleaning bathrooms at a local Burger King barely paid
the bills. Crabtree wanted to do better and hopes to go to college and become a teacher.
Imagine this scenario. You are a designer who works at the well-known firm, iPD(Integrated
Planning and Design). You work on a team with planners, urban designers, policy designers,
architects, and social designers. You have been tasked to develop/design a way for Tammy
Crabtree and her family (and others with situations similar to Tammy’s) to move themselves out
of poverty. What will your team to do to help Tammy and her family achieve their goals? What
approach will your team take to address this difficult problem?
There was a few things that stuck out to me in the video. The first thing was that she walks
10.5 miles to, and presumably back, from work each day. She spends most of her day walking back
and forth getting insulted on her walk when she could be spending time with her family. This has
to kill a lot of motivation she has to change her life. This has caused me to think about creating a
company that provided work solely to those under the poverty line, in situations like Tammy’s. The
company would probably be some sort of store. This company would also be non profit meaning it
would be there just to service it’s employees. It would be very similar to the structure of Goodwill’s
employment practices. There could be some sort of training manager that oversees the store to
make sure it is in good condition or that the employees were properly trained that would be a higher
up at the company but everything from head managers to the cleaning people like Tammy would
be filled by people under the poverty line. This would allow incredible lateral movement because
a rotating higher position would not require an education but could provide people with the skills
to allow them to move out of this company and into a different job. Ideally the company would
also provide services to the employees such as a private free bus to take them home or possibly a
designated amount of money to help send the employees to college or their kids to college. This
company where there is no feeling of class hierarchy would create this sense of family within the
people that work there; creating a team working together to try and get out of the situation that
they are in. The company could also help those who may be left out by society such as drug addicts/
alcoholics/ex cons get a job something that many places may not or would not do.
http://www.goodwillindy.org/

Response to Carroll Article: “(Re)forming Regent Park: When
Policy Does Not Equal Practice”
The development of Regent Park is phased, and there are several more phases to the
project. What actions could be taken to ensure more social integration for the older people
living in the ‘new and improved’ Regent Park?
If the plan is to have this market based public housing like they suggested, then they should
take the residents’ needs and wants in mind. They mention in the book that the residents would
have to walk a block down the street just to get to a bus stop. This is ridiculous considering how
major an area regent park is, they could have their own bus stop or even just move the existing
one closer. A simple move like this would allow many seniors to become active members of their
community. They also should add some sort of live theater/dance hall. This space could host events
like dance nights where the seniors could here a live band play some of the popular music from their
youth while they could dance along. This space could also host local youth groups such as school
bands, youth theater, and choral arrangements. This would allow the young people from around
the town to come and interact with the seniors. It could also host smaller acts like comedians or
older celebrities visiting to, again, bring the seniors into the space. I also think that there was a
fundamental mistake having the seniors live in the high rise apartment, opposed to a neighborhood
type setting for a multitude of reasons. Beside the safety concern with thing like fire escape or
elevator condition, putting them in some sort of townhouse or duplex type building allows for much
better social interaction. Maybe you see a neighbor walking their dog while you are outside on your
front steps and you stop to have a chat with them. This is something that would never happen when
you live floors apart and never visit the other floors. Another option would be to bring the business
up and throughout the building. If you put a community gathering space on different floors you will
bring in different mixes of the community as well drawing people from the lowers floors up and give
them a reason to visit the floors they would never go to anyway.
http://usclancaster.sc.edu/rental/stevens/ste-
vens.htm

