The document outlines the design brief for a semester-long studio project. Student teams will design The Chicago Center for Enterprise, a center for start-up companies focused on architecture, design, craft and technology. The project site is the historic Flat Iron Arts Building in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Each team must redesign the building's interior, add a fourth-floor roof extension within set parameters, and design parking and site plans for neighboring lots. Successful models of these types of collaborative workspaces in Europe are described to inform the design approach.

1. ARCH 6110
ARCHITECTURE, INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE + DESIGNED OBJECTS THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO DESOB 6110
ARCH 6110 INARCH 6110
ARCHITECTURE, INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE + DESIGNED OBJECTS PAGE 2 of 8
DESOB 6110 Mondays 9 – 4 Thursdays 9 – 12
INARCH 6110 Tristan Sterk (ARCH)
Odile Compagnon (INARCH)
Tristan Sterk (ARCH)
Mark Schendel (INARCH)
FALL 2009
William Gordon (DESOB) Helen Maria Nugent (DESOB)
DESIGN BRIEF
Chicago Center for Enterprise:
SYLLABUS
The City of Chicago is actively seeking ideas, methods and programs to make Chicago a leader of
The third semester trans-disciplinary AIADO graduate studio focuses on design scenarios that innovation in design and technology. Several bodies in the city (The City of Chicago Department of
demand engagement at multiple scales and require combinations of various disciplinary techniques Innovation and Technology, CEOs for Cities, Wired Nextfext, etc.) have been working to strengthen
of inquiry, analysis, description and design. Students will work in collaborative teams to research the city’s ability to support new business opportunities from a social, environmental, technological
and manage all aspects of a complex design opportunity working towards an integrated system of and economic perspective. This project is hypothetical in its program and site, but real in its concept
objects and environments. Each team is tasked with developing their own vision for the project and and suitability for the bigger vision of Chicago.
alongside participatory design solutions that knowledgeably engage human behavior, material
systems, site conditions and relevant technologies. It is fundamental that each team develops a You have been commissioned to design The Chicago Center for Enterprise – a center for start-up
unified design approach that synthesizes the expertise and output of the (3) design disciplines. companies whose primary work is in the realm of architecture, design, craft and technology, Your
design must attract this user-group and offer a unique situation in which to develop a collaborative
community of creative workers.
STUDENT / STUDIO STRUCTURE
Each interdisciplinary team will be comprised of approximately 6 students: two Inarch students, two The site for this development is the Flat Iron Arts Building located at the intersection of North,
DesOb students and two Arch students, as numbers allow. Students will self-select into teams on Milwaukee and Damen, a busy six corner intersection in the Wicker Park neighborhood. Although
Day One - please select a home base for your team – there is space for two teams in each studio not a historical landmark, this building is a relevant part of Chicago’s historic arts and design fabric.
bay. Informal work-in-progress reviews will take place weekly. There will be formal reviews at the end The City of Chicago has expressed a desire to protect and reuse the building
of each Project Stage. (http://www.cityofchicago.org/Landmarks/CHRS.html). Built in 1913 by the firm of Holabird and
Roche, it is now occupied by many artists and has become a symbol of the Wicker Park cultural
landscape. Each team is required to build upon this historical and social context.
FACULTY STRUCTURE
To enable the cross-fertilization of ideas, approaches, and knowledge, you will be working with an The Flat Iron Arts building is three stories and has street front on two sides. Each team must provide
interdisciplinary team of five AIADO faculty members throughout the duration of this course. Faculty design solutions for a complete interior redesign/renovation to include the creation of new fittings,
will retain their disciplinary responsibility in relation to grading, recording attendance, and other furnishing and systems. Each team is also required to design a 4th floor (roof) extension to the
discipline specific aspects of course management. Concerning daily class activity (critiques, project building. The extension must stay within 20 feet above the current parapet line and not increase the
development, etc) you will have access to all members of the faculty team. total square footage of the existing building by more than 15%. The extension must be enclosed.
The remaining area may be used for a green roof if desired. Parking and site planning need to be
configured on two neighboring lots along Damen Avenue and along North Avenue.
OBJECTIVES
This course involves students in a design process that requires their participation in both team- PROGRAM MODELS:
based and individual research and design activities. The semester-long design project begins with a Models for this kind of program can be found throughout the world. In Europe the model is rooted
period of research, analysis, vision and conceptualization; moving from there to schematic and firmly in notions of entrepreneurship – and is encouraged through the provision of government and
programmatic design, and ending with an extended period dedicated to design development and private incentives. These collaborative workspaces are typically referred to as incubators, nurseries,
project resolution. In working with peers to create a connected system of objects and environments, hives or hatcheries.
students will develop an understanding of how to deal with complexity in the design process, and
gain valuable experience in working as a member of an interdisciplinary design team. In these buildings, young companies and start-ups often share common interests (sustainability,
ocean resource, border trading, high technology, agriculture). Their rents are subsidized and
business services and amenities are shared. Lease periods are limited to a 4 or 5 year duration.
Some incubators are linked to university and college departments, serving the double purpose of
providing new graduates with a jumping-board for their operations as well as providing schools with
cutting edge links to the professional world. Most incubators contain an assortment of labs, offices
and fabrication studios, allowing the many different skills (business, design and craftsmanship) to
come together cooperatively.
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