Response to Enriquez TED Talk: “What Will Humans Look
Like in 100 Years?”
For this question, we will focus on Juan Enriquez’ Life Two civilization, whichalters
fundamental aspects of the body. We are living longer than ever before in human history.
Enriquez argues that, because of advances in bio-medical technology, the possibility of living to
120 years of age and beyond is quite possible for many of us in this D+D class. Assuming that
his assertion is accurate, how do you think extended life spans will change our societies and
built environments? What new issues might designers face because of extended life spans?
While overpopulation would certainly be the largest problem, I want to focus on a
smaller issue that would change our built environment. I think the most affected part of the built
environment would be our hospitals and nursing homes. Enriquez’ points out the simple swapping
of parts in his lecture, such as the mouse body and mouse head. If we were to go forward with this
simple modulation of the human body, swapping out organs or limbs whenever they “die”, we would
seriously need to rethink the way hospitals and nursing homes work. As we get older and older
more and more things will start to fail us. While nowadays people get hip and knee replacements,
if we are living longer our heart or lungs might go and we need a replacement on top of the knee
replacement we already had. This constant swapping of parts will burden our health care system as
more surgeries will have to happen more often. It makes us question if a hospital will suit our needs
or if we will need to create a location specifically for these replacements as our current hospitals are
too small and inefficient to specifically focus on replacements alone. This also makes us question
who can get the replacement. If the replacements become enhancements, making us “super humans”
(hearing aid example), this will draw in even more people in further over burdening the system in
place. Also simple things like possibly combining hospitals and nursing homes into one structure
as to have easy access to replacement parts and also prioritize the residents for the replacements.
In the end I think we will have to completely restructure the ways hospitals are built and run to
accommodate the influx of people needing surgery.
https://daisywarejarrett.wordpress.
com/2012/02/29/augmentation-of-the-hu-
man-body/

Response to PPT, Smithsonian, and Roy
The two most frequently mentioned models of disability are the ‘social’ and the ‘medical’
models. The medical model of disability views disability as a medical ‘problem’ that belongs to
the disabled individual. The social model of disability, in contrast, draws on the idea that it is
society that disables people, through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of
people who are not disabled. There is a recognition within the social model that there is a great
deal that society can do to reduce, and ultimately remove, some of these disabling barriers, and
that this task is the responsibility of society, rather than the disabled person.
In the Smithsonian online exhibition, the story about the superhero hand, and Elise Roy’s TED
Talk, you saw examples of ways to engage disability that use the social model rather than the
medical model. In the Disability and Design PowerPoint, you were introduced to the concept of
Universal Design (UD) (sometimes called inclusive design, design-for-all, or human-centered
design). Certainly, UD embraces the social model of disability. In this same PowerPoint, you
saw positive and negative examples of each of the seven principles of universal design.
For the Module 12 Thread 1, please select one of the seven universal design principles, and post
photographs that show both a positive and a negative example of the principle. Then address the
following question: How do your examples empower or disempower various people? Describe
the specific features of the positive example and the specific features of the negative example.
Discuss ways that the positive example could be even further improved.
I chose size and space.
As I have mentioned plenty of times before, I work at a public library. I interact with
bookshelves all the time and personally I find that they may be one of the worst designed items on
the planet. The classic example of a bookshelf seen in the first picture shows the flaws in the design
in how we use it. If you look at the bottom shelves none of them are used because they are too low
for many of our patrons to reach easily. This especially disadvantages older patrons who simply cant
bend down to access these shelves. The shelves are also too high for many patrons, especially for
kids, who can’t even dream of reaching the top shelf. Luckily the kids shelves are lower and easier
to access, but again too low for their grandparents, who often accompany them. Another problem
with shelves that are too high is that prove to be a safety hazard. I have more than once gone to pull
a book out from a higher shelf and accidentally pulled the whole shelf down on my head. This could
really hurt patrons if they are not careful. This goes into the fact that the shelves also don’t in anyway
prevent you from overstuffing shelves. This means navigating shelves and the physical retrieval of
books is often difficult as there is no natural place to push the books out of the way and even if there
is a spot, the books tend to be very heavy to move. Because of this tightness on many of the shelves
patrons often push books behind the rest of the shelves of books when putting a book back. This
causes the book to be lost until one us pages cleans the area up and notices it.

Sometimes entire rows are pushed to the back of the shelf. This not only causes a cluttered look,
but again makes it difficult to physically look at the books as the light is blocked by the shelf. We fix
the overstuffing problem through the use of bookends and the pushback problem by adding empty
VHS Tape boxes behind the books/movies/CDs to prevent them from sliding back. We even add a
light on each case to help allow patrons read the shelves better. While these problems are fixed, it is
a more duct tape type fixed, a temporary solution to a completely flawed design. There compactness
of the rows of cases can also make it difficult to read the higher rows as the ideal viewing angle is
further back for shorter people, which is blocked by the another bookcase. The shelves are also not
conducive to people who are in wheelchairs as the wheels themselves it the shelves first, causing
people in wheelchairs to have to approach the shelves at an awkward angle again further preventing
people from effectively using them. Lastly even the way we place books on a bookshelf is not
thoughtful to the human body, as we have to tilt out heads sideways to read the titles on the spines.
With all of these issues, you’d think that more people would have come up with fixes for these wastes
of space. They are not designed for humans, rather to maximize efficiency of space and material.
The second picture represents a much better design, albeit imperfect. The new shelves fix a
lot of problems. The first is that it removes the height issue, safety issue, pushback issue, visibility
issue, and head tilt issue. This shelf is still not at friendly to shorter people as the top shelf is harder
to reach as it is pushed farther back than a normal shelf. Children are also at a disadvantage because
the entire top shelf is not only inaccessible to them but also is impossible to read. It also doesn’t
address the wheelchair problem. It also doesn’t fix the overstuffing problem, which could be simply
addressed by adding a wedge inside each shelf, preventing people from over filling it. However the
biggest problem is the efficiency. The capacity goes way down using this method.

Response to Survey, FIXED, and Stelarc
Our 2017 Design-A-Baby survey yielded the following characteristics as indicated by a majority
of you:
Sex: Male (47%)
Hair Color: Dark Brown (22%)
Hair Texture: Wavy (33%)
Eye Color: Blue (26%)
Race: Caucasian (36%)
Height: 5’-10” to 6’-1” (45%)
IQ: 131-140 (20%)
Memory: Excellent (43%)
Athletic Ability: Excellent (43%)
Weight: Average (79%)
Disease Carrier: None (85%)
Beauty: Somewhat attractive (46%)
Empathy: Very empathetic (38%)
Creativity: Very creative (37%)
Sounds like an all-around lovely person!
Currently, we have the technology for you to choose many of the survey characteristics in your
future child, and this ability to choose poses some ethical questions. Of course, we all want
the best for our own child. However, as we move into a more collective situation, we need to
consider how the consequences of majority choices for children might change who we are as a
species.
In the film trailer FIXED, you were introduced to the dilemma of living in a culture in which the
“science-fiction of human enhancement” has become almost a way of life, from prenatal genetic
screening to bionic body parts. In the video, “A Man with Three Ears” you are introduced
to an artist who is using current technology to move humans beyond their current abilities.
Last week, Juan Enriquez asked us if it is ethical to evolve the human body. All of these videos
suggest that the concept of disability ‘as we know it’ could cease to exist in the future.
This leads us to this week’s discussion question:
What lessons do you think we should learn from history when thinking about emerging
enhancement technologies and reproductive technologies? What are some of the possible
consequences (both positive and negative) of being able to design our bodies and the bodies of
our children? What ethical quandaries do these technologies pose?
tos/136683137@N07/31245005765/in/al-
bum-72157676980226506/

Whenever a new technology is created one of the main concerns is who controls it and
how can they manipulate it to benefit them. One topic of discussion is the idea of possibly just
connecting our phones right into our brains, completely integrating the device into the human
body. The scariest thing about that is the opening of information of the human body to the Internet
which I personally think is a bad thing. Look the amount of information something like Google
takes into its archives to personalize advertisements. It looks at your search history, your clicks, and
viewing history and stores all of that to customize the ads you see. Imagine if it had the power to
see all of your passing thoughts and you can’t escape advertisements no matter where you go. The
same applies to the government which is actually a much scarier proposition. You can look at the
Edward Snowden leaks of the NSA programs spying on its citizens as a past example, now imagine
if they could now see all of your thoughts too. A passing thought can be viewed as an unsavory
act and the government could, in theory, now see it. I am not someone who is usually too worried
about privacy, but this could have the potential to create an even more efficient thought police from
George Orwell’s 1984. There are also an abundance of problems with being able to customize our
babies. The first ties back to the idea of who has influence over the process of it. If it is left to be
funded or supported by large companies, it is in their best interest to make sure that the children are
predetermined to like their products. Imagine if a large pharmaceuticals company helped pay for
the design a baby program, they could require that the baby have some sort of gene manipulation
to either require the babies to take the pills they produce or become easily addicted to the pills. If
we are able to design our children to be flawless than we are going to destroy our problem solving
ability. Having physical flaws has lead to a lot of creative design to fix them, which then leads to
improving everyone’s life. Take the hearing aid for example, while initially created to just improve
the hearing of those who are impaired, they have become much more than that. My dad has had
hearing problems since he was born and the hearing aids he has now act as bluetooth headset,
connect to the tv, and can play music. I would be interested in these all in one hearing aids and
I would bet that some of the technology from hearing aids went into products such as ear buds9
.
Human flaw is crucial to the development of technology beyond fixing the flaw and this sort of
development would simply never happen in a flawless world.
9. Sean O’Kane. “Bose made earbuds that act like hearing aids” The Verge. last modified
December 9 2016. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/12/9/13900420/bose-hear-
earbuds-hearphones-augment-sound-app

Response to Titicut Follies
The state of Massachusetts tried to ban the 1967 documentary Titicut Follies, arguing that
director Frederick Wiseman had violated the patients’ rights by not getting written permission
to film them. The case went to court, and Wiseman argued that he had consent from their legal
guardian, the institution. After a judge ruled in favor of the state, the legal appeals carried
on for several years: in 1969, Massachusetts allowed the film to be shown to doctors, lawyers,
and health care professionals; in 1991, a superior court judge ruled it could be released for the
“general public,” as privacy concerns were no longer at issue, so many years later.
Should Wiseman have been allowed to film the residents of Bridgewater Massachusetts
Correctional Facility? Why or why not? How might this film be of value to designers
(communication designers, product, designers, architects, interior designers, planners,
landscape designers, systems designers, and/or social designers)? In other words, what might
they gain from this film that they could use in their work?
While I believe the film is important in showing the cruelty of the asylum system and the
fixes that needed to occur, I think it does violate the patients rights. Saying that by entering the
institution you are signing away your rights seems wrong to me. What is revealed by the patients in
the film is very personal info, like when the man was talking about past gay sexual experiences or
even just the nudity in the film. In high school we had to sign a waiver saying that it was ok for them
to film us, however there was some sort of expectation that they wouldn’t film us in the locker room
or when I was talking to the guidance counselor. That said these films are particularly important
to designers. If there was a really good reason for the forced public stripping the architects could
include specific areas that allowed people to do that in private instead of having to do it en masse.
All designers could use this to use this film to see the little details of how the patients interact with
their surroundings and how the designers could make the surroundings less intrusive. For example
if designers noticed that people kept tripping up on single steps up they could design the entire
building to use ramps or vice versa. This footage is important to make sure that we make the life as
easy on the patients as we humanly can.

http://www.northcarolinahealthnews.
org/2015/02/23/11464/
Response to PPT, The Architecture of Autism, Public Space
Prelude: Wolf Wolfensberger’s seminal work “The Origin and Nature of Our Institutional
Models” posited that society characterizes people with intellectual disabilities as sub-human
and burdens of charity, He argued that this dehumanization, and the segregated institutions
that result from it, ignored the potential productive contributions that all people can make to
society. He pushed for a shift in policy and practice that recognized the human needs of those
with intellectual challenges and provided the same basic human rights as for the rest of the
population.
The Scenario: Imagine that you and your four children live in Amherst, New York in a $650,000
home at the end of a cul-de-sac on the edge of a ten acre woods. The town has purchased a one
acre lot three houses away from yours, and plans to build a group home for ten intellectually
challenged adults.
As a resident of the neighborhood, would you support or oppose this proposal and why?
You’ve learned additional information about the residents of the proposed group home
in your neighborhood. In 2013, three of the ten intended residents exhibited challenging
behaviors including screaming, public masturbation, repetitive rocking, and echolalia (elective
incontinence). However, these behaviors have not occurred since then.
How would this change your opinion about the construction of the group home in your
neighborhood?
The residents in your neighborhood voted (14-3) to reject the town of Amherst’s proposal to
build a group home in the neighborhood. Town officials agreed that the home would not be
built in your neighborhood if you and your neighbors could develop a workable alternative.
What are some possible solutions that would allow the residents of the home to be provided
with “the same basic human rights as the rest of the population”?
`

Frankly, I don’t see why a vote should even be necessary. Just because people have intellectual
disabilities doesn’t mean that they are lesser than anyone else. They have the right to build the
group home anywhere they like and they shouldn’t have to be voted in to be allowed to live there.
You could compare the scenario to the situation that African Americans were in in the early 20th
century. African Americans were basically banned from suburbs because of blatantly racist lending/
housing practices. There are clips of people (seen in the Pruitt Igoe Myth) saying that they moved
to the suburbs because the suburbs were White. None of this changed until the 1968 Fair Housing
Act, where the government essentially banned all of these segregatory practices. Once African
Americans started to be able to move into the suburbs, unobstructed, people started to see that they
are not any different than white people and hatred started to turn into acceptance. While there are
absolutely still race relation issues in this country and there is still “segregation”, not by law, rather by
economic status and remnants of the racist housing practices, they are no where near as bad as they
were before.
You can even use my neighborhood as an example. My neighborhood is very quiet for the
most part, filled with homes from the 60s with their original owners still inside. However, there is
one house on my street that belongs to a quite unsavory family. They have trashed the house they
live in, don’t take care of the outside at all, constantly have the police at the house and are a general
nuisance. Every morning the mother that lives in the house would open her front door and scream
at her kids at the bus stop. The entire neighborhood can hear her and I would be surprised if other
neighborhoods around couldn’t hear it. Well, eventually the house next door went up for sale and
it took months to sell and I would guess that it had to do with the people next door. While the
entire neighborhood would like them to leave, we can’t do anything about it. They have the right
to own the house and live here, regardless of how bad they are. The neighborhood has basically
adjusted to them at this point in time and we tune it out. While these people are bring this upon
themselves, those in the group home have no control over it and mean no harm in what they are
doing. Some fixes could be put into place in the construction of the house to minimize the damage.
Soundproofing could be build into the design, minimizing (though not eliminating) the screaming
issue, for some of the more unsightly things like masturbation and incontinence there could be a
large fence built in the backyard to try and obscure this. Again while it may drop the property value,
they still have the right to live there just like anyone else. If the family that lives on my street were to
move into the neighborhood in the example, you can’t, survivor style, vote them off the “island”. In
fact they would be worse to deal with because they bring in unwanted crime to the neighborhood.
It is only through integration of people do we start to accept them, and in my opinion there is only
one way to solve this and that is just let them live there without a vote.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Seneca
Response to The Connection Between Religion and Urban
Planning by David Engwicht
In his article, David Engwicht discusses the fact that religions (of all types) have played
major roles in the development of our cities. Today, places of worship are primary components
of almost all urban centers. Author Lorne Daniel writes “From their often active role in
supporting people who live in city centers to their iconic influence on design and use of space,
religious structures tell us a lot about our history, our current needs, and where we might be
headed in the future. This is an aspect of our urban future that planners and urbanists should
attend to.”
Identify a place of worship with which you are somewhat familiar. (If you are not familiar with
any places of worship, do a bit of research on one in your own city or town.) Show a photograph
of this religious structure. (You may use photographs from the web.) What roles has this place
served in the development of your city/town? How has it influenced the design of the area
around it? How has its role changed over time? What roles could this place of worship play in
the future development of your city/town?
This is a photo of 14 Holy Helper’s parish located on Union Rd in West Seneca, NY. The
entire history of the town of West Seneca surrounds this church. West Seneca was settled by the
Ebenezers, a group German immigrants fleeing Germany to escape religious prosecution. The town
was a safe haven for the Inspirationalists, a religious group formed in protest to the Lutheran church
in Germany. The leader of the group, Christian Metz, was the founder of the town. The Ebenezers
were very focused on community and simplicity, building many structures seen around the town
today. The church seen above is the church this group founded when the Ebenezers were here and
being a religious safe haven, was the center of the town’s life. When the Ebenezers left for Iowa, the
church was picked up by the diocese of Buffalo and currently serves as a Roman Catholic church.
The entire town of West Seneca would not exist without the church or at least not the way we know
it today. As mentioned earlier we still see remnants of the Ebenezer’s time here with the tannery
seen on Clinton Street, The Christian Metz home located right next to the church, along with some
other houses nearby the church and the graveyard located inside of the park across the street from
the church. The Ebenezer’s also pushed Native Americans off their land to settle West Seneca. Had
the congregation not settled here there could have been a larger Native American Population seen
in the town. While the Ebenezers no longer live here, they built a beautiful church (which happens
to be my home parish), that changed with the town, becoming a Roman Catholic church when a
large Polish population moved in. The church often hosts many events and is the host of a religious
education program that brings in people from other parishes. As it has in the past, I’m sure the
church will go through more changes, adapting to the population living there at the time.

tos/136683137@N07/27227761643/in/al-
bum-72157667387255083/
Response to Prospects for the Future of Diversity and Design
Consider the quote in your syllabus from educator Michael J. Shannon: “Design,
as vision in action--the intersection of understanding and creation--is a universal human
capability that can play a fundamental role in social evolution, in the process that transforms
resources, energy, and information to make our world.”
At the beginning of this course, we discussed the idea that we are all designers regardless of our
profession or field of study. We’ve asked some big questions along the way, and the conclusion
section of our textbook raises additional issues that require input from people who might not
consider themselves to be part of the formalized design professions.
Think about your own major and/or future profession. What is the biggest challenge, problem,
or question that your field needs to tackle right now? What do you plan to do to address this
challenge, problem, or question either as part of your studies or professional life?
I am a looking to go into Historic Preservation. One of the biggest problems the field always faces
is garnering support. Many businesses see the preservation society as a pain in their side. The
preservationists also have to get the public to care about what they are doing or fighting for. It is also
important that the entire population understands why a particular building/area is worth saving.
People of the preservation society, tend to be older people. This class has shown me that in order to
really cause change, it takes everyone’s help, so I would also try to garner the support and vigor of
the youth to try and save these buildings.
There is often so much arguing or taking extreme stances in preservation that nothing
gets done or at least not in a timely matter, My goal as a preservationist would also be to improve
the standing of the preservation society within the community, so that when a really big project
comes up, like saving Grand Central Station in NYC, People would be more like to support the
movement from the start. My goal here in Buffalo would be to restore portions of Main Street to its
former glory. I hear so often from people how much they miss shopping on Main Street, especially
at holiday time. While big box department store don’t really exist, nor do they draw people in, local
business tend to be very popular with the general public. I would restore the buildings to their
former glory, taking into account to the needs of a particular business, and starting a sort of loose
co-op with a few rules unifying the businesses on the street, like having to set up large Christmas/
holiday displays in their front windows. I would also push to either close down or move the metro
underground as well as banning cars from the street. This would open it up to be a true shopping
district open to pedestrians. This cooperation between business, preservationists, local government
and the public is what we need to see more of and it applies to any field whether it be urban
planning or politics, designing with the producers and the consumers working together allows for
everyone to get a little of what they want.

P3 Eichelberger

